Kinky Boots is High-Kicking Muny Magic

by Pat Lindsey

If the only thing you know about Kinky Boots is that Harvey Fierstein wrote the script and pop icon Cyndi Lauper wrote the score and lyrics, you already know you’re gonna have fun when you see this Muny production.

‘Kinky Boots’ was inspired by the true story of a struggling shoe factory in England that accidentally finds a niche market that allows it to survive and flourish in fetish footwear. (The BBC actually gave the new footwear the name, kinky boots.) It not only won several Tony Awards for its original Broadway run, but it earned a 2014 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.

As the story begins in an old shoe factory established in 1890, the audience soon learns that its owner has passed away and his son, Charlie Price, is the heir to the failing business. Charlie doesn’t want any part of making shoes and immediately decides Price & Son must close and the dedicated employees must be terminated. But a chance encounter with a drag queen named Lola becomes the catalyst for turning a worn-out men’s shoe factory into a production line for glitzy thigh-high transvestite footwear.

To make the transition, Charlie must first convince Lola to leave her London show biz career and come work for him as a designer in the industrial town of Northampton. Lola reluctantly agrees, but Charlie starts off on the wrong foot with her. When Charlie presents Lola with her first pair of boots made with burgundy leather, Lola is appalled. She scolds Charlie and tells him that burgundy is the color of hot water bottles. Lola wants red boots, because red is for sex, and she sings about it in “Sex is in the Heel.”

J. Harrison Ghee is stellar as the stilletto-wearing Lola, who brings warmth and compassion to this touching story through outstanding acting, singing, and dancing. He is the entire package and glows with the support of his Angels, a chorus of drag queens, and his employer, Charlie Price, convincingly played by Graham Scott Fleming. Supporting actors Don (Paul Whitty), Lauren (Taylor Louderman), and Nicola (Caroline Bowman) add chemistry to an electrifying cast and develop several love stories that are stitched together to make one red hot show. Cyndi Lauper’s brilliance shines through in every song, but especially in “Take What You Got” and “Land of Lola.” The only thing that makes the music better is the fantastic choreography by Rusty Mowery and an athletically agile troupe of dancers.

This show begins with more drama than we usually see on The Muny stage, but what appears to be rather industrial drab at first, ends in an extravaganza of glitz, glamour, and high-heeled hilarity. Transformations abound, but the biggest transformation occurs when everyone learns to accept people for who they are.

Credit for the marvelous sets and costumes goes to Michael Schweikardt for scenic design and Gregg Barnes for costume design. They, together with the other members of the design team, are demonstrating for Muny audiences the new capabilities of the multi-million dollar stage in a way that was never thought possible in the past. And the music, under the direction of Ryan Fielding Garrett, makes this high-kicking show a toe-tapping delight.

Don’t be a heel and miss out on a brand new experience The Muny. Kinky Boots is easy to love and it will push your emotional buttons. It is the epitome of what modern musical theater is all about and it’s one more chapter in The Muny’s Big Book of Musical Magic.
‘Kinky Boots” is appearing nightly at 8:15 p.m. now through June 25 on The Muny stage in Forest Park. For tickets, call 314-534-1111 or go to muny.org.

Right: A grudge match puts two of rivals at Kinky Boots factory into the boxing ring

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