With a crash of drums and trumpets, Kinky Boots opened in the Price & Son shoe factory, a Northampton firm with Mr Price struggling to get his son and heir to see the beauty of a shoe. Charlie, however, had an ambitious girlfriend who wanted out of that small town, so she moved them both to London. Not the best start, when the boy was expected to take over the family business, writes Michael Holland.
These are troubled times for the shoe-making industry, with the market flooded by poor-quality imports and buyers cancelling their orders with Price & Son to go for the cheaper option. Add to that problem, Mr Price dying and the firm about to close unless Charlie comes back to run it, which means nobody is happy. Charlie, for obvious reasons; his girlfriend Nicola because her London plans are in jeopardy, and a staff, who are pretty much like family, looking like they’ll soon be out of work.
A chance meeting with drag queen Lola down a dark alley is the catalyst for change when Charlie saves her from a beating. But she loses the heel from her shoe in the fracas. Charlie promises he can make perfect footwear for all the drag queens – good, solid footwear that can stay strong with a man on board; an idea that he believes can save the company.
Of course, life is never that easy, but Charlie and Lola’s poignant bonding over a red leather, high-heeled, size 10 boot when they realised they had both never lived up to their respective fathers’ expectations was sealed over a song (I’m Not My Father’s Son).
The first act ended with a glorious Everybody Say Yeah, which had everybody singing as they queued for the toilets and drinks in the interval.
There had to be some homophobia involved, but it was dealt with in a boxing ring, with Lola proving who was boss as the show rocked nicely along to Cyndi Lauper’s great music as it made its way to a satisfying finale.
The set by Robert Jones worked wonders as the shoe factory, a nightclub, and a Milan fashion show, with Ben Cracknell’s lighting making sure the exterior of an East Midlands factory was as dull as dishwater, but could switch to a spectacle of luminosity when those red kinky boots had to dazzle.
Yes, Johannes Radebe and Matt Cardle steal the show, but this is a real ensemble production, with a couple of stand-outs for me: Courtney Bowman as factory girl Lauren, floating about the factory floor like a bubble in the air, and just as transparent in her feelings for the newly single Charlie, and Scott Paige as factory hand George, coming out of his shell in more ways than one since the arrival of Lola, both getting the most out of their parts.
Go see these shoemakers shake, shimmy, shuffle and shock. You won’t be disappointed.
The London Coliseum until 11th July.
Booking and full details: https://londoncoliseum.org/events/kinky-boots/
