Kinky Boots

Kinky Boots is the up lifting, and emotional musical inspired Northamptonshire shoe factory.

The show was very well thought out, Mandy Sayers clearly knew what she wanted, and she wanted to keep the pace up and she did this, she used the whole stage to great effect.

Rachel Davies balanced the music perfectly.  It was a relatively small band, but it made a big sound.  Rachel herself playing multiple instruments.

The staging of the show was well thought out, it is a small stage, and not all the chorus were used in all the numbers, and some were used as a choir and then came on for different numbers.  It was very clever, and I can say the stage never looked crowded

Charlie Price was played by Haydn Boxall.  He sung everything well and he understood the emotional context of what he was saying.  However, at times the words in his songs especially the soliloquies were lost because he moved around a lot, he needed to plant his feet more.

Lola/Simon was played by Sean Bailey, and he was outstanding.  As Lola he was fearless but then when he was Simon without the heels and dresses, he was vulnerable and awkward he was uncomfortable being out of the dresses.  “Not my Father’s son” is a very personal song and I felt it was beautiful and believed every word.

Jenny Lewin as Lauren had the song every woman loves to sing “The History of Wrong Guys”.  It was amazing and sung incredibly well.  I will never look at a desk leg in the same way again.

Nicola was played by Sophie Taylor.  She was believable in the role and worked well with Haydn.  She could have a been a little stronger at times, especially in the scene she was showing Charlie the plans for the housing development.

Pip Gray played Don, and he was excellent as the alpha male, I enjoyed the slightly more tender scene with Lola after the boxing bout, it showed Don has another dimension.

Darren Barsby played George, his accent was good, it was just a shame it was not consistent. Trish and Pat played by Ruth Johnson and Linda Dyball were both good, I enjoyed Pat’s moment where she walks out after Charlie tells her to unstitch a boot.

The Angels (Kali Burlington, Lewis Greenwood, Harry Dobbs and Alex Ryde) backed up Lola well. There were moments they looked incredibly comfortable and then there were times when potentially one or two of the four may not have felt as comfortable.  However, it looked incredibly liberating.  The choreography for the Angels worked for each of them it was well thought out.

There must be an appreciation that not all societies have a large budget.  For Kinky Boots one important area are the costumes, the hiring of the boots was important, and they were magnificent.  Dresses for Lola and the Angels did need to be more glamourous, but ultimately the budget dictates what can be used and I completely appreciate this.  Lola’s wig needed to be clipped back or potentially a different wig needed to be used as unfortunately it did mask Sean’s face.

The set was great, such a good use of the stage, it is the first time I have seen the revolving flats used and it worked well!  The cloth at the back was great, personally preferred it to projections, made it easier to use the stage and light the show.

Sometimes lights do what they are supposed to do, which is light the show.  Then there are shows where the lights enhance a show and this is one.  Andy Barker excelled himself, the lights followed the characters around the stage effortlessly, and then the blue light used in ‘Hold Me in Your Heart’ was just sensational so simple but it created an emotion before Lola started to sing!  Congratulations Andy.

This was just a show that I left feeling happy and alive, I said on the night, this show should not have worked at the Thalian Theatre, but under such direction and creativity it did work, and it worked well!  Well done to everyone involved.

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