Kinky Boots the Musical

Kinky Boots the Musical is rapidly becoming a firm favourite with community theatre companies and audiences alike.  The Musical is based on the 2005 film Kinky Boots, written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth with the original production premiering in Chicago in October 2012.  The show earned13 nominations and 6 Tony wins and when it made its West End debut in 2015 it won three Laurence Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical.  This was the third time I had seen a production and when I arrived at the beautiful Palace Theatre, I immediately recognised the set.  However, the Mansfield team’s production took that familiar setting and delivered their own unique interpretation of the musical which brought the whole audience to their feet in what was a magical matinee.

Cassey Brough-Savage and her production team certainly understood the various story lines that make up this ultimately feel-good musical and ensured that all of them came together to deliver a thoroughly entertaining production.

At the centre of the storyline are Charlie Price the shoe factory owner and Lola/Simon who shakes up Charlie’s world and provides the inspiration to transform Price’s falling shoe sales, with a new line of Boots dedicated to requirements of Drag Queens the world over and save all the jobs in the Price shoe factory.  Jamie Savage and JJ McCormack were both on dazzling form in their respective roles.  Jamie brought out all the despair, passion to save his staff’s jobs, dedication to delivering a quality product and his struggles to understand people.  JJ McCormack was simply stunning in his portrayals of the fierce apparently invulnerable Lola (red Red RED! will live with me for some time) and as Simon a man riddled with insecurity about his life and deep regret that he was unable to earn the love and respect of his father before it was too late.  Their vocal performances were strong throughout and their story telling and commitment had me in tears on more than one occasion.

Another stand out performance was delivered by Rebecca Wigman as Lauren who brought out the comedy of her sudden infatuation with Charlie to a tee with great physical humour and banging vocals in “The History of Wrong Guys”.  Don can often be played as a rather two-dimensional bully, but Wayne Shutt managed to bring out the more complex sides of Don winning the audience over in the process especially after the boxing match.  Another character that can be rather bland is Nicola and again in this production, Helen Mumby ensured that we understood her motivations and desire to make Charlie a financial success.  Again, a strong vocal and acting performance from Helen which made Nicola stand out more in memory than in any previous version I have seen.

One of the other key ingredients in any production of Kinky Boots is the strength of Lola’s Angels in many dance breaks and chorus numbers as well as bringing the sass in all their scenes.  Here the Mansfield production had a great team of predominantly female drag queens.  Great dance moves and also great characterisations by Grace, Cassey, Mel, Alice, Oliver and Ashleigh.

No production of this musical is successful without a passionate, energy packed ensembles and supporting actors and here Mansfield Operatic’s strength in depth came to the fore.  Full cast musical numbers provided a wall of sound where every voice blended together to deliver uplifting energy.  Solo lines were delivered with great diction and clarity ensuring none of the plot was lost and the balance between the backing track and the on-stage performers was expertly matched to support the vocal delivery.  Congratulations to Roger Holland for all the hard work that had clearly been put into the rehearsal period to achieve this and, of course, congratulations to the whole cast of named actors and ensemble alike including Matthew, Carolyn, Lauren, Garry, Graham, Harry, Ollie, Max, Sam, Jonathan, Clare, Kay, Paul, Andrea, Steve, Mel, Claire, Gemma, Ann, Jonathan, Jan, Thomas, Kelly, Laura, Joanne, Paul, Lewis, Becky, Naomi, Harriet, Emily, Gaby, Harriet, Emily, Gaby, Geraldine, Gemma, Kay, Fay and Steve.

A hugely successful production, the choreography throughout the show was always supportive of the narrative and also was so full of energy and precision you couldn’t help yourself but get on your feet and celebrate at the Milan finale.  Lighting was very effective in all scenes as was the costuming so a final congrats to Cassey, Roger, Pam and the rest of the production team for a brilliant production.  So finally, to one and all, many thanks for giving me a great afternoon of Theatre and I will ensure that I will be, just who I want to be!  I very much look forward to seeing and hearing what you have in store with The Wizard of Oz in 2025.

© NODA CIO.  All rights reserved 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.