By Sophie Blumstein '21
The highly acclaimed musical, Kinky Boots, closed on April 7th after a six-year run
on Broadway. I was one of eight lucky 10th graders who saw the show just a few weeks before it closed. A big thank you to Dr. Justus for organizing this trip for us and to Ms. Rosenberg and Mr. Yusah for chaperoning. We all had an incredible evening that left us with smiles on our faces and song lyrics stuck in our heads as we headed home from the theater.
I didn’t realize beforehand, but Kinky Boots is based on a true story. In the musical version, Charlie Price’s inherits his late father’s bankrupt shoe factory in Northampton, England and he is forced to give up on his dream to move to London in order to save the factory. With the help of Lola, a vibrant drag queen, whom he meets at a local transvestite club, they create new and unique boots specially designed for drag queens who need sturdy stilettos. Although Charlie questions Lola’s idea at first, he decides to go for it and this turns out to be the best decision he ever made.
Charlie and Lola discover that they have more in common than they imagined,
bonding over their feelings about their respective fathers, and both end up learning valuable life lessons. Lola repeatedly talks about being yourself and embracing who you truly are. She tells Charlie about a quote from Oscar Wilde that sums this up really well, “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” This aspect of the show was truly inspiring, and gave it an added dimension and a lot for me to think about.
The costumes, especially those of the drag queens, were absolutely stunning. The costumes were created by one of today’s leading costume designers, the talented and versatile Gregg Barnes, who has designed the costumes for other current Broadway musicals (Pretty Woman, The Musical, Aladdin, and Mean Girls) and others that have since closed (Tuck Everlasting, Something Rotten, Legally Blonde, The Drowsy Chaperone, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Flower Drum Song). He has also designed costumes for other musicals, theater and opera. He does a lot of research when designing costumes and the work clothes of the factory workers, for instance, are based on a very popular English television series called Coronation Street, which took place in the same region of England as Kinky Boots. The workers’ costumes contrast totally with the more fanciful and dazzling costumes for Lola and the Angels. The sets were designed by David Rockwell, founder of one of the leading architecture and design firms in New York. Rockwell designed sets for such hit shows as Hairspray, The Rocky Horror Show and Legally Blonde, among many others. It was really cool to see how the stage was transformed from an austere factory to a dazzling fashion runway in Milan that looked like a mini Times Square.
There were some amazing scenes and details, such as the treadmills that were used for dance routines in the factory. The final scene was unforgettable with not only Lola and the Angels but also Charlie and his entire “team” singing and dancing while rocking the new Kinky Boots, 6 inches and all! Played by Callum Francis, Lola was absolutely phenomenal. From “her” beautiful voice to her incredible dance skills in those killer heels, she truly lit up the stage.
The entire cast had an amazing energy and there was not one dull moment. After watching the musical Minla Stokes said, “Kinky Boots was the first Broadway show I had seen since watching Mary Poppins and it was one of the most enjoyable experiences because the actors were so great. I was also very into the story line and Lola was AMAZING!” Madison Roberts, another sophomore who attended the musical and loved it said, “Kinky Boots was incredible, entertaining, while simultaneously teaching the viewers about accepting people for who they are.” All of the sophomores, who had the opportunity to see Kinky Boots, absolutely loved it and can’t wait to see more musicals in the future!
Comments