FOOTLOOSE: THE MUSICAL - Jarrod Moore Interview

Jarrod Moore chat to Subculture about his role in Footloose: The Musical

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Well listeners, Footloose the Musical is returning back to Melbourne
for an encore season, and we thought today we would
actually chat to the start of the show to find
out a little bit more about how he feels about
coming back to Melbourne and to find out a little
bit more about himself and also his performance in Footloose
as well. So, without any other further Ado, let's welcome

(00:23):
Jared Moore to the show. Jared, welcome.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Thank you so much than me.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
No worries now, Jared, we are so excited that Footloose
is returning back to Melbourne. Tell us a little bit
about how you feel about coming back for a return
Melbourne season.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Look, it's not very often you get to just do
a show once and Denny get to come back and
do it over again. But after the last season which
we sold that in three weeks, it's pretty exciting to
be able to come back and do it for a
whole bunch of new people, if not maybe even some
people come and see it again. So yeah, I know, it's.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
Really definitely So Jo, let's go right back to the beginning,
because you know, you were a newcomer coming into this show.
A lot of the cast have got vast experience and
other musicals over the years, but you came into this
as a newcomer. So tell us a little bit about
that journey. How did this all kick off for you?

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, well, I've been a little bit. I've been kind
of chipping away the industry for a while. Like I
graduated UNI back in twenty eighteen, and then I did
some contracts overseas at theme parks, and then it was
about twenty post COVID where I finally said it to
be like, no, okay, let's give it a red hot
crack the true muscal fitter industry. And yeah, no. I

(01:40):
was actually doing a show in Melbourne at Chapel Off Chapel,
a little cabaret style pantos show with Trevor Ashley called
them Mullin Scrooge and Davy Kam saw the show and
then he got in contact and was like, hey, Rogers
think footloose? Can you to the callbacks? And I was like,

(02:01):
oh yeah, sure, I'm not a moment, I'm available, why not?
So yeah, we've and that was that was history. Yeah.
I went in kind of knew all the material before
because I knew someone was called this stuff from auditioning
previously for certain shows, and yeah, that was it. That
was history.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
So what was that moment, Like we always talk about
life changing moments when a phone call comes through or
something like that, what was that moment like when you
first got asked to come along on an audition, because
I'm guessing that doesn't happen very often where you receive
the call normally it would be you it's just going
along to an audition.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, no, it's pretty surreal it really. Maybe you feel
a little bit oh okay, maybe this is what this
is what it feels like. It can't be in the
big leagues at that point, because, yeah, being asked to
come an audition and stuff, it's it's quite affirming and
it's like, oh, someone has seen you on stage performing
and they've been like I really like what they're doing
and I want to see them do something else. So

(02:58):
it's like it's that kind of affirmation and then all
so a bit of an excitement to be like, wow,
this could lead to more, which is the dream always
is to be able to do something to then go
onto something else.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
So yeah, for young performers out there, though, did that
put more pressure on you? Like did you feel more
pressure because you were being invited then say, if you
were just turning up for a cold audition.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
A little bit in a way, it has that kind
of expectation because you're like, oh, they've seen me, and
that you want to live up to their expectations. But
also this just happened to be a look enough turnaround
of a process. They didn't have too much time to
dwell on it, really, which is sometimes the best. Sometimes
your worst auditions you do are the ones where you
spend a month preparing for it and you really want

(03:40):
to do well, so you put a bunch of pressure
on yourself. Or is this one it was, hey, can
you come audition? And I was like, sure, I'll see
you in two days. So it was kind of just
like throw yourself in and that car sometimes has the
best outcomes because you can generally have time to overthink
you You just get to be your own authentic self.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
So then, what was it like stepping into the character
of Rain As you said, you already knew some of
the Footloot material, But what was that like then for
that next step stepping into the character and getting to
learn the rest of the show.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
It was it was actually really nice. Granted, I had
to watch the film because they had not seen the
original film, so I was like, right, I'll do some
research and I'll watch that to make sure I do
see what kind of where it's come from. But the
musical is a down beast separate from the film, so
it was really really opening to kind of dig away

(04:32):
at rend and see what they've taken from the film
and how they flashed them out a bit more for
stage as well, which is really interesting. Was fun because
obviously characters from screen don't always immediately translate to on stage,
so they're given a little bit more, a little bit more,
a little bit more, a little bit more fierce. There's

(04:54):
a little bit more of a cutting edge as well,
which translates twelve for stage. But yeah, no, it was
a really really really good experience to kind of like
get in touch this character that so many people know
so well, and yet try and make it your own
as well, so you're trying to like serve to notice.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
Yeah, I was going to ask that about the movie
as well, because I remember chatting to the cast of
Cruel Intentions and they said, sometimes it's very difficult to
walk into a role that is based on such a
classic movie, because everybody knows the character from the movie,
it's kind of difficult to walk in and make it
your own. How did you find that experience of finding
that right mix of what Reren was like in the film,

