Best Foot Forward
Music by Brandon Scott Grayson
Creede Repertory Theatre Young Audience Outreach Tour, 2019
A Colorado farm girl, eleven-year-old Sawyer McNally really wants to win the first-place crown by showing off her tap-dancing skills in Dance Starz regionals. But competition from Kansas City kid “Lil G” González is fierce, and he wows the judges with his hip-hop routine. Sawyer is devastated when she loses. Things get even worse when bad weather grounds Lil G’s plane home, and Sawyer’s father invites Lil G back to the family farm, where he expects Sawyer to be a good host despite her jealousy and hurt feelings. An original, bilingual musical, Best Foot Forward exposes young audiences to a variety of music and dance styles, helps children deal with feelings of jealousy and disappointment, and encourages friendship across boundaries of geography, culture, language and experience.
Cast: 2-8, gender neutral, any ethnicity
"This is a lovely, funny, moving, and totally engaging YA musical that celebrates cultural differences and uses dance beautifully as a metaphor. Highly recommended for the elementary school set (or, frankly, anyone)." -- playwright Skye Robinson Hillis
Best Foot Forward was on point! Our students love dancing and music, so this was a great way to catch their attention and share an important message. -- Mindy Miller, Librarian
[I appreciate] the message Best Foot Forward sends to students: No matter our differences, we can learn from each other and be kind. -- Kent Michel, Principal/Superintendent
Great message that was able to engage and keep the attention of Pre-K students, but also meaningful enough to also engage 6th graders. -- Randy Fox, Principal
Josue Ivan Prieto, Reva Stover, Becca Mighell and Chris Carranza in Creede Repertory Theatre's Young Audience Outreach Tour, directed by Melissa Firlit, 2019. Photos by John Gary Brown.