"Kinky Boots": Not All Men Are Heels

Kyle Taylor Parker as Lola in "Kinky Boots"
(photo: Matthew Murphy)

“Kinky Boots”, the latest offering in the Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC) Broadway series, was a surprising choice for a musical when it debuted in the 2013 Broadway season. Based on a relatively unknown 2005 British film featuring a then-unknown Chiwetel Ejiofor (later to be recognized for his fine work in a subsequent film, “Twelve Years a Slave”), which in turn was based on a real-life story, it concerned the plight of a Northampton shoe factory owner named Charlie whose business, which he inherited from his father, needed a major lift. There followed an unlikely business partnership that resulted from an encounter with a drag queen named Lola whom Charlie rescued from a gang of bigots, discovering in the process that Lola's inferior boot heels were a disgrace. The two of them eventually combine their respective talents for manufacturing and design to produce a superior line of, well, kinky boots. In the process, they also won over an entire village to the realization that all people have a good deal more in common than they might first be aware of, and that being different isn't that big a deal. A simple story, told well, with fine music, yes, but one that would emerge eventually as a critical and commercial hit, after garnering no fewer than thirteen Tony Award nominations, winning six of them, including Best Musical. What it also won was the hearts of its audiences who warmly embraced its themes of community and father-son bonding, as well as being an anthem against prejudice and stereotyping. Which all goes to show you, not all men are heels.

In this National Tour, the starring roles are in the capable hands of Kyle Taylor Parker, aka KTP (Lola) and Steven Booth (Charlie), with fine support from Lindsay Nicole Chambers (Lauren, one of the shoe factory workers, who falls for Charlie), Joe Coots (Don, the factory foreman), Grace Stockdale (Nicola, Charlie's initial fiancée), and Craig Woletzko (George, another factory worker). KTP is a charmer and totally believable in his transformation into high fashion boot designer, kicking up those proverbial heels at the drop of a chord. Booth provides the perfect foil with boyish charm as Lola's (you should excuse the expression) straight man. Each of them has an “eleven o'clock number” and each brings the house down. The rest of the cast is terrific as well, with a standout performance by Chambers. It's Directed and Choreographed by Tony winner Jerry Mitchell, with Tony-winning Music and Lyrics by Cindi Lauper and Tony-nominated Book by Harvey Fierstein. While the libretto starts out as one of Fierstein's finest, it has a few second act lulls in momentum, but the heart is there all the same, even if there are a few heavy-handed kinks in a scene in Lola's father's nursing home. It's the score by Lauper, her first attempt for a Broadway-style show, that inevitably raises up the production, ranging comfortably from solo character turns (Charlie's “Step One”, entitled “Charlie's Soliloquy” on the original cast album) to moving duets (“Not My Father's Son” by Lola and Charlie) to showstoppers (Lauren's clever paean to men who are heels, “The History of Wrong Guys”) to the smashing chorus numbers (“Sex Is in the Heel”, and the fabulous finale, “Raise You Up/Just Be”). The best line in the show goes to Oscar Wilde: “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken”. The best visual: Scenic Designer David Rockwell's stunning use of the assembly line machinery transformed into a chorus line.

All this and more sequins, glitter and red patent leather (with Costume Design by Gregg Barnes) than one could wish for. It's no wonder that this work took home not only all those Tonys, but Best Musical awards from the Drama League and Outer Critics Circle as well. It's at PPAC until June 14^th and, given the fact that the venue seats over three thousand people, one would be well advised to choose one's seat accordingly. As the first act closer puts it, “Everybody Say Yeah”.