(05:37):
so then making it your own role, especially with the
differences there in the musical as well.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yeah, I definitely think what helped me was I didn't
try and really create anything Kevin did in the movies.
In the movie, I kind of I looked at the
text it's itself and kind of dug it through the
will script itself first, and that was my main intro
to Ren, and I took everything from the text and
the stage directions and everything, and that's how I created

(06:07):
my own image of Rem. And then when I watched
the film, then I was like, Okay, I could kind
of like cherry pick bits and pieces of like, oh,
it's a little bit more, a little bit more nonchalant,
or that's kind of an attitude you could bring, but
it's already you've already kind of like I had already
created a base of a character there, so it's just
kind of like a little flavor on top enough to
get people to be like, oh, Yeah, you're the Kevin

(06:28):
Bacon guy when you see them after the show. So
I was like, Okay, I think I've I've done enough then,
enough to make it my own, but enough to still
get the fans of the original film happy and on side.

Speaker 1 (06:39):
Now that both both versions of the movie, the original
and the remake, of course, I've got such amazing soundtracks.
What was that like for you and the rest of
the crew to start working on bringing these amazing tracks
to the stage.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah, the music itself, I think is some of the
best parts of the show because I didn't realize just
how much of the music from the show was also
originally written for the film as well. So when you
want to do the original film, a lot of the
key production numbers and even some of the smaller numbers
from the show are in the movie, but they'll be
playing on the radio in the background. They'll be playing

(07:16):
in the background. So while they're not singing and dancing
two they said songs, they're always kind of president through
the film. So they actually it's a really interesting version
of a It's as like a half a ju Juka
box musical because while they are modern pop there a
lot of them were pop rock songs of the time
may famous by the movie. They were all originally written
for the movie, so they serve the plot of the

(07:37):
of the musical then quite well. And then there's a
couple of songs peppett in as well, they were written
exclusively for the musical. So yeah, it's been great finding
the new numbers or finding light of old numbers, like
holding out for a Hero, which has always been you've
noticed that the number from them from the original the
eighties and and for Loose Music movie, but then it

(08:00):
translated into the musical as well. It's just as doubly
is funny you get to find oh my god, this
is this is how we're relating it to these characters
now as well, So it kind of brings the whole
show to life in that way, which is really cool. Now.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
I know this might be like asking someone who their
favorite child is, but do you have a favorite musical
number from the show?

Speaker 2 (08:23):
Look, guitar, there's a lot of good ones. But I
would say that maybe it's because I'm not in it,
but I really do love holding out three Hero. But
that's me as Ren i'mside stage. I get to watch that.
I'll be a great one to be in. But aside
from that one, let's hear it for the Boy, which
happens to act too, is kind of like a real
stand up for the whole show because it's a great

(08:45):
little moment between Willard and Rusty as the characters and
their character stories. And then it's fun for Ren at
that point to take a bit of a backseat and
just kind of like support and we just need to
have a dance. And it's that point of the movie
where they've left the musical, where they've gotten out of Bonmont,
so they can and can like show them what dancing
is like and show them to take them dancing. So

(09:06):
it's a really really fun part of the show every
single night because we're just literally us as factors and
also characters are having fun on stage and that's kind
of the best part of any.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
Show, definitely. So I wanted to ask as well, for
the young performers out there that listen to this show,
what did you find was the biggest step up for you?
Like you said you were doing shows with Chapel Off Chapel,
and like for myself as a as a playwright, I've
done work with La Mama. What was that like taking
that next step up going from a Chapel off Chapel
show to a big musical like Footlost. Was there much

(09:37):
of a step up that you found that you had
to do and what was that biggest difference.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
It's the main kind of thing you when you step
up in terms of size of venue and everything, is
that you can't always play things as small as you'd like.
A lot of things while you're trying to maintain the
intagony of scenes and you're trying to connect with the
people on stage, you unfortunately have to telegraph quite a
bit because you're trying to reach the back of the
dress or the back of even the top balcony, especially

(10:06):
the app which is quite tall. So a lot of
sightlines get lifted up in in production numbers and it's
like no, no, no where amy fo ad dress let or
higher or a lot of scenes, well, you cheat out
a lot lot more than if you're in a really
intimate space where they can see. But those things, once
you kind of like get clued into them, they kind
of they come pretty naturally. They don't feel too fishing genuinely,

(10:31):
and then they're just part of the stagecraft.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
Okay, so Jared, I know we are running out of
time very very quickly, and I can see in the
background right now that you're already at the theater. So
I guess to finish off. Yes, you're right, I guess
to finish off. What would you like to say to
people out there who are heading along to check out
the Encore season.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
I think that they should be excited for something bigger, better.
Electric is the is the key word that's been thrown
around for this new season, because we've taken what's happened
in the original season and we said that was a
great that's maybe anterest so they can have a great

(11:15):
time at the theater industry. You know. A bit of Escapism,
which we all like, was a story that we all
love and know with music that we all love to
know as well.