Surflight Theatre's 'Footloose' opens summer at the Shore

The reopening of the Surflight Theatre in Beach Haven, Long Beach Island, was a gala night at the Jersey Shore. Next door, at the ShowPlace Ice Cream Parlour, the staff was already singing and dancing. And the Surflight would follow suit in Footloose, the theater's reopener through July 9.

Miss Ocean City and Miss New Jersey were on hand. So was the mayor of Beach Haven, Nancy Taggart Davis, who got a big laugh when she said to the packed, VIP-rich house, "We need you here every night!"

Steve Steiner, artistic producing director, said a few words, as did an emotional Al Parinello, heroic owner. Two years after bankruptcy darkness, the Surflight is back and wants to stay. Optimism charged the air. Much of it came from the singing, dancing, game cast of Footloose.

Not a distinguished musical, Footloose has enjoyed success regionally for decades. It was thus a likely opening show for a theater with, as Steiner puts it, "a summer stock feel." It's got it, mostly for better.

Mostly. This opener was like many a theatrical first night. Some gremlin locked a door that should have opened, forcing an actor to walk through (as in around) a broken wall. A just-installed sound system was the stuff of producers' nightmares, with feedback, silent monologues, and poor mixes. Act 1 vocals were uncertain. Nerves? Sure, but also that cranky system; you sing better if you can hear the mix. Don't blame the sound guy. These contraptions have wills of their own; they have brought many a debut to its knees.

Luckily, this is a musical on its feet. The three ensemble dances were powered by a cast full of goodwill, with veteran actors next to kids from Michigan, Maryland, and faraway New York. The Chicago-based opener was suitably aerobic. The midway number – at a cowboy club, where protag Ren McCormack (played by remarkable Logan Farine) takes his pals, because dancing is forbidden in their town, Bomont – was comic and engaging. Farine can sing and act, and, even better, can run up walls, do splits, and back-flip in place with ease.

The all-hands closer was glorious; by then, all had steadied their voices and won over an audience willing to be won over.

The best tune was "Let's Hear It for the Boy," sung by sparkly Nina Gabriela Gross. Most effective acting came in the daughter-father scenes between Meggan Herod as Ariel Moore and Ricky Pope as Pastor Moore, enemy of dancing. Many were the audience favorites, including Jakki Gioia as the pastor's wife, and longtime Surflight actor Ricky Pope as the wrestling coach and other roles.

But the hands-down show-stealer was Adrianne Hick as Betty Blast, owner/operator of the Burger Blast. We're in the tiny Midwest town of Bomont, yet she roller-skates on stage with a Jersey accent that beggars The Sopranos – as if after the show she'll skate down the block and take the swing shift at any of a dozen Shore burger joints.

Footloose is as deep as a dancing sock, but it's summer entertainment, a genial start, a smile. It fits. Theater, cast, and show were full of the pleasure of being here. May it carry through a full summer of other shows.