By Barbara Smith – Contributing Writer
NEW YORK — It’s a high-stepping musical in the rich Broadway tradition, combining a creative dream team of Tony Award-winning Harvey Fierstein, Tony and Grammy-earner Cyndi Lauper and Tony-winning Jerry Mitchell, to produce a show that will knock your socks off. But beyond its fabulous music, dancing, costumes and choreography, “Kinky Boots” tells a story with plenty of passion that will warm your heart and heat up your soul (all right, no more puns).
Based on the 2005 film which starred Chiwetel Ejiofor, and inspired by true events, “Kinky Boots” tells a story about Charlie (Andy Kelso), a young man in Northern England, who is reluctantly running his father’s shoe factory. The company is on the verge of bankruptcy after his father’s sudden death and, though Charlie aspires to follow his dreams to create his own business, he is desperate to find a way to save his father’s company and all the people who work there, who are the friends he grew up with. In these direst of circumstances, he meets Lola (Alan Mingo, Jr.), a cabaret performer and drag queen extraordinaire. Together this most unlikely of duos rebuilds the business by designing a line of high heel boots for men, described by them as “a range of shoes for a range of men.” In putting their heads together to create this niche market, they also find, as often happens, they are brothers at heart. Though they come from opposite ends of the spectrum socially, the two discover they might be more alike than different, bonding over issues, one of which very poignantly expressed is the desire to measure up to their respective fathers’ expectations. In the course of working together and discovering each other, they learn a lot about themselves.
Mingo, reprising his role as Lola from Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theater last year, brings such heat to the character, it’s impossible to take your eyes off him. Okay, the 6-inch red stiletto thigh-highs, added to his already 6-foot frame, and the thousand-watt smile are pretty mesmerizing in themselves, but his carriage, comportment and charisma fill the stage with a hypnotic perfection.
The play, which has attracted throngs to Broadway’s Al Hirschfield Theatre since 2013, now touring nationally, has garnered a loyal following because of its heartwarming message. Acceptance, tolerance, and being true to who you are—these are themes which resonate throughout. Lola reminds Charlie, early on, of the famous Oscar Wilde quote, “Be yourself, because everyone else is taken.” And as the plot unfolds, each character faces a crisis in judgment, each coming through with insight and wisdom. Cyndi Lauper’s musical prowess is in full gear in this show. “Not My Father’s Son” is a highlight, as is Act II’s imaginatively staged finale, “Everybody Say Yeah.”
Each of the actors exudes his and her own star power, combining to make a winning team. Daniel Stewart Sherman is a scene stealer as Don, the manly lout of a factory worker who challenges Lola to a boxing match, brilliantly choreographed by Jerry Mitchell; and Jeanna de Waal as Charlie’s love interest Lauren has an impeccable comic edge.
Scholarly articles have been written about “Kinky Boots,” examining the culture of transvestites vs. drag queens vs. transgender and on and on. And in this politically charged ethos, certainly definitions and roles can become murky. But the real truth “Kinky Boots” speaks to is the power of truth and the need to accept each other for who we are, whether we are, as Lola reminds us, “ladies, gentlemen, or those who have yet to make up their minds.”
If you can’t hop a jet to New York, “Kinky Boots” on tour opens at Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre on April 13 for a 2-week run. For ticket information, visit www.hollywoodpantages.com.
