It's interesting that these films have all been adapted into plays or musicals - there is talk that PRIDE will be on stage next year - and one more to add to that number is KINKY BOOTS, the 2005 film that told the odd but true tale of a Northamptonshire shoe factory that, when faced with possible closure, diversified and found a USP in making boots for drag queens with strengthened heels to take a man's weight.
I must admit that when I saw the film I found it under-whelming with Julian Jarrold's uninspired direction drearily sticking to the all too-obvious template as described above. It was made bearable only by Chiwetel Ejiofor's striking performance as Lola, the amazonian drag queen who drives the plot.
But in the recent trend to make stage shows out of known films, the
quality of the source material is of no great matter and I found KINKY
BOOTS: THE MUSICAL to be much more enjoyable than the film.
The show premiered on Broadway in 2013 and was an immediate success so
it was only a matter of sitting it out until the show transferred here.
By the way it's interesting that it replaced the flop musical of MADE
IN DAGENHAM at the Adelphi, one former-film-set-in-a-factory replaced by
another! The Broadway production won six Tony Awards including Best
Musical, Best Choreography and Best Score and now it's here - bright,
brassy, bouncy and the most enormous fun. I didn't even mind that it
was an American version of England!
Jerry Mitchell directs with a panache that skillfully skirts over some
of the more threadbare patches of the plot and his choreography has a
muscular punch that is thrilling.
Harvey Fierstein has written an excellent Broadway musical book which is
well-paced and hits the right balance of humour and emotion - who
better to write a musical about a drag queen than the writer of LA CAGE
AUX FOLLES? Lola has the best lines of course but he has also created
sympathetic roles in Charlie, the diffident young man who inherits his
father's failing shoe factory and Lauren, one of his workers who
discovers the man behind the shoes.
The star of the show turns out to be Cyndi Lauper's wonderfully-varied score. It reminded me of Boy George's score for TABOO as it too had a wide range of ballads, show-stoppers and character numbers. That it is her first-ever score makes it even more impressive, she fully deserved her Tony Award.
Essentially it is a show with only two lead roles and the production has been well-cast. At first I was worried about Matt Henry as Lola as he seemed to be commenting on the role rather than simply being, being flamboyant doesn't seem to be a natural fit. But as the evening progressed and we get to see Lola's more private side Henry came into his own and belted out his big numbers with a real strength. No such problems with Killian Donnelly as Charlie - he played the role with just the right air of bashfulness cast adrift in a world where so much is expected on him and he also belted out his numbers with real emotion. Maybe I might have enjoyed MEMPHIS more if I had seen him and not his understudy (doubt it though),
Amy Lennox is delightful as Lauren the factory girl with 'The History Of Wrong Guys' which also happens to be her big solo which is the score's most Lauper-esque number and which Lennox lands right on the button. I also liked Michael Hobbs as the mild-mannered foreman George and a special mention must go to Lola's club dancers The Angels - imagine Les Cagelles but with beaucoup attitude!
David Rockwell's stage designs are a bit of a disappointment but Gregg Barnes's costumes are suitably dazzling. I would recommend you to zip up those boots and sashay away to the Adelphi for a show that will lift you up in more ways than one.
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