Interview: PEEK BEHIND THE CURTAIN Examines the World of FOOTLOOSE

MSMT continued its 11th season of the popular series, Peek Behind the Curtain, on July 23, 2025, presenting a panel consisting of two of MSMT’s favorite artists, Charis Leos (GYPSY, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, HELLO, DOLLY!) and David Girolmo (WAR PAINT & CANDIDE on Broadway, TITANIC, TREASURE ISLAND, HELLO, DOLLY!), together with MSMT Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark and BWW moderator Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold.

Held at Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick, the event drew its customary enthusiastic crowd. Among the topics addressed in the conversation were FOOTLOOSE as a reflection of the 1980s, the creative team of E. Faye Butler (director) and Tyler Hanes (choreographer), the setting of FOOTLOOSE in the fictional town of Bomont, Oklahoma, and the meaning of dance as self-expression and liberation in the musical.

Here are some of the most salient comments from the conversation:

Curt Dale Clark

• “The music of FOOTLOOSE is so infectious; the score is filled with # 1 hits!”

• “E. Faye is an incredibly emotional human being and director, and that causes the shows she leads to have great heart. Tyler Hanes has a more modern sensibility about choreography, and that means constant, more youthful energy. The mega mix dance finale sends you out to your car happy. He and E. Faye clicked immediately [as a team].”

• “The Kevin Bacon FOOTLOOSE movie is amazing, and the remake introduced a whole new generation to the show, but [in my view], musicals are always better than movies.”

Charis Leos

• “Dance is a primal form of expression [in FOOTLOOSE]. The town’s wounds are not healing by suppressing the physical expression dance allows. My character, Ethel, is incredibly supportive of Ren.  She knows they have nowhere else to go, but she never tries to silence her son. She tries to stay out of the way and give him advice only when she realizes he needs it.”

• “Ethel is not from Bomont, so when she arrives there with Ren, it is as if she had been dropped there from another planet - total culture shock!”

• “I love that in the show all the women are strong characters.  They may be quietly watching what is going on, but when they need to, they step up and take the reins.”

David Girolmo

• (On playing the supporting role of Wes): “As an actor, whether I am driving the bus or have a smaller role, I have a very specific job to do: to create this character in this specific time and place.  Wes is an uptight, blue collar guy, who is really a nice guy.  He has opened his home to his wife’s family; he is a caring, loving man who doesn’t understand this kid [Ren] or why he wants to rock the boat in Bomont. To him, it feels like a great act of defiance and overturning of the law. Though he does mellow a little so that at the town council meeting, as he listens to Ren, he grows more sympathetic, but he still votes ‘No’.”

• “Bomont is not America’s ‘vacationland.’ It’s a small town run by a hugely dynamic Pentecostal preacher. [The greeting they extend to Ethel and Ren is] ‘This is how we do things here.  Now welcome.’”

• “I compare the mega mix finale to the release that came after the Covid lockdown.  All that bottled up desire that teenagers have for socialization is like a pot boiling with the lid on. Even the adults get caught up in the explosion of steam that has been boiling for weeks.”

Photo courtesy of MSMT, Dane Whitlock, photographer

FOOTLOOSE runs from July 16  to August 2, 2025 at MSMT’s Pickard Theater on the Bowdoin College campus, 1 Bath Rd., Brunswick, ME 04011  207-725-8769  www.msmt.org