The Hale Theater
Salt Lake City(ish), Utah
(Okay actually the theater is in Sandy but close enough)
This past week, my lovely mother-in-law got us tickets to see “Footloose: The Musical at the Hale Theater. Sam & his family all love shows and music, but we never see shows because I personally am a bum and a little but of a musical theater hater. I was quite pleasantly surprised though! I ended up enjoying the show a lot more than I thought I would. I don’t feel qualified to comment on the quality of the performers (I thought they were really good! but I don’t have much specific feedback aside from loving the girl who played Rusty). BUT! What you may forget is that I received my varsity letter in Theater Tech at Wylie E Groves High School. Hence, I have some thoughts about the technical aspects of the show: the style of theater, the set, and the screens.
The Hale is a theatre-in-the-round, which I found to be extremely delightful. We in the audience are staring down at the actors in the center as they perform. There was never a moment where I felt like I couldn’t see what was happening: the blocking of the actors always had someone facing your way. The round stage requires everyone to always be ‘on’ in every way: the cast of “Footloose” didn’t at all disappoint. Every cast member was giving from every angle. The audience themselves are also visible at all times, which adds to the emotional experience. You can see people react to the story. And yes, because it was SLC, there were a lot of scandalized gasps when a line includes a curse word. It was such a fun and invigorating theater experience!
The set design took advantage of the theatre-in-the-round. The technical set-up of the theater is what really makes the production stand out. One full scene set-up (basically an entire room) drops down from the ceiling onto the stage. Not a single piece of furniture moved, which is especially impressive given that it was the living room of the preacher’s house, complete with lamps, knickknacks, blankets. They didn’t stop with just one set piece descending from the ceiling: there is a bridge too! The actors climb up it, dance out their feelings, and then the bridge returns to the heavens. Amazing! If that wasn’t enough, sets also come up from basement onto the stage. At some point, actors were riding this thing like a giant elevator. There were pyrotechnics, multiple moving cars, and a man flying on cables. The set and effects felt on-par with broadway shows. It was a cut above what I was expecting from the Hale!
The worst part of the theater is the screens. In the back of the theater, there are giant tv-screens. From any given seat, you can see 8 or so screens. They’re fine in the intermission and before the show starts (unsurprisingly reminding the audient to buy snacks & soda), but they were on during the entire show. The images were meant to set the scene of what we see below, but ultimately I found it distracting. There was an excellent set of the church, complete with a pulpit and pews. We didn’t need the images of stained glass windows blasted at the audience to get that it was a church. I wasted time looking at these screens when I could have been more focused on the sermon. The most egregious use of the screens was during the song “I need a hero”. The young lady playing Ariel was singing & dancing her HEART out and the young men appeared on on stage dressed up as all sorts of pop culture heroes (even Kylo Ren! and a flying superman!). Yet on the screens all across the theater they were playing AI-generated clips of movies. Yes you read that right: a theater, a bastion of the arts, was using AI generated slop to distract from their talented young artists. The clips were unsurprisingly shitty and full of material that was almost but not-quite copyrighted. I spent too much gawking at the ai generated art instead of marveling at the lovely dancing below.
But aside from that, I would recommend going to the Hale if you’re ever around SLC and want to see a show! It’s definitely on the pricier side (~$70 per adult), but it’s a blast.