“Bomont? Where the hell is Bomont?”
Over the weekend, the celebrated teen-centric musical “Footloose” took to the stage for its one-weekend run at the Imperial Centre for the Arts and Sciences in Rocky Mount to answer that question.
“Footloose” came to prominence as a 1984 movie musical starring Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer, John Lithgow and Sarah Jessica Parker. It’s about a Chicago teen forced to relocate to the fictional rural town of Bomont after his father abandons the family. There, he leads the fight against a ban on rock music and dancing imposed by the town’s puritanical preacher and its compliant town board.
The film was adapted to the stage in 1998 and ran for 709 performances at Broadway’s Richard Rodgers Theater before closing in July 2000, according to the Internet Broadway Database.
The title song, recorded by singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins, spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in March and April 1984. Other familiar songs from “Footloose” include “Holding Out For a Hero,” “Almost Paradise” and “Let’s Hear It For the Boy.”
Laura Wittman, who recently performed in the Imperial Centre’s production of “Harvey,” played Vi Moore, wife of the dance-detesting Rev. Shaw Moore, in “Footloose.” Portraying a minister’s wife isn’t a stretch for her, as she’s married to the Rev. Nathan Wittman, pastor at Englewood United Methodist Church in Rocky Mount.
“I take my method acting very seriously,” she joked.
It’s a family-friendly show in more ways than one, as her son, Cameron Wittman, is in the cast.
Of the cast of about four dozen, Laura Wittman said, “We have some of the most talented teenagers, some incredible singers and some great dancers, and diversity that really reflects our community.”
That cast includes Khatari Lane as the teen protagonist Ren McCormack; Linda Barrera-Gil as his mother, Ethel; Greg Spence as the Rev. Moore; and Rachel Barnes as the Moores’ daughter, Ariel.
Auditions were held at the end of May, and rehearsals began in early June, Laura Wittman said.
On-stage performers were backed by a live rock ensemble including keyboards, saxophone, clarinet, flute and drums.
“Footloose” was the last go-round for the Imperial Centre’s theater director of two years, Robert Reid-Goodson, who’s leaving to head fundraising for a theater restoration drive in Michigan, according to reports.
Other productions by the Imperial Centre this year have included the 1960s-era drama “You Wouldn’t Expect,” “9 to 5 the Musical” and “Willy Wonka Kids.”
Laura Wittman said she was hoping for a big turnout this weekend and from all accounts, local fans of the theater came through, with a number of sold-out shows: “We’re incredibly lucky that we have a community that supports local theater, and that can’t continue to happen if people don’t come out to the shows,” she said.
The Imperial Centre is at 270 Gay St. in Rocky Mount.
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