Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Footloose’ a real kick at Rio’s Pavilion Theatre

Most Las Vegas production shows adhere to their own tailored requirements for potential cast members. The Blue Man Group, for example, will not allow anyone standing shorter than 5 feet 10 inches or taller than 6 feet 1 inch to wear the famous cobalt-blue paint. Potential Blue Men must know how to drum and catch various objects in their mouths.

"Mystere" prefers performers with a background in gymnastics. Co-hostesses for "The Wheel Of Fortune: Live On Stage" must know the alphabet.

The producers for "Footloose: The Musical" seem to have but one requirement: Applicants must be plucky.

The musical based on the 1984 movie starring Kevin Bacon (years before he became ubiquitous enough to merit a board game bearing his name) is the featured production at the plush new 1,500-seat, $35 million Pavilion Theatre at the Rio. Performances are 8 p.m. on weekdays, 7:30 and 10 p.m. on Saturdays (dark Thursday). "Footloose" is just the second production to grace the Pavilion (following "Tap Dogs") and runs through Aug. 18.

The show is driven by an ensemble of 30 members, all seemingly riding a quadruple-espresso buzz. Without exception, the performers are precise dancers and can forcefully sell a tune.

For those who didn't catch "Footloose" when initially released in theaters (or on Betamax) in 1984, the story centers on wizened teenager Ren McCormack, who moves with his mother from Chicago to the hick town of Bomont, Texas. A few years prior to the McCormacks' arrival the tiny township outlawed dancing because a few high school students were killed in a car accident following a school dance.

Rebel Ren (played by the relentlessly energetic Kevin Burns) decides to galvanize the local teenagers to challenge the edict passed down by the Rev. Shaw Moore (Tim Marten), whose son was one of the passengers in the fateful car crash.

(Local fans will be stunned when Marten first takes the stage. They'll wonder, "What's John Ensign doing up there?" From a distance the resemblance between the two is remarkable.)

Burns conveys the Ren character ably, but seems a bit unsteady in the Bacon role, lacking the required machismo, if you know what I mean. But he sings well, cuts a pretty mean rug and wills the audience into the familiar plot.

More compelling is 19-year-old Ashley Yeater, playing the role of the reverend's nasty daughter Ariel. Yeater seems at home in denim shorts and cowboy boots, and at times seems ready to take young Burns by the scruff of the neck and consummate their budding relationship right there.

Yeater and her ever-present henchwomen Rusty (Natalie Hill), Urleen (Kimberly Brooke Wharton) and Wendy Jo (Kaciei Sheik) keep the dialogue moving with their rat-a-tat-tat exchanges and fun-filled musical contributions. The show's tenor is set early when the four break out with "Somebody's Eyes."

Another welcome cast member is cowpoke Willard Huitt (Patrick Kyle), who arrives in jeans, boots, cowboy hat and a flannel shirt covering a Green Bay Packers jersey. Kyle pulls off the none-to-easy trick of pretending he can't dance (falling all over himself during "Let's Hear It for the Boy") when actually being able to dance as well as anyone on stage.

The most entertaining -- and nostalgic -- scenes are the film's most memorable. The full-force "Footloose" opening, Ren and Ariel mashing under the bridge during "Almost Paradise," and a reprise of the title song at the end will rekindle fond memories for any mid-'80s high-school graduate with even a hint of a rebellious streak.

Along with the show's centerpiece performers, standouts included John Cameron Weber, playing the dastardly Principal Clark; and Taaga J. Young as ne'er-do-well dropout Chuck.

An addendum: Performing after the opening-night show was none other than the Bacon brothers, featuring Kevin and sibling Michael. Kevin Bacon called Burns up to sing (what else?) "Footloose," and Burns appeared slightly ill at ease in the star's presence.

No, Burns is no Bacon. But "Footloose" is still a giddy walk -- or dance -- down memory lane.

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