Kinky Boots

Starring Matt Henry, Killian Donnelly and Amy Lennox
Music by Cyndi Lauper
Book by Harvey Fierstein

by Ruth Thomson

Is there any better way of spending a Friday night in central London than going to a musical about a shoe factory in Northampton….?? Turns out, NO!!!

Kinky Boots is the first full length foray into musical theatre by pop icon extraordinaire Cyndi Lauper, who’s written the music and lyrics to the book by Harvey Fierstein. It tells the story of Charlie, the unassuming inheritor of his family’s struggling shoe business, and Lola, a freakishly fabulous drag queen whose manly insteps are crying out for increased arch support atop her ten inch sequined heels. Gap in the market anyone…? The show has already won six Tony Awards and was inspired by the 2005 Brit flick starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, which in turn was inspired (rather less glamorously) by a 1999 episode of the BBC Two documentary ‘Trouble at the Top’ which told the true story of ‘Divine Footwear’.

So this week Kinky Boots well and truly arrive in their motherland, and the man who makes them sparkle most brightly is Matt Henry as Lola/Simon from Clapton. A finalist in The Voice two years ago (hurrah for the license fee!!) he rips it up in Cyndi’s disco numbers and ballads and strikes the perfect balance between Lola’s over-the-top flamboyance and Simon’s introspective vulnerability. Less successful is Killian Donnelly as Charlie whose gentle characterisation is annihilated by his overly cheesy boy band vocals. Amy Lennox also steals a scene or two as Lauren, Charlie’s feisty assistant who’s harbouring a massive inappropriate crush, and who gets the best lines of the night: ‘Women have been making terrible decisions/Since the beginning of time/Will you be one of mine?’

Whilst the initial drab background of Northampton might make you wonder what you’ve let yourself in for, the arrival of Lola and ‘her girls’ soon leaves you happily in no doubt. Whilst the plot sags a little in the second half, the Lauperesque song, dance and sentiments throughout reinforce the universal message that, just like the rest of us, shoe factory employees and drag queens just wanna have fun!!!