Scott Purvis-Armour reviews ‘a show full of soul and sole which nonetheless limps a little.’
With Cyndi Lauper having fun for the last time on her farewell tour, the diminutive pop princess’s bold and brassy 2013 musical is strutting into town on heels as high as her Brooklyn accent. Boasting a camp book by Broadway legend Harvey Fierstein, Kinky Boots is a nightclub of a show full of soul and sole which nonetheless limps a little.
After the death of his father, a shoemaker’s son is forced to leave London behind and return to the family factory in Northampton. Discovering that the business is failing, he pulls himself up by his bootstraps after a chance encounter with a drag queen leaves him looking for new customers in the cabarets and clubland of Soho.
Nikolai Foster is one of the finest directors of British musical theatre, and his intelligent revival has found an unexpected grime amongst the glamour - from the smog of the factory to the sweat of backstage, every moment is blocked with wit and realism. Robert Jones’ set design is excellent—a factory floor which almost smells of leather and grease is so immersive that it’s a wonder the cast don’t feel the need to clock-in every time they enter stage right.
Foster has amassed a cast that rarely puts a foot out of line. As the uptight Charlie, Dan Partridge is in fine rock voice and Courtney Bowman’s outstanding “The History of Wrong Guys” is one for the history books. Strictly Come Dancing sweetheart Johannes Radebe is instantly endearing in the role of Lola, a character with skin thicker than her makeup. Radebe’s exceptional talent as a dancer sees him slinking through Leah Hill’s glittery choreography with grace and sass. The result is an assault on the dance floor, exploding in every lighting cue and stomped shoe with vibrancy.
There are, nonetheless, several missteps in Radebe’s performance - whilst he copes well-enough amongst the rhythm and bass of the RuPaul sounding nightclub score, he struggles as an actor to capture the pathos at the heart of the character, and his vocal performance is cautiously restrained. Still, every line of dialogue which leaves his lipstick attracts the most genuine, loving ripples of adoration from the audience and, somehow, he manages to still stand tall in his heels when he might be expected to teeter.
Although it is at times a bit too big for its boots, with its songs often repetitive and lacking in substance, this is a bouncy show with a message of acceptance and queer joy which seems infinitely more critical today than when it was written.
Kinky Boots—the Musical is at the King’s Theatre in Glasgow until February 15, 2025. It performs at the Edinburgh Playhouse from February 18-22 before continuing its UK tour. See the production website for further details.
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