Another thrilling production by the Berklee Musical Theater Club premieres tomorrow and continues Friday at the Berklee Performance Center! After having seen their production of Hair: A Love-Rock Musical last spring, I was excited to see who would be cast in their newest production, Footloose: The Musical, a live adaptation of the 1984 film starring Kevin Bacon! The 22-member cast and 13-pit orchestra will be performing chart-topping songs including “Let’s Hear It for the Boy” and “Holding Out for a Hero.”
Last weekend, I had the chance to check out one of their rehearsals, and I was pleased to see a lot of the same students from Hair will also be appearing in Footloose. The rehearsal seemed like the perfect balance between laid-back and hard working. Director Tre’von Griffith worked with different groups one at a time while the others chatted or practiced on their own. He was not afraid to get in there and show them what he wanted, even modeling sultry dance moves and demonstrating high voice techniques. The choreography was possibly the most impressive aspect of the rehearsal. Even though they were still learning new moves, they caught on incredibly quickly.
While Tre’von concentrated mostly on the acting and dance moves, musical director Max Wolpert stood at his conducting stand and aimed to refine the music. Working with pianist and assistant musical director Patrick Hoagland, Max made sure that every note represented the story and fit with the choreography. When the entire crew practiced a scene with a group song, I was blown away by not only how powerful and confident they sounded, but also how much fun they were having. This was probably my favorite part of the rehearsal – watching the Musical Theater Club do what they do, and having a blast with it.
If you want to see a group of incredibly talented and devoted musical theater actors strut their stuff, come to the BPC on Thursday, November 21 or Friday, November 22 at 7:00pm! Footloose: The Musical is sure to rock your socks off (and maybe even your shoes!) Visit http://www.berklee.edu/bpc for more information and tickets. Hope to see you there!
