It's Stiletto Quite a Kick: Back Where It Was First Fashioned, 'Kinky Boots' Retains Its Fine Footing -- Chicago Theater Review

Theater Review

Kinky Boots

Cadillac Palace, Chicago

Thru July 26

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On October 2, 2012, I saw the first ever public performance of Kinky Boots, at Chicago's Bank of America Theatre prior to the show heading to Broadway.

In my review the next day--perhaps the first anyone wrote about the show, which wouldn't officially open for another few weeks--I pronounced that it was "already one of the best new musicals of the last few years" and predicted that Kinky Boots and star Billy Porter would win Tony Awards the next year.

That happened, with co-star Stark Sands also nominated (in the same category as Porter) and composer/lyricist Cyndi Lauper becoming the first woman to individually win the award for Best Score.

Approaching 3 years later, Kinky Boots continues to do strong business on Broadway, and the show's first National Tour is in Chicago for a 3-week run, of which I again saw the first performance.

Any modifications or adjustments that have been made since I last saw the show weren't readily apparent or appreciable, and I still found the stage adaptation of a British film comedy--with which I was unfamiliar before the musical came along, but have now seen albeit not recently enough to recall many details--to be a first-class piece of musical theater entertainment.

The story of Charlie (nicely played here by Steven Booth), who inherits a shoe factory in Northern England after the death of his father, and in the face of its impending closure enlists the aid of Lola--the nom de plume of a gay black drag queen named Simon--in designing boots for womanly-attired men, has only gained resonance given recent developments supporting LGBTQ rights and equality.

Without my meaning to intimate that abundant bigotry and hate doesn't still exist, the seemingly universal affection of the audience--which bestowed a standing ovation--actually almost made the fish-out-of-water storyline that has Lola (a terrific Kyle Taylor Parker) facing overt derision feel somewhat dated.

And the show's narrative feels weakest in fashioning a boilerplate intolerant asshole out of an oafish factory worker named Don (Joe Coots) and in having Charlie maliciously flip out on Lola in a moment of Act II dramatic tension that feels forced and unnatural.

But the book, by Broadway legend Harvey Fierstein, is predominantly both funny and poignant, while Lauper's score is truly terrific even as it avoids obvious hallmarks of her pop hits.

Songs like the early "The Most Beautiful Thing in the World," Lola-led numbers "The Sex is in the Heel" and "What a Woman Wants," a tune sung by a smitten-with-Charlie factory worker named Lauren (the delightful Lindsay Nicole Chambers) called "The History of Wrong Guys," Charlie's "Soul of a Man" and the closing "Raise You Up/Just Be" are all stellar show tunes that get fine renditions on the national tour.

Under the direction of Jerry Mitchell, who also helmed Chicago's latest pre-Broadway musical tryout, On Your Feet, the staging of Kinky Boots remains positively brilliant, for which the choreography by Mitchell and David Rockwell's scenic design--most demonstrably involving a conveyor belt employed as a dance platform--undoubtedly deserve plenty of credit.

So if you love musicals and have never seen Kinky Boots--or like me, loved it here back in 2012--there is no reason not to get down to the Cadillac Palace by July 26.

There is no noticeable downsizing post-Broadway and the three excellent leads all boast Broadway credits, even if Parker is a smidgen less astonishing than the Tony-winning Billy Porter.

As upon my initial encounter, I did not find Kinky Boots to be a perfect show, and though a top-tier musical, it is not quite on the level of 21st century masterpieces like The Producers, Hairspray, Wicked, Avenue Q, Billy Elliot, Spring Awakening or perhaps the latest rage, Hamilton, which I have yet to see.

If you buy a ticket expecting to have your mind-blown, it's possible you won't quite, but for any musical theater lover looking for a show with winning songs, creative staging and a touching tale, these 'Boots' are certainly made for walking out of the theater with a smile on your face--and in your brightly bedazzled, high-heeled heart.

Beyond Plenty of Well-Heeled Fun, 'Kinky Boots' Shows a Whole Lot of Sole -- Chicago Theater Review

Theater Review

Kinky Boots
a new musical with
book by Harvey Fierstein
music/lyrics by Cyndi Lauper
directed & choreographed
by Jerry Mitchell
Bank of America Theatre, Chicago
Thru November 4
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Chicago is a wonderful, widely-embracing theater town. Which is why our fair city is often selected by producers for “out-of-town tryout” runs of shows that are—or so it is hoped—headed for Broadway. Just in this century, The Producers, Spamalot, Movin’ Out and The Addams Family are among the musicals Windy City audiences have been the very first to see.

