The Wanda L. Bass School of Music will open its 2024-2025 season with the inaugural mainstage production of Footloose, slated to perform in the Kirkpatrick Theater from Sep. 27-29.
The 1998 musical, a stage adaptation of the beloved 1984 film starring Kevin Bacon, tells the story of the fictional small town of Beaumont. The town’s reverend commanded dancing to be illegal in Beaumont. Alas, the young characters must reconcile their desire to express themselves through movement with the reverend’s iron-fisted control of the town’s standards.
The show will feature a cast of 45 performers under the direction of Dr. David Herendeen. Footloose will kick off Herendeen’s 28th year heading the School of Music’s Opera and Music Theater program. For Dr. Herendeen, the show represents an opportunity to make the audience confront a world that has outlawed expression and individuality.
“It worries me hugely when an individual uses their power to prohibit,” said Herendeen. “It scares me.”
Footloose strikes close to home. The story that inspired the hit movie took place in Elmore City, Oklahoma, where a law banning dancing was passed in 1898. Furthermore, this law stood for decades until high school students spoke out in the 1970s. As the director of a college music theater program, Herendeen describes the educational value of theater as tantamount to its entertainment value.
“We’re not just putting on an entertainment, and we’re having a social discussion about society and values.”
The production’s creative team employed a prompt in-person audition process to select its cast from a pool of 369 auditionees, which is 12% of OCU’s student body.
Initially, two rounds of auditions were split between Tuesday, Aug. 20, and Thursday, Aug. 22. Rehearsals began on Aug. 23, leaving the team with immense work to do. Ava Musgraves, a junior Music Theater major who plays the headstrong Ariel Moore, recalled the audition proceedings.
“The process was so quick, being the first Mainstage, so it’s all been a whirlwind.”
Indubitably, auditions were no walk in the park. Those called back traversed the gamut of performing song excerpts, script readings, and a strenuous dance call.
In short, OCU’s production will bring this story of rebellion, redemption, song, and dance to life during its run in the Kirkpatrick Theater. Those involved are confident that audiences will be moved by the forty-year-old story given new life in this fresh production.
“We’re digging in deep to the true heart of this story,” said Musgraves, “and the heart of these characters that are relatable to people when the movie came out in the ‘80s and today.”
Leave a Reply