A deeply religious, conservative man and a prominent authority figure in the town, Moore gives a long sermon lambasting the evils of "rock and roll" music and its "endless chant of pornography" ("Footloose/On Any Sunday").

After church, Ren immediately finds himself at odds with the repressive, stifling atmosphere in Bomont and meets Ariel, the Reverend's daughter and only person seemingly unfazed by her father's iron-fisted control.

Ariel quickly dismisses Ren and runs off to a gas station where she meets her boyfriend Chuck Cranston, the local bad boy, and his buddies Travis and Lyle ("The Girl Gets Around").

The next day at his new school, Ren accidentally bumps into Willard Hewitt, a slow-witted cowboy with strong loyalty to his mother, who decides to beat him up.

Ren, annoyed by how little there is to do in town, tells Willard about his exciting life in Chicago and starts to dance in the school's hallway ("I Can't Stand Still").

Willard tries to stop him, but Ren ignores his protests and puts on a show in front of everyone, including the school's principal, who angrily explains to him that dancing is illegal in the town of Bomont.

Alone with his wife, Shaw expresses his concern over Ariel's rebellion and her relationship with Chuck, but when Vi attempts to advocate for her daughter and to assure him the fling will soon cool down, he silences her and storms off to finish writing his sermon.

After school the next day, Ariel, Rusty, Wendy Jo, and Urleen do their homework at the Burger Blast, a local restaurant.

Ren, now an employee there and dressed in his uniform, complete with roller skates, discusses his woes with Willard and questions him about his relationship with Rusty; he thinks she is very good-looking, but is confused by her non-stop talking.

Ren laments that the citizens of Bomont are so "wound up", muttering that at least in Chicago, he had the clubs to turn to in times of stress, to which Willard jokingly suggests that they "should take the coach dancing."

Ren realizes that throwing a dance would be the perfect way to alleviate the teenagers' pressures, while at the same time making a statement to Moore and the town council.

There, Ren finds her poetry written on the walls and Ariel admits who she wrote them for: her deceased brother, Bobby, one of the kids who died in the car accident after the dance years ago.

Ariel tells Ren how, in his grief over the loss of his son, Shaw shut down, and convinced himself banning dancing was the only way to "save" the town.

Using direct quotes from the Bible, Ren argues that dancing is a profound, ancient, and historically religious celebration of life, and therefore, shouldn't be illegal.

Ren is favorably supported by the crowd, particularly his fellow students, but the council, under pressure from Shaw, refuse to listen and the motion is unanimously dismissed.

("Heaven Help Me Reprise") At the next service, Shaw informs the whole congregation that he is giving the teenagers his blessing to hold a dance, ultimately abolishing the law.

Aside from numerous tweakings to the script, there are slight differences in the revised version's musical numbers: Footloose requires a pit orchestra in a rock combo style.

[2][3] Footloose, directed by Paul Kerryson, premiered in the UK at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth in February 2004,[5] where it played for three weeks before embarking on a 24-week national tour.

This time directed by Karen Bruce, it starred Cheryl Baker and Stephen McGann and went on to tour another 11 venues mainly in the south of England and Scotland.

[6] The production transferred into London's West End, starring David Essex and Cheryl Baker in April 2006, before closing in November of the same year – due to the limited availability of the Novello Theatre.

The production then embarked its third national tour, which opened in Salford in January 2007, and continued until July 2007, starring Lyn Paul.

Footloose returned to the West End in September 2017 at the Peacock Theatre with Gareth Gates and Maureen Nolan confirmed to take on the roles of Willard and Vi Moore.

[7] A brand new production of the musical, directed by Racky Plews, will now return for a fourth UK & International tour, premiering at the Maag Halle in Zürich on January 19, 2022.