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Regional Reviews: Minneapolis/St. Paul Kinky Boots Also see Arty's review of Stage Kiss
Set primarily in working class Northampton, England, Kinky Boots begins in a shoe factory hard hit by the falling English pound and the trend toward low-cost manufacturing in Asia. Price and Son was founded in 1890 and passed on for three generations, but Charlie, son of the current Mr. Price, has no interest in taking up the family mantle. He just moved to London with his fiancée Nicola to establish a sophisticated urban life when his father dies. Returning to Northampton, Charlie is prevailed upon to settle the company's affairs, which include major debt and unsold inventory. He sees no choice but to shut down the plant and fire all of the employees, many of whom he has known his entire life. Then, a chance encounter in London with a drag queen named Lola inspires Charlie to pursue an untapped niche market: sexy knee-high boots made sturdy enough to support a man's weight. Charlie recruits Lola as a designer and consultant on kinky boots, with the goal of exhibiting them at the high stakes Milan Footwear Show—only four weeks away. This keeps Charlie moored in Northampton, and creates a fission between him and Nicola, who sees conversion of the shoe factory into condos as a much more prudent plan. Lauren, a loyal Price and Son employee, gives Charlie encouragement and in the process develops a major crush on him. Lola is repeatedly harassed by Don, an employee who cannot abide "blokes who dress up in frocks." Lola manages to maintain her dignity and, after much effort, including an unlikely boxing match, helps Don to open his mind. Everything comes down to the wire, as Charlie and Lola argue, and it remains uncertain whether the Milan exhibition will succeed—or even happen. Oh, not to worry. The upbeat tone of most of the songs lays the groundwork for a celebration. After all, if the plan had not succeeded, why would the true story on which Kinky Boots is based have been circulated in the first place? Harvey Fierstein's strong book successfully builds our investment in the characters and their relationships, so that setting logic aside, we experience the emotional bruises and professional panic, making the joyful finale all the more satisfying. Cyndi Lauper, who rose to fame as a pop singer in the early 1980s ("Girls Just Want to Have Fun"), has written her first score for a musical, and it's a gem. The songs vary between pop, power anthems, disco, and R&B, reflecting the late 1990s time frame of the story, but almost all have a memorable tune, intelligent lyrics, and fit logically with plot and character. The orchestrations by Stephen Oremus layer the music, with especially strong arrangements for the dance sequences. Speaking of dance, Jerry Mitchell, a choreographer before he became a director, provides one inventive, energetic dance after another, especially the unstoppable "Sex is in the Heels. Kyle Taylor Parker is a powerhouse as Lola. His singing manages to be powerful and sweet at the same time, he dances with wondrous strength and grace, and his acting establishes Lola as a proud and confident character, while providing the insight that she must make constant effort to maintain that status. Stephen Booth plays Charlie Price in counterpart to Parker's Lola. Charlie starts out with little confidence or direction, sure only that he does not want the responsibility his father had hoped to pass on to him, and through the course of the show Booth draws out Charlie's emerging sense of purpose and determination, even pushing to a fault when he allows his new-found ambitions to trample on his human connections, resolved quite beautifully in the song "Soul of a Man." Booth's voice is not quite as strong as Parker's, but he still handles Lauper's songs quite nicely. As the love-struck Lauren, Lindsay Nicole Chambers creates a totally lovable character who knows better, but just can't help herself. Her big moment is "The History of Wrong Guys," and Chambers gives it a totally winning blend of self-deprecating wit and tender yearning. From that moment on, the audience is hers. Joe