Peacock Theatre, London – until 30 September 2017
Then touring
“Been working so hard, I’m punching my card, Two hours for what?” … Jeez Louise, it gives me no pleasure to report this production of Footloose is among the worst things I’ve seen this year.
Get all social media for Footloose & its staff on www.stagefaves.com
Jukebox musicals are fine in their place, movie adaptations likewise are ever increasingly the norm, but they need love and inspiration to elevate them, rather than the workaday effort and dead-eyed calculation they get here.
Perhaps it’s the result of coming at the tail end of over a year’s touring, perhaps it was a crowd not quite as enthused as the audience of a feel-good show need to be to give it that lift, perhaps it’s just not very good. There’s a real sense of mechanical action about the production, everything moves in the correct way but there’s zero spontaneity here, little sense of the precious ‘liveness’ of great theatre.
If you can’t get a Strallen, then book a Nolan – Maureen is the show’s strongest asset as the only cast member to really try and bring any heart to her performance. The rest just make you wish that the ban on dancing was more strictly enforced, as well as mugging as if this was a panto. By the time Gareth Gates is wheeled out to strip down to hotpants, you’ll long be wishing that you could cut loose.
