Year 2!
Daisypath Ticker

Monday, September 12, 2005
Whaddyaknow...
Frisky blast from the past
Jay-R acquits himself admirably in 'Footloose'

First posted 08:44pm (Mla time)
Sept 11, 2005
By Gibbs Cadiz
Inquirer News Service

Editor's Note: Published on page D1 of the September 12, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

ONE ALMOST FEELS BAD trying to form objective thoughts about a musical as innocuous and eager to please as "Footloose," the stage incarnation of the cult 1984 film that starred a young Kevin Bacon in high-waisted baston pants and frizzy hairdo. That blast from the past, quite a humdrum film but a guilty pleasure nonetheless, has acquired a warm nimbus of nostalgia around it, thanks no doubt to the affectionate way that crazy, neon-colored era is remembered by its now thirtysomething denizens.

Propulsive

So here comes "Footloose" some 20 years later, retooled as a toe-tapping Broadway musical with Kenny Loggins' propulsive soundtrack serving as the matrix on which the show's story of teenage rebellion and unbridled dancing is pegged. Should we be happy enough that a linchpin film of our zit-filled, espadrille-clad adolescence has been thought good enough for translation to musical theater? Or should we dread the potential for travesty and idiotization, the same fate suffered by, among other musical film-to-stage casualties, "Singing in the Rain," "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," "Beauty and the Beast," "Fame" and "Saturday Night Fever?"

When it opened on Broadway in 1998, with additional music by Tom Snow and libretto by Dean Pitchford based on his screenplay, "Footloose" was thoroughly whipped by the critics, led by Ben Brantley of the New York Times who called it a "flavorless marshmallow of a musical."

Either Brantley is an unreconstructed sourpuss, or we Filipinos are really better at singing and dancing, because the local production mounted by Stages, currently running at the Meralco Theater, is a frisky, amiable show that may still be a marshmallow, but one flavored with enough sugar to keep you on a high.

Cheery narrative

The material lends itself well to musical theater. First off, its Capra-lite story, about a restless city boy named Ren McCormack who relocates with his mother to a stuck-up Midwest town and roils the place with his free-spirited ways, fits right in with the cheery narrative landscapes most Broadway musicals traffic in.

Revolts against silly rigidity are a story arc present in so many other movies, from "Pleasantville" to "Chocolat." But it's only in "Footloose" where our hero gets to break-dance his frustrations away. (There's a more recent one, "Billy Elliot," and now it's a smash musical in London.) The clincher is the movie's chart-topping soundtrack. Hits like "Let's Hear It For the Boy," "Almost Paradise," "Holding Out For a Hero," "Dancing in the Streets" and the title song have become hidebound '80s emblems. But hearing them blasting from the stage, reorchestrated and given new contexts, is oftentimes to experience the delight of seeing something dated made fresh.

Seamless

A good example is "The Girl Gets Around," sung by Sammy Hagar in the movie soundtrack. In the film, it underlines a sequence showing the headstrong preacher's daughter, Ariel (Lori Singer in the film, Iya Villania in this show), playing a dangerous prank with the town lowlife, Cranston, while their trucks hurtle down a dirt road. Here, Cranston sings it as both an explanation and a boast, a declaration of his pride at being this girl's pick against everyone else's wishes. And as bellowed by Felix Rivera (great voice), the transition is seamless.

Similar magic happens with "Almost Paradise," a song that was for the '80s what "Broken Vow" is to today. With an updated arrangement that wisely ditches the tinny sound of synthesizers, and sung as a ballad of romantic acknowledgment rather than as a full-throttle derby piece, the song successfully transcends its kitschy roots. It also allows Jay-R, playing Ren opposite Villania's Ariel, to show off his pliable pipes by mixing Broadway-style singing with the dips and curls of R&B vocalizing.

Charisma

Jonard Yanzon headlined "Footloose" in its first week, and Jay-R takes over for the rest of the four-week run, with the former sliding over to the role of Cranston. How do they compare?Ren's transformation from bad boy to firebrand requires a performer of edgy charisma. After all, this new kid galvanizes an entire community to renounce the sanctimonious swill-- that dancing and rock n' roll are the harbingers of drugs and depravity-- that the Rev. Moore has been dishing out for years. In this sense, Kevin Bacon was perfectly cast in the movie. Even in stillness, the actor radiated a coiled, smoldering presence-- a trait absent in Yanzon. Not that he doesn't try his damn best. Yanzon is a sensitive actor and a powerful singer-- certainly one of the best voices in the business today. But there's no way to go around this: He looks paunchy on stage. That extra flab makes him appear shorter than he is, and coupled with an unself-conscious stoop, the image he creates is altogether ordinary and never heroic. A genial chap, certainly, but not a leader. Tellingly, as Cranston, he is more in command, and thrice as interesting.

Masterstroke

Jay-R, however, is a masterstroke in casting. The pop star is tall and well-built, charismatic without even trying, and best of all, unfakably hip. On his first day in school, Ren is described as a "smartass." One look at Jay-R's urban, slacker-dude bearing and that adjective comes alive --not exactly negatively. His abilities seem remarkably well-placed. He acts intuitively, and is a supple singer. There is a spring in his walk and rhythm in his talk. When he explodes into rap (in "Dancing is Not a Crime"), or does the vigorous, athletic choreography (by Rene Sagaran and James Laforteza of the Manouevers), he wraps the stage around him-- the mark of a major talent.

Lively romp

Villania, unfortunately, is on the same boat as Yanzon. She warbles competently and looks fetching from all angles. But she is simply too chic and citified, even in hillbilly garments, to come across as a redneck lass, though she throws herself ardently into the role. That same giddy energy permeates the mostly young cast, who twirl and shimmy and belt out their songs with sweet abandon. Chari Arespacochaga's direction of this lively romp is sleek and classy--too sleek, in fact, that the show comes close to being much too sanitized for its own good. The story's scrappy edges have been largely sanded off (reflected in Mio Infante's efficient but cold-looking set), and what's left is an unyielding sense of razzle-dazzle in General-Patronage form. That's not bad in itself. Still, when juxtaposed against the show's surviving adult sequences (Ariel's bump-and-grind tryst in the wharf with Cranston, for instance, or Rev. Moore's arguments with his wife Vi touching on marital discontent), the tension between the material's gritty undertow and its more antiseptic stage ambitions can be quite startling.

Standouts

Among the "grownups," Audie Gemora as the Reverend and Agot Isidro as Vi are standouts. It's a measure of Gemora's skills that his doctrinaire character becomes the show's most human figure, with an 11 o'clock soliloquy, "I Confess," that is a true emotional cliffhanger. "Footloose" is only Isidro's third stage outing (she was a revelation in "Baby"), but already she is proving to be a gift. Her duet with Carla Martinez, who plays Ren's mother, is a beautifully sung lament about womanly patience and regret. The erstwhile pop singer's voice has grown richer, and she delivers her lines, few as they are, with depth and grace. The kids in the audience, of course, would hardly care. "Footloose" is marketed as family entertainment, so jittery tykes can be forgiven when they loll about in their seats every time the Reverend and his wife launch into one of their chilly spats. Good thing there's more than enough dancing and singing in this show to distract them from grownup woes. For 2 1/2 hours at least, "Footloose" and its merry band make a good case for cutting loose and having fun. Time to dust off those espadrilles. "Footloose" runs until Sept. 25 at the Meralco Theater. Call 8919999, 6354478, 6317252 or visit www.ticketworld.com.ph
 
posted by The White Rabbit at 8:24 AM | Permalink |


1 Speak Up, I Can't Hear You:


Post a Comment ~ back home