theater

KINKY BOOTS’ Faboo Orlando Opening

“Kinky Boots” National Touring Company. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

By PAM HARBAUGH

ORLANDO–It’s all about fun, love, acceptance and the color red in “Kinky Boots,” the mile-a-minute award winning musical which opened Tuesday at the Dr. Phillips Center in Orlando. And it’s also about a couple of bigger than life performers who quite easily steal the show. And….it’s almost completely sold out.

Written by Harvery Fierstein with music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper, “Kinky Boots” is set in an old English boot factory which is about to go under when its owner discovers a niche market not being addressed — transvestites and drag queens who want to wear dazzling stiletto heels. Layered into this story are themes of self-acceptance and courage. Plot, character and music are sewn together with Mr. Fierstein’s trademark flamboyant humor and warmth seen in his play “Torch Song Trilogy,” in his Tony Award winning book for “La Cage aux Folles” and in his Tony Award winning portrayal of Edna Turnblad in the stage musical “Hairspray.”

Ms. Lauper’s music fits ecstatically with Mr. Fierstein’s book. Her Tony Award winning music and lyrics are fresh, winning and speak with heart to from fun little numbers like “The History of Wrong Guys” and then into big issues of love and personal courage like “Hold Me in Your Heart.”

Kinky Boots National Touring Company. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

Kinky Boots National Touring Company. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

Kinky Boots National Touring Company. Photo: Matthew Murphy.[/caption]This production is the first national Broadway tour. It’s got Jerry Mitchell’s direction and his Tony Award winning choreography; Gregg Barnes outstanding costume design and Kenneth Posner’s eye-popping lighting design. So if you’re looking for Broadway quality from stem to stern, you’ve got it