Kinky Boots,
freshly opened at the Al Hirschfeld Theater, is great fun. A toe-tappy, big dance number, ball of
fabulousness - riding in on drag queens and lessons on self-confidence and
redemption. Which is to say, a bit of
old-fashioned Broadway.
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| The cast and the Kinky Boots |
What makes
Kinky Boots special are the songs by Cyndi Lauper. Here infectious brand of sweetness and
sentimentality, without being saccharin or dull, moves the musical and all the
pieces. Director Jerry Mitchell makes
perfect use of the material, and the diverse players to produce a great time.
It is a
familiar tale; a young man wants to leave a dry stuffy town to make his way in
the big city. Dad dies and he has to
take over the business, all the while yearning for the life he could have
had. Until, he discovers there really is
no place like home, once you change it enough.
In the case of Kinky Boots, the dry town is in England, Clarence the
Angel is a drag queen named Lola (with her own Angels) and the young man saves
the factory and himself by making designer footwear for men that like to dress
as women – sequined, shiny, fabulous women.
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| Stark Sands, Annaleigh Ashford & Billy Porter |
Stark Sands
plays the young man in question, Charlie Price – recipient of Price and Sons
shoes. Mr. Sands brings a nice
understated earnestness to the role, trying to find a way to save the factory,
but still be with his fiancé in London.
A veteran of American Idiot, Mr. Stark knows when to let the song take
center stage, and also when to belt it out.
Billy Porter
has the far showier role of Lola, Drag Queen extraordinaire, sassy show muse
and dispenser of wisdom. I can’t image
the role being any good without Ms. Lauper’s songs. Her songs allow Mr. Porter to explore both
sides of a stereotypical role and bring a warm heart to the proceedings.
Two first
act numbers, The Sex Is In The Heel and Everybody Say Yeah are big time
Broadway at their best. Infectious and
fun, these set up high expectations for Act 2.
Expectations that aren’t, always, meet.
In Act 2, writer Harvey Fierstein hues a little too closely to the movie
– taking us down some sentimental lanes better left hinted at or imagined. Here Kinky Boots occasionally feels formulaic
and too obvious.
All is forgiven quickly though as Kinky Boots ends as it should -
in a big brassy number that leave the audience happy and the cast in afore
mentioned designer footwear. Great Fun.
Kinky Boots
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| Jerry Mitchell, Harvey Fierstein & Cyndi Lauper |
Book: Harvey Fierstein, Music & Lyrics :
Cyndi Lauper
Director: Jerry Mitchell
Cast: Stark Sands, Billy Porter, Annaleigh
Ashford, Celina Carvajal, Daniel Stewart Sherman, Marcus Neville, John Jeffery
Martin, Nathan Peck, Joey Taranto
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