Coots plays Don, the big lug whose inability to understand Lola prompts him to bully and harass her, as a bad guy (as much as anyone in the affirming landscape of Kinky Boots is a "bad guy"), yet makes his transition to a more compassionate nature believable. Craig Waletzko makes the most of some comic bits as production manager George, who devises a mechanism for manufacturing the boots. Lola has a troupe of six drag queen dancer-singers, collectively called the Angels, and they are astounding. They add vocal texture, kaleidoscopic dance, and barrels full of sass each time they appear. Joe Beauregard, Darius Harper, Tommy Martinez, Ricky Schroder, Juan Torres-Falcon, and Hernando Umana are the Angels, and earn every bit of the audience's roaring applause. David Rockwell has designed a very adaptable, aptly grimy factory work floor. The factory exterior, a weathered brick façade, is punctuated with stained glass windows bearing the Price family crest—a signal that, in spite of the dusty workaday nature of the place, it bears a long line of pride and tradition. Gregg Barnes' costumes designed are a show in themselves—spot on for the blue collar factory employees, tastefully in fashion for upwardly mobile Nicola, and outrageously eye-catching for Lola and her Angels. The boots are the centerpiece of it all. This is the first show in which I have seen footwear garner audience applause. Kenneth Posner's lighting design glides from the colorless factory environment to the rainbow world Lola inhabits, and the backlighting as Lola sings "Hold Me in Your Heart" builds on the impact of this searing eleven o'clock number. In spite of several sound glitches—perhaps the risk of opening nights with no previews—the mix of vocals and orchestra is sharp, never clouding over the clarity of Lauper's lyrics. Kinky Boots touches on a topic that might seem a bit on the wild side for some, and yet its very essence shows us that "wild side" is in the eye of the beholder; people, for the most part, are simply trying to inhabit the self they were born to be. It's a great show in every category, and hopefully will return to the Twin Cities soon so that more Minnesotans can revel in its terrific entertainment, and soak up its glowing message of acceptance any empowerment. Kinky Boots runs through August 2, 2015, at the Orpheum Theatre, 910 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis. Tickets are $49.00 to $144.00. For tickets go to www.HennepinTheatreTrust.com or call 1-800-928-2782. For other tour cities and dates, go to www.kinkybootsthemusical.com. Book: Harvey Fierstein; Music and Lyrics: Cyndi Lauper; Director and Choreographer: Jerry Mitchell; Music Supervision, Arrangements, and Orchestration: Stephen Oremus; Scenic Design: David Rockwell; Costume Design: Gregg Barnes; Lighting Design: Kenneth Posner; Sound Design: John Shivers; Projection Design: Michael Clark; Hair Design: Josh Marquette; Make-up Design: Randy Houston Mercer; Associate Choreographer: Rusty Mowery; Associate Director: D.B. Bonds; Music Director: Adam Souza; Music Coordinator: Michael Keller; Dance Captain: Stephen Carrasco), Casting: Telsey + Company, Justin Huff, CSA; Technical Supervisor: Theatersmith Associates; Company Manager: Matthew Sherr; Production Stage Manager: Gregory R. Covert; Associate Producer: Amuse, Inc. Cast: Florrie Bagel (Pat), Joe Beauregard (Angel), Steven Booth (Charlie Price), Lindsay Nicole Chambers (Lauren), Joe Coots (Don), Amelia Cormack (Trish), Adam Halpin (Richard Bailey), Darius Harper (Angel), Mike Longo (Harry), Tommy Martinez (Angel), Kyle Taylor Parker (Lola), Anthony Picarello (Young Charlie), Jomil Elijah Robinson (Young Lola), Horace V. Rogers (Simon Sr.), Ricky Schroeder (Angel), Grace Stockdale (Nicola), Nick Sullivan (Mr. Price), Anne Tolpegin (Milan Stage Manager), Juan Torres-Falcon (Angel), Hernando Umana (Angel), Craig Waletzko (George). Ensemble: Florrie Bagel, Joe Beauregard, Damien Brett, Darius harper, Mike Longo, Tommy Martinez, Jennifer Noble, Horace V. Rogers, Ricky Schroder, Nick Sullivan, Anne Tolpegin, Juan Torres-Falcon, Hernando Umana, Sam Zeller.
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