Lauper, Fierstein, Porter… Get ‘Kinky’ on Broadway
By Isa Goldberg
The big fat drag musical of the season, "Kinky Boots," arrives fully loaded with a pride in oneself as its agenda. Book by Harvey Fierstein, music by Cyndi Lauper, direction and choreography by Jerry Mitchell. The producers lined up all their gay icons in a row when they created the new musical based on the britcom of the same title. The charming film that flopped at the box office would seem to be just the stuff of musical comedy.
If my impressions sound a bit snide, it’s simply that I’m not a worshipper of drag queens. Regardless, Billy Porter as Lola hurls himself through the show like a juggernaut – truly an overpowering and inexorable force. Given the unstoppable energy on the stage of the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, one wonders why musical supervisor/orchestrator Stephen Oremus has turned the volume up to disproportionate decibels. Rarely have I found a show so overmiked as this one is.
Underlying it all is a coming of age tale about innocence and experience, filial love and acceptance, faith – all the feel good stuff of a heartwarming story. Set in a British factory town, the narrative focuses on a failing shoe factory, which falls into the hands of Charlie (Stark Sands’) upon his father’s (Stephen Berger’s) passing. Sands is an agile song and dance man, but his performance feels a wee bit self-conscious. Annaleigh Ashford as Lauren, the factory worker who helps Charlie save the family business (and his secret love interest), embodies the spirit of Cyndi Lauper’s songs, portraying the ingénue with unusual spunk and depth.
Lauper, after all, is at her best writing songs for girls who want to have fun. It all bursts open in the thematic number "Sex Is in the Heel." Of course, the show belongs to the man who wears them, the actor Billy Porter. Speaking at times with a raspy voice, he seems like an alter ego for Fierstein.
Indeed, Porter ‘s Simon plays out his true identity -Lola, a tough skinned, hard knocks drag queen. As playwright, Fierstein does a lovely job in developing the relationship between the golden-hearted cross dresser, and his rejecting father (Eugene Barry-Hill) who, incidentally, wanted him to be a professional boxer and not a guy in heels. Their eleventh hour number sets up a soulful exit for both men.
David Rockwell’s sets are seamless – moving from pub to factory to fashion runway to nursing home. Costume Designer Gregg Barnes hits number one on the list of Tony choices for his outrageous creations – the sexy heels that Charlie’s factory manufactures and which they kick out at Milan’s fashion week. The stogy old company’s new line of dazzlingly slick boots for drag queens and the marketing frenzy it creates, drive the story. But it’s Jerry Mitchell’s choreography of drag queens in their kinky boots that takes the show to a high note.
In spite of a couple of touching ballads, especially "Hold Me In Your Heart" sung by Billy Porter and the anthemic finale "Raise You Up/Just Be" Lauper’s score with its metallic sound effects tend to grate. Somehow the movie score sounded more natural and felt invigorating.
In its own way "Kinky Boots" is an odd mix of bravura showmanship with a low-keyed setting and something of a heavy-handed message. There’s fun to be had here, but you can’t stop noticing what hard work that is.
"Kinky Boots" is at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, 302 West 45th Street. Performances are Tuesday and Thursday at 7pm, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm with matinees on Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm and Sunday at 3pm. For tickets call 212-239-6200, go to Telecharge.com or visit the box office.
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