Theatre at The Center's newest offering is Footloose, an adaptation of the film (of the same title) released in 1984 starring Kevin Bacon, Footloose was one of the classic teenage films like Dirty Dancing, Flashdance, Fame and Grease. Footloose, The Musical premiered on Broadway production in 1998 and had its debut UK tour in 2004. Footloose, The Musical fits in the same Jello mold as other screen-to-stage productions such as Fame and Saturday Night Fever, or even the new musical version of Dirty Dancing.

Footloose revolves in the life of a teenager, Ren McCormack who happened to moved out (together with his mother)from the metropolitan city of Chicago to a quiet town of Beaumont, Texas. Being young and vulnerable, Ren has his own personal problems to solve - dealing with the situation that his father abandoned him. Despite his difficulties to the new environment, he carries on his passion in dancing – trying his best to convince his new friends or even the entire community of Beaumont to embrace again ‘dancing' as part of their lives. Unfortunately, Ren encounters a big resistance from the community, especially from the local church minister, Reverend Shaw Moore who happened to have a beautiful daughter, Ariel. Ariel is rebellious, quite popular and flirting with one of the bad boys, Chuck. But she also fantasizes the newcomer in town, Ren. Naturally, the attraction becomes deeper and their relationship begins to blossom. At the end, they find out that they have in common: longing for a father's attention, a loss in the family, and a yearning for freedom that youth could have.

Theatre at The Centre's production works for one reason alone; the stellar cast. Headed by the infectious Matt Raftery, the truthfulness of each one of the performers clearly outshines this mediocre adaptation from screen to stage. Raftery gives this production the believability that is remiss in the book of the show. Mr. Raftery finds the soul of his character Ren, and with an explosion of power and tenderness, levitates the role to new dimensions, easily making any comparisons to Kevin Bacon unnecessary. Andrea Prestinario, who was quite stunning in ‘Curtains' is equally as engaging here, making the most of her vocal prowess as well as being quite a rebellious companion to Raftery's Ren. Perhaps the most overlooked is the remarkable performance of Robert Deason who steals most every scene he is in as Ren's best friend Willard.

The major problem with Footloose is the musical itself. Implementing the songs from the film and giving them to the specific characters to sing does the musical a major disservice. The reason is that songs were written as a backdrop to the visual action of film, not as character pieces. Thus, when you have Ren and Ariel singing ‘Almost Paradise' both seem out of character, and for good reason, neither the lyrics or the number are true to the individual moment or the characters as developed. Same with ‘Let's Hear It For the Boy' and ‘Holding Out of For A Hero', which as staged, is almost laughable.

What does work here is the acting. Ren's confrontation with the Reverend (Larry Adams) is brilliant as are the scenes with the Reverend and his wife (Cory Goodrich) who invoke a since of real loss and redemption to their roles.

Footloose plays through August 16, 2009 at Theatre At The Center, 1040 Ridge Road, Munster, Indiana. For tickets and show times please visit www.TheatreAtTheCenter.com