For us theater aficionados (and self-perceived critics), getting to see a Pre-Broadway World Premiere is a pretty big deal, even if the show will be vastly altered—as with Movin’ Out and The Addams Family—and/or remain lousy—e.g. The Pirate Queen, Sweet Smell of Success, All Shook Up—by the time it gets to Broadway and beyond.

So, while appreciating the current economic climate and that the marquee names involved aren’t appearing onstage, it was somewhat disconcerting that the balcony of Chicago’s Bank of America Theatre was considerably undersold for the very first public performance of Kinky Boots, a bona fide world premiere musical that already has a date set—April 4, 2013—for its Broadway opening.

But à la acknowledging the many devoted White Sox fans who showed up to support the team down the stretch despite rolling my eyes at all the accompanying empty seats, I applaud the audience on Tuesday night that gave a well-deserved standing ovation to what is already one of the best new musicals of the last few years.

I don’t condemn anyone for not yet rushing out to see Kinky Boots, which is based on a 2005 movie I'd never heard of, but if you read this and presumably much higher profile rave reviews and still stay away, don’t call yourself a lover of the Broadway art form or whine that new musicals all too frequently merely co-opt popular franchises and familiar songs.

Jerry Mitchell, Harvey Fierstein, Cyndi Lauper

Bringing Kinky Boots to the stage was seemingly the brainchild of director Jerry Mitchell, a long-acclaimed Broadway choreographer who directed 2007’s Legally Blonde, another musical I thought was terrific if not quite historic. To write the book, he enlisted Harvey Fierstein, who won a Tony for writing La Cage Aux Folles and has written and/or starred in many other Broadway shows.

The music and lyrics here were composed by Cyndi Lauper, who may not seem like an obvious choice given that she had never before written for the stage—and didn’t even write some of her mid-‘80s hits (including “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”). But although a couple of Kinky Boots’ full score of original songs have a synth-pop sheen, Lauper proves herself rather adept at writing satisfying showtunes.

This isn’t so shocking given that she has maintained a stylistically-diverse career for years since the apex of her fame, but I doubt many hearing songs such as “The Most Beautiful Thing” or “Sex Is In the Heel” would necessarily think that they “sound like Cyndi Lauper.”

Upon a first encounter, the melodies themselves—at least most of them—don’t quite drive the show’s appeal as much as the unique storyline and strong leading performances, but beyond being enjoyably complementary, a good number of tunes truly stand out, including the two named above, plus “Hold Me In Your Heart” (something of this show’s “I Am What I Am” from La Cage Aux Folles) and the ebullient closer “Raise You  Up/Just Be.”

Set in the north of England, Kinky Boots is about a young man named Charlie Price (appealingly played by Broadway veteran Stark Sands) who unsuspectingly inherits his family’s longstanding shoe factory, only to discover that it’s about to go under. I’ll be sparing on plot specifics, but through an encounter with a drag queen named Lola—Billy Porter, who I predict will win next year’s Tony Award for best actor in a musical—Charlie hits upon the idea of manufacturing high-heeled boots with the stability to suit transvestites and drag queens (the distinction is explained), unlike traditional women’s footwear.

Billy Porter and Stark Sands

Charlie hires Lola—am I the only one who imagines a Kinks reference?—to help with the design, and while all the expected tentpoles are hit—disbelief, ridicule, bigotry, misunderstanding, etc.—Fierstein’s book, Lauper’s songs and the impressive work by Porter, Sands and Annaleigh Ashford (as Lauren, a factory worker with a crush on Charlie), instill Kinky Boots with a substantial amount of heart and ‘sole.’

Not to mention, a whole lot of fun.

Kinky Boots might have been made for walking tall in one’s own skin (and whatever makeup may be applied), but the high energy affair also makes for a thoroughly entertaining evening.

With the caveat that I saw its very first performance, I don’t think the show quite merits a full @@@@@, particularly because I believe there are a number of musicals from the past decade or so that are a bit better, including several that espouse similar “champion your individuality, even in the face of adversity” themes—Hairspray, Wicked, Billy Elliott, Spring Awakening, even Mitchell’s Legally Blonde, to name just a few.

But if just a day into its official existence, Kinky Boots can stand quite proudly on its own two feet, I feel safe in suggesting that this is a show—if not the next Tony winner, at least a nominee—you (yes, you) really should “tryout.” Especially as all of this week’s upcoming performances are discounted on HotTix ($45-$50 + fees for choice seats) and balcony tickets priced at $30-$35 should seemingly be available at the door for most shows (Ticketmaster's interactive seat map makes it easy to get a good idea of availability before you go).