A total of 200 members of Greeley's class of 2013 have been rehearsing since January for four performances of the musical based on the 1984 film starring Kevin Bacon.
"I had seen the movie before but didn't want to watch it after I got the part of Ren. I didn't want to steal Kevin Bacon's stuff," says Brian Swinney, who's playing the lead role.
Footloose is about a city teenager who moves to a small town where rock music and dancing have been banned.
"Beaumont is similar to Chappaqua in that it's pretty small. You walk down the street and know someone. But we're not quite as strict and rigid," says Rebecca Canziani, who plays one of Rusty's friends.
Swinney, who'll be a musical theater major at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in the fall, and Canziani, who will be a musical theater major at Muhlenberg College, are also two of the show's four student producers.
"One of our biggest jobs was casting 200 parts during midterm week," says Canziani. "Scheduling is a lot harder than you'd think."
"The best part," according to Swinney, has been "watching jocks who I never imagined on stage coming out, rehearsing and knocking it out on stage." Canziani says, "They were so cute. They'd high-five each other if they got the steps right. They are funny and adorable."
Canziani adds she loves performing in Footloose with her sister and a few friends with whom she has performed since the fourth grade, knowing they may not work together again. "It is amazing to come full circle."
Performances are Thursday, April 11, at 7 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m. A few tickets are still available. Proceeds from the show will go to the Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund.
"It's a very high-spirited show. Everyone who comes will have a great time," says Swinney.
THE CAST AND CREW OF FOOTLOOSE:
REN MCCORMACK: Brian Swinney
ARIEL MOORE: Rebecca Scholl
REVERAND SHAW MOORE: Patrick Moore
RUSTY: Tori Cott
CHUCK CRANSTON: Ryan Lubarsky
WILLARD HEWITT: Jake Sussman
VI MOORE: Liv Amundsen
ETHEL MCCORMACK: Alexandra Skolnick
LULU WARNICKER: Jackie Seltzer
WES WARNICKER: Zach Schwartz
COACH ROGER DUNBAR: Matt Xie
ELEANOR DUNBAR: Eva Sibinga
COWBOY BOB: Ben Factor
COP: Harris Pollack
BETTY BLAST: Haley Goodman
PRINCIPAL HARRIET CLARK: Dana Bergenfeld
RUSTY’S FRIENDS: Jasmine Canziani, Rebecca Canziani, Mary Kate McGetrick, Jessica Perelman, Maya Wald
CHUCK’S FRIENDS: Robbie Gautney, Greg Handler, Chris Koster, Josh Kogan, Brent Lobien, Matt Valenti
WILLARD’S FRIENDS: Jake Ault, Tim Bloom, Will Galvin, Adam Linden, Josh Perlmutter, Patrick Shaia
COWBOY BAND: Julia Lin, Aleksa Karner, Charlie Markowitz, Jon Nankof, Neal Port, Bing Bing Xie
DANCING KIDS: Erica Barbag, Jamie Baum, Jessica Cohen, Virginia Di Vaio, Katie Duncalf, Nicole Fella, Alana Fromm, Perri Goldstein, Teddy Graves, Neha Gupta, Jackson Gutenplan, Eileen Huang, Tori Knoezer, Erica Lazarus, Nicole Levy, Amy Lindelof, Olivia Lindenberg, Samantha Monk, Juliana Posen, Andrew Sheinfeld, Luke Sorensen, Jessie Thea, Jeremy Warner, Danielle Weinstein
ADULTS: Stefanie Barry, Alexandra Conran, Daniel Cortez, Noah Deutsch, Benjamin Djaha, Cory Ekstrom, Max Frumkes, Brett Gore, Anne Hart, Mariel Huehnergarth, Sara McElheny, Alexandra Medway, Hannah Miller, Harris Miller, Jordan Miller, Jessica Odrich, Daniel Scharf, Ian Sklar, Nir Tomer, Caroline Whalen
CHURCH CHOIR: Joshua Binary, Connor Dowd, Armand Gherkin, Misia Grzebyk, Neil Hershman, Emma Lampe, Anna Nagler, Jon Sheinfeld, Maddie Steinhauer, Lily Wolfensohn, Benjamin Zander
STUDENTS: Darren Cheng, Claire Cohen, Alison Cooney, Katie Flicker, Ali Greenstein, Jackie Inglis, Sarah Jen. Leah Katz, Evelyn Kim, Nicole Larizza, Lily Lesser, Tulsi Patel, Eliza Rader, James Sclafani, Audrey Seligman, Elaina Weinburg, Jamie Weisser
WRESTLERS: Gavin Abrams, Jake Goldberg, Richard Grayson, Peter Kim, Aaron Leibowitz, Jonathan Leventhal, Andrew Myers
BURGER BLAST CUSTOMERS: Max Behren, Danielle Berg, Rebecca Berg, Jacqueline Brett, Jordan Cook, Blake Davis, Sarah Decuffa, Joanna Ezratty, Brett Finkelstein, Lindsay Hill, Zoe Lazarus, Hannah Matluck, Kristin Mullaney, Alara Osma, Jack Polikoff, Allison Schacter, Elizabeth Schiowitz, Sami Wintner, Sarah Zandi
PARENTS: Alex Herzog, Amanda Isacoff, Marika Nadel-LaMotta, Becky Newborn
COWBOYS: Josh Benaroya, Daniel Cortez, Conor Dowd, Derek Freyberg, Robbie Gautney, Brett Gore, Jackson Gutenplan, Brian Hamerschlag, Neil Hershman, Michael Mendelson, Harris Miller, Jon Sheinfeld, Daniel Scharf, Dan Schwartz, Nir Tomer, Matt Valenti, Sanan Venkatesh
COWGIRLS: Emma Aufrichtig, Olivia Baker-Sullivan, Annabel Baker-Sullivan, Margot Barclay, Maddy Clough, Willa Gutfreund, Julie Hurewitz, Arielle Kahn, Ally Kuhn, Gaby May, Molly Olonoff, Shrushti Patel, Oliva Poser, Jolie Simpson, Marijane Soilis, Amy Wang, Christine Yoon
COUNCIL MEMBERS: Nick Biggar, Josh Bluestine, Brian Breen, Emily Brace, Ariane Crummer, Ethan Fuirst, Nick Girardi, Lindsay Gittleman, Maura Grant, Kayla Hartman, Emily Levine, Nathaniel Rosenberg, Brad Schnabel, Ilana Schwartz, Jared Slater, Sasha Zemsky
CHURCH PATRONS: Natalie Abemayor, Jessica Ahlmen, Megan Enright, Jordan Glotzer, Cara Goldfarb, Sarah Greenberg, Joshua Levey, Sabrina Pearson, Joel Robinson, Sarah Schattschneider, Claire Sparks, Joanna Tulman, Alex Van Fleet, Risten Clarke
STUDENT PRODUCERS: Rebecca Canziani, Brian Swinney, Zak Krooks, Dan Borenstein
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR: Dan Borenstein
STAGE MANAGER: Jordan Stein
LIGHTBOARD OPERATOR: Dan Borenstein
SOUND DESIGNER: Frankie Chiarulli
COSTUMES: Elizabeth Ashikari, Sydney Bunshaft, Lawanya Singh, Marissa Wolff
HAIR AND MAKEUP: Erica Gordon, Marika Nadel-LaMotta, Rebecca Duhamel, Miranda Litwak
The author is the proud mom of a member of the Cowboy band.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Chappaqua and receive free news updates.