Oak Park Newspaper

Kinky Boots

The CAST
Photographer: Bruce Glikas, © Broadway.com

★★★★
" A Fabulous show, Staged and Performed with
Talent Headed for TONY Awards!!!"
Highly recommeded.
Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc.

review by Ed Vincent

"You change the world when you change your mind"
Cyndi Lauper. The play has fantastic sets and changes with lights and action between sets magically, very clever. A dancer is in a disappearing box and with each thrust of a sword into the box, the scene goes dark and above a different scene above the stage comes to life.

The humor is great and worth of applause every few minutes, laughter is a common audience reaction to the scenes and situations on stage. There have already been some cuts to the show here and there, but it looks ready for New York right now.
We predict many Tony recommendations for this show, and perhaps an equal number of awards.

There is even choreography to be done on several separate conveyor belts, by men in heels. The Drag Queens are some of the best we have seen.

Stark Sands as Charlie Price, and Billy Porter as Lola.
Photographer: Bruce Glikas, © Broadway.com

The entire cast is wonderful, the choreography, the dancing, the costumes, the theatrics, and the story. Stark Sands is one of the leading men and Billie Porter is out of this world with talent.

Porter's character, Lola, requires the actor to change inside and outside persona's at the flip of a hat and still stay in one central character. Billy Porter's rendition is worth of a Tony right now.
If he were to get any better he would have to get a Nobel prize to his efforts at peace and understanding.

Harvey Fierstein with a product headed for a TONY.
Photographer: Bruce Glikas, © Broadway.com

Harvey Fierstein's spirit is ever present in all of his creations and mixed with Cyndi Lauper, this is a show you don't want to miss.

You will leave wanting to dance and feeling better about the world.

From Grammy® Award-winning pop icon CYNDI LAUPER and four-time Tony Award® winner HARVEY FIERSTEIN comes the exhilarating new musical KINKY BOOTS, directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner JERRY MITCHELL.

Tony® Award-winner Harvey Fierstein (Book) and Grammy® Award-winning rock icon Cyndi Lauper (Music & Lyrics), will have its pre-Broadway world premiere in Chicago this fall. Directed and choreographed by Tony® Award-winner Jerry Mitchell, Kinky Boots will play the Bank of America Theatre (18 West Monroe Street, Chicago, IL) in October 2012.

Entertainment Weekly has just released a track form the new musical, titled 'Sex Is in the Heel,' and you can check it out HERE!

In Kinky Boots, Charlie Price is forced to step in and save his family’s shoe factory in Northern England, following the sudden death of his father. Help comes from the unlikeliest angel, a fabulous drag performer named Lola. Together, this improbable duo not only revitalizes the nearly bankrupt business, but helps one another grow into the men their fathers always dreamed their sons would become and transforms an entire community through the power of acceptance.

Inspired by a true story and based on the film, Kinky Boots features a book by Mr. Fierstein (La Cage, Torch Song Trilogy, Newsies) and a musical score from Ms. Lauper, in her theatrical debut. Mr. Mitchell (Hairspray, La Cage, Broadway Bares) has crafted a production bound to move, inspire and set audience's feet dancing.

Tickets for the Chicago production range from $33-$100. A select number of premium seats are also available for many performances. Tickets are available now for groups of 15 or more by calling Broadway In Chicago Group Sales at (312) 977-1710. Kinky Boots will be a part of the fall 2012 Season Subscription Series. Individual tickets will go on sale at a later date. For more information, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com.

CAST

Kinky Boots Cast & Creative

Charlie Price is Stark Sands
STARK SANDS (Charlie Price)
Broadway: American Idiot, Journey's End (Tony Award nomination, Theatre World Award). Off-Broadway: Twelfth Night (Shakespeare in the Park), The Tempest (Classic Stage Company, St. Clair Bayfield Award). Film includes Die, Mommie, Die!; Flags Of Our Fathers; Pretty Persuasion; Shall We Dance; Chasing Liberty; 11:14; Catch That Kid. Television includes "Generation Kill," "Nip/Tuck," "Six Feet Under." BFA: USC.

Lola is Billy Porter
BILLY PORTER (Lola)
Broadway: Miss Saigon, Five Guys..., Grease, Smokey Joe's..., Dreamgirls. Off-Broadway/ Regional: Angels In America, Merchant of Venice, Radiant Baby, Birdie Blue, Songs For a New World, Ghetto Superstar (One-Man Show), Topdog/Underdog, King Lear, The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler. Film/ Television: The Broken Hearts Club, Shake Rattle & Roll, Noel, "Law & Order," "The Big C." Recording: Untitled, At The Corner Of Broadway & Soul.

Music and Lyrics
Cyndi Lauper

Book
Harvey Fierstein

Director and Choreographer
Jerry Mitchell

Set Designer
David Rockwell

Costume Designer
Gregg Barnes

Lighting Designer
Kenneth Posner

Sound Designer
John Shivers

http://www.kinkybootsthemusical.com/

Sex is in the Heel

For more information, visit
http://www.BroadwayInChicago.com

Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein
Talk Kinky Boots