Footloose (90-Minute Version)

This 90-minute adaptation of the hit stage musical retains all the characters and nearly all the songs from the full-length version. ("Learning To Be Silent," Vi's version of "Can You Find It In Your Heart?" and several encores and reprises have been cut.)

When Ren and his mother move from Chicago to a small farming town, he is prepared for the inevitable adjustment period at his new high school. But he’s not prepared for the rigorous local edicts, including a ban on dancing instituted by the local preacher, who is determined to exercise control over the town’s youth. When the reverend’s rebellious daughter sets her sights on Ren, her roughneck boyfriend tries to sabotage Ren’s reputation, with many of the locals eager to believe the worst about the new kid. The heartfelt story that emerges pins a father longing for the son he lost against a young man aching for the father who walked out on him.

To the rockin’ rhythm of its Oscar and Tony-nominated Top Forty score, augmented with dynamic new songs, Footloose celebrates the wisdom of listening to young people while guiding them with a warm heart and open mind.

Footloose first burst onto the silver screen in 1984 and proved to be one of the year’s most successful motion pictures. Footloose opened on Broadway on October 22, 1998. The next day, the show broke the box office record for the Richard Rodgers Theatre, where it continued to thrill audiences through July 2000. After the Broadway run, the creators made changes throughout the libretto, excised three songs from the original score, and restored one (“Still Rockin’,” available on the newly mastered Broadway CD from Ghostlight Records). The reaction to the ‘new’ Footloose was immediate and enthusiastic; a tour in the U.K. led to a West End engagement, which in turn triggered excitement throughout Europe and around the globe. In 2011, Paramount Pictures’ remake of Footloose – with a screenplay by Dean Pitchford and the film’s director Craig Brewer – brought the musical to a whole new generation.