Cutting Footloose for 35 Years

By Steven Libowitz   |   August 15, 2019

When Kenny Loggins composed the music that would become “Footloose” back in 1983, the singer-songwriter didn’t even give it a second thought. With “I’m Alright” from Caddyshack from a couple of years earlier his lone movie song smash, Loggins had yet to become the “King of the Movie Soundtrack,” so he stuck it on the shelf.

Jackson Gilles and Hunter Hawkins

“So, no, it was not something I considered one of my best tunes as a song idea,” Loggins admitted last week. “I certainly never imagined that it would end up becoming timeless. It just languished in my tape recorder for about a year.”

That’s when future fellow Montecito resident Dean Pitchford showed him the first draft of Footloose, wondering if Loggins might have some musical ideas. Maybe “that uptempo thing” might fit, Loggins mused. So the two fine-tuned the melody, bringing it into focus and writing lyrics.

“That’s when I realized we had a good rocker on our hands,” Loggins recalled. “But I had no idea that it would live forever.”

As in the one song out of his huge catalog that Loggins has to play at every show. “Even at benefits with people in tuxedos and gowns,” he said. “They might be sitting with their beef and peas but as soon as that song comes on they get up and dance.”

Folks will likely be dressed a bit more casually when the song gets performed twice as part of the “Celebrating the Music of Footloose” 35th anniversary benefit concerts this Sunday, August 18, at the Marjorie Luke Theatre. The shows feature about 30 kids ranging up to age 20 and drawn from the Adderley School as well as several youth theater and musical nonprofits in town performing hit songs from the 1984 movie and 1998 Broadway musical. Most of the older teens who perform in the evening show will be familiar to audiences through such programs at Teen Star – including 2016 winner Jackson Gillies, 2019 winner Sofia Schuster, 2016 and 2017 finalist Hunter Hawkins – or in local theater and musical productions.

That includes Teen Sings for Santa Barbara, the benefit created by the young singers in the wake of the Thomas Fire and Montecito mudslide. Loggins worked with the troupe as a hands-on mentor, and found the experience more than thrilling.

“People were very moved by their commitment and the connection, and it really brought the community together,” he recalled. “It really spoke to my heart. I felt really motivated to work with the teens again as I’ve been integrating more mentoring into my life.”

Hilton Westcott, Anna Duboc, and Santa Barbara Teen Star winner Sofia Schuster

So, it was great timing when Janet Adderley late last year proposed partnering to produce Footloose together for the summer 2019 show.

“It became clear to me that this was a moment to build upon in the community that took us out of disaster and into the light,” Adderley explained. “How profound and compelling it was to have Kenny Loggins on stage supporting and mentoring our best teen talent in an effort to teach them stewardship and philanthropy. It’s like a Teen Sings reboot, where we’re helping the kids in their dreams to become solid artists while also being stewards to their community.”

While Footloose was originally slated to be performed as a full musical production, the show later turned into more of a revue, largely through Loggins’ choice.

“I was never a theater kid,” he said. “Growing up I was always more about being in rock bands. The music was enough for a two-week intensive.”

Not that the songs won’t be enough. Indeed, Loggins’ title single from the soundtrack album spent three weeks at the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in the spring of 1984, while five other songs from the record soon reached the Top 40, too. The album itself also hit the top spot, where it deposed Michael Jackson’s Thriller and held on for 10 weeks, eventually selling more than 17 million LPs worldwide.

Fast-forward three decades and Loggins said the youngsters performing the versions at the evening show at the Luke are doing far better than just holding their own. The highlights include Schuster soloing on an updated version of “The Girl Gets Around,” Gillies singing “Heaven Helps Me,” Dakota Lotus (another Adderley School alum who is making his first local appearance since getting cast in a Disney series) taking on “I’m Free” and dueting with Hawkins on “I Can’t Stand Still” and “Almost Paradise,” Marissa Reyes handling “Holding Out for a Hero,” Anna Duboc belting out “Let’s Hear It for the Boy” (co-composed with Dean’s former partner, Montecitan Tom Snow), the whole ensemble, including dancers, delivering the opening “Footloose,” and a closing finale that features the full cast plus Loggins.

“The kids are amazing,” Loggins said. “Some of them have voices that are just incredible. Lots of chops! They’re even taking songs I originally didn’t like at all and selling them like nobody’s business,” he said. “It’s great to be able to tell them with all honesty that you have the gift, to keep going. I feel like I really matter to them and make a difference in their lives.”

The concert will also have an impact on people who might not even attend, as net proceeds benefit not only Adderley’s Youth Ensemble Theater scholarship fund but also the Unity Shoppe, the charity Loggins began working with just a year after “Footloose” came out and for whom he created the annual Christmas Unity Telethon.

“It really brings it full circle,” Loggins said, noting all the groups coming together to create and perform Sunday’s shows. “Unity for Unity.”

 

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