"Footloose - Youth Edition" by Kristian Thomas Company.

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

"Footloose" is the story of Ren McCormack, a teenager from Chicago, who has moved to a hick town called Bomont with his mum after his dad walked out a few years ago. The town minister, Shaw Moore, has banned dancing after a car accident years ago where four teenagers of the town died on the way back from a dance.

Ren slowly manages to fit in with the teenagers but makes enemies of the other town folk. He does however make friends with Willard, who isn't the fastest gun in the west, as well as befriending Ariel, the teenage daughter of Reverand Shaw and Vi Moore, and girlfriend to the bullying Chuck Cranston. Ren makes it his aim to overturn the dancing ban, and with the kids on his side, all he now has to do is convince Shaw Moore....

The cast is made up from the Kristian Thomas Company's Intermediate Youth Company from years 7 to 10. The Youth Edition, which is obviously shorter than the full version has edited versions of some of the songs and omits some of the more mature pieces from the original, but is a wonderful vehicle for the students' ages.

Ren is played by Alfie Bridges and shows an obvious love for performing, and especially dance from what I noted; he's also got a really good voice, which you realise the quality of it when he duets with Ariel in my favourite song from the soundtrack, "Almost Paradise". Alfie has really notable stage presence and makes a believable leading man.

Ariel, the daughter of the Reverand and Vi Moore, is played by Darcey Green-Wright. There's a really natural feel to Darcey's acting and her voice is beautiful. She puts real feeling into the delivery of the script and the emotions of the character. She also has the choreography nailed as well, making her a triple threat where theatre is concerned.

Ren's mother, Ethel McCormack, is played by Libby Petford. This isn't one of the biggest roles in this musical but we did get to hear Libby's lovely vocals in her duet with Vi Moore.

Rev Moore is played by Finley Eden, and here's another young actor with a very good vocal technique; I hadn't expected that quality of vocal display from this young man, but I was very pleasantly surprised by Finley. I can't wait to hear what that voice sound like in a few years' time.

Vi Moore is played by Nancy Fox, and at the fear of repeating myself, here's another young performer who's voice made me sit up and take notice. Nancy has a very mature voice and the delicate delivery of "Learning To Be Silent", the duet with Ethel McCormack turned into one of those dream duets.

Willard Hewitt is the "country bumpkin" character who is one boot short of a boot scoot, is played with great comic ability by Bailey Duffy. The scene where Ren is teaching him to dance is particularly humorous, and great to see the results of those quick dance lessons. One of my favourite comedy songs from a musical is the one that Willard performs, "Mama Says", which he delivers with ease.

Chuck Cranston, Ariel's boyfriend who also likes to boss her around, is played by Finlay Lewis. Another good set of vocals, highlighted in the rock song "The Girl Gets Around" early on in the show. The violence that is normally more evident in the full show has been scaled back, but you get that sense of threat and menace through Finlay's actions.

Ariel's bessie mates, Urleen, Wendy Jo and Rusty are played by Lucia Durie, Mischa Spencer and Effie Lennon Ballard. All three have great voices but Effie has one of those voices that is going to be able to belt out power ballads as she has such power, and Lucia and Mischa complements that power perfectly. I absolutely loved Effie's version of "Let's Hear It For The Boy".

The rest of the young actors are Sophia Ireland (Principal Clark), Amelia Goodwin (Coach Dunbar), Olivia Richardson-Purdy (Lyla), Grace Bills (Tracey), Sophie Crawford (Betty Blast), Josie Brennan (Cop), Orla Duncker-Brown (Eleanor Dunbar), Amelia Goodin (Cowgirl Bonnie), James Breen (Cowboy Bob), Ronnie Lee (Cowboy Chet), Nancy Wardle (Cowgirl Laura Jo), Autumn Quach (Cowgirl Jude), Piper Thistleton (Dani), Scarlet Tabberer (Lindsay), Lillyana Benselin (Stevie), Imogen Satherley (Marty), James Bailey (Bickle), Jake Freestone (Jeter), Henry Ferdinando (Garvin), Charlie Savva (Wes), Diya Cheema (Lulu) plus Belle Woodridge, Beth Holliday, Diya Cheema, Grace Hindle, Isla Farrell and Wilbert Jay Leysa.

I hope that I'm right but I must mention James for his dancing skills. The group choreography is so good and they all looked as if they were having the time of their life, but James just kept drawing my eye back to him due to his naturally good dance skills, a real smooth mover.

And I also must mention Wilbert's final costume; that colourful jacket looked brilliant. It's just the colour that I would love a suit made of. So eye-catching.

Directed by Katie Lawson, and assisted by Ben Alexander, this show is high energy all the way through. I didn't see anyone without a smile on their face at the final bows, which shows me that they all have loved performing in this show, and that obviously shows that Katie has managed to instil that joy of performing in this show.

Choreographed by Bethany Neville, assisted by Baby Neville-Eccles. This show is partly about a dancing ban, but the dancing shouted loud from the stage. Loved the line dancing and every other style included in this fun show.

Set Design is by Kristian Thomas Company with A1 Stage. A very simple staging with the addition of stage props, which are brought on and off very smoothly, and often as part of the choreography.

Musical Director is Sam Hedley. The harmonies are brilliant and very tight. I have mentioned previously about the blending of voices in the duet, and when the duets are as good as they are in this show, you can tell the work that has gone into the music side of this musical. The arrangements are performed slightly different, "Footloose", "Holding Out For A Hero" and "Let's Hear It For The Boy" and are more intricate than the "pop" versions and sound even better.

The costumes are courtesy of Kristian Thomas Company. I have mentioned the vibrancy of some of the costumes and they all look brilliant.

Lighting design and operation for this production is by Stephen Greatorex and adds even more colour and sense of excitement to the show.

Sound design is by Dave Dallard and has been mixed really well with Jack Clark as the Sound Two engineer.

This is a fine example of where every area of production, creatives and cast come together to produce a show that just rolls along smoothly, and before you know it, the final bows come along and it's time to go home.

"Footloose" is at the Duchess Theatre in Long Eaton until  Wednesday 4 June.