Michael T. Mondak speaks about performing in Footloose 20 years later Part III

In the first entry on this subject, I talked about the plot of the Footloose movie and the people I worked with in the musical production in 2004.  In the last entry, I talked about the plot of the musical.

In this entry, I shall retell the stories from our production at Robert Morris University in 2004.

After an audition and callback process, there was an initial list of 37 people who were cast.  Although most roles were filled, some were not yet filled by the time we had our first practice on February 9, 2004 in the Massey Theater.  However, by then, the initial list of 37 was trimmed to 27, but still there were some roles that were not yet filled (e.g., the roles of Wes Warnicker, Principal Harry Clark, Jeter Stevens and Sheriff Jim Deakin).  That's the reason why the initial list of 37 people included Bethany Gallagher and myself in the ensemble.  Our Sunday practices were held at the Pittsburgh Musical Theater studios on the West End of Pittsburgh (with the exception of the February 29 practice which was held at Massey Theater).  For those practices, I rode shotgun with Greg Heid in his car with Jackie Becker and Samantha Leonardi in the back seat.

At the first practice at the studios on February 15, 2004, following introductions (where Robert Dubs Jr. first gave me the moniker Jeopardy Mike) as well as a readthrough of the script, our director Ken Gargaro pulled me to another room in an attempt to assist me with my portion of the opening number following some runthrough choreography with Colleen Petrucci.  When that was unsuccessful, Ken made the decision to remove me from the opening number and thus fill one of the roles that had not been filled, the role of Sheriff Jim Deakin, which went to me.  In my book, his decision to leave some roles unfilled in the beginning turned out to be a stroke of genius.  (There was a later practice where Bethany Gallagher was slotted into the role of Jeter Stevens, which harkened to a callback from November 2002 when I performed in my high school's senior class play where one of the roles normally played by a male was portrayed by a female - in this case, the role of Burns by Erin Woods.)

As I started to settle into my role of Sheriff Jim Deakin (which I am wishing to reprise one day), subsequent practices that I attended saw me lament about how my morale was going south over moments in class that went sour, the fact that Footloose was my first stage production since November 2002, and that I was not the lector at Sunday morning mass at the Rogal Chapel.  In the process, I went around campus to promote the shows on March 31 through April 3 by convincing some of the females on campus to purchase a ticket for one of the shows and to also go to Moon Township Giant Eagle and get red and baby blue balloons at the floral department for me.  Following our practice on March 1, 2004, we rested for spring break.  But spring break was not one of rest for me, as I had several appointments during that week of rest at home (with Dr. Maiden in Liberty on Saturday, orthodontist appointment with Dr. Stofko on Monday, dentist appointment with Dr. Thomas on Tuesday, annual physical with Dr. Stigliano on Wednesday, haircut with Paula on Thursday, and oral surgery consultation with Dr. Clemenza on Friday).  But I returned to campus on March 14, 2004 rested and ready to resume practices, but morale continued to take a tumble.  When Heather Lazzini and Emily DeWald overheard that I was thinking about dropping out of the cast, they stepped in and made a vow to boost my morale come showtime.

At one of the last practices at the studios, choreographer Colleen Petrucci paired me up for the Footloose - Finale with Jackie Becker.  Little did she know that she paired up two folks with a connection to the Shenango Valley.  Prior to our final practice on March 26, 2004, I had sent an email to the female cast members to convince them to go to the Moon Township Giant Eagle for red and baby blue balloons prior to their arrival for performances.  By then, and by the time Sunday mass began on March 28, 2004, my morale was in danger of going into negative territory until Father Hal Baily, the Catholic chaplain, sent me to the ambo to proclaim the readings for the Fifth Sunday of Lent.  When I finished the second reading with the words of "The Word of the Lord", my morale was switched from active mode to frozen.  It would remain frozen for the remainder of the semester.

My arrival at the Massey Theater on March 28 for tech/dress rehearsal with a garment bag with my suit, tuxedo shirt, studs, cuff links, bow tie and black shoes was met by both Heather Lazzini and stage manager Emily Kosloff with the news from me that my morale was frozen and could never go down.  Heather handed me the uniform I would wear in my role as Sheriff Jim Deakin.

Remember earlier that I said that the roles of Wes Warnicker and Principal Harry Clark were initially unfilled?  By this time, those roles were filled by Dave Budziszewski and Rex Crawley respectively.

Note that I said that March 28, 2004 was tech/dress rehearsal for Footloose.  As the crew prepared to get all of the bells and whistles in working order, Deana Muro and the band had come together also.  And I treated this particular practice as an initial dress rehearsal.  And throughout the entire week, I wore the same pair of black dress socks and did not take them off from the time I left Sunday mass at the Rogal Chapel until the time I returned to my dorm in Hancock Hall on April 3 after the final performance.

That crew consisted of stage manager Emily Kosloff, assisted by Stephanie Collier, with Nick Seibel, Jessica Markham, Chad Sharrocks, and Varian Mattingly.  They would be joined by other crew, including Alex Wilson.

Prior to our final dress rehearsal on March 30, I asked if Heather and Emily were planning on keeping the vow they made to me just two weeks earlier, they assured me that they would.  That made me feel better.

Following the end of my last class on opening night, I returned to my dorm room to put my school books away and grab some things I needed to take to my dressing room for opening night.  When I arrived at the Massey Theater just four hours until showtime, I walked into John Locke's office in the green room, but I happened upon our stage manager.  I asked her where John was, and I learned that he was in the control room.  I was going to sit down in the green room, but Emily told me that there was something for me in the dressing room.  So I asked her if it was from Heather.  Emily told me to find out.  I walked into the dressing room, and there was my uniform on a chair with red and baby blue balloons tied to it.  Upon seeing my balloons (yes, they were indeed from Heather and Emily), I let out a shout of "Praise and honor to you, Lord Jesus Christ!"  (We did the live performances of Footloose during Lent.)  There were more balloons from Jackie Becker and Samantha Leonardi that evening.  I was ready to go out and perform that evening.

On the second of four nights of performances, when I arrived at my usual time, I learned that it was Bethany Gallagher's turn to boost morale.  Upon her arrival, Bethany was carrying a bucket with 26 flowers in water, along with some red and baby blue balloons for me.  And when I caught sight of them, I said, "Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory!"  I asked Bethany what happened to that 27th flower, but Bethany explained that she had no choice but to get 26 flowers and then red and baby blue balloons for me.  That made me feel a lot better and I was ready to go out and perform again.

Following my last class on the third of four nights of performances, I put my school books away and went to the theater at the usual time.  Though Michael J. Mainier sprang for pizza for us before the show, I was unsure if I would receive any balloons that night.  But sure enough, some female student (I think it was Sarah Bradley) got me red and baby blue balloons, which saw me let out a shout of "Glory to you, Word of God, Lord Jesus Christ!"  Just when it appeared that I wouldn't get any balloons, I was ready to perform again now that I had balloons.

On March 3, the last of the four nights of performances, I arrived at the Massey Theater six hours prior to showtime.  Acting on a hunch, I went into the offstage workshop, and saw balloons from another female student (was it Christine Lewis?) and I said, "Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!"  I was already pumped up for one final performance that evening.  There would be more red and baby blue balloons from Jackie and Samantha, as well as from Summer Leigh York.  Prior to our final performance, where I would perform in front of my mother, father, and my paternal grandparents, we huddled together as a cast where we thanked everyone from the cast and crew for the last two months we spent together.

The next entry will retell stories of the aftermath following the conclusion of the live performances, including who I would work with in later productions and where the cast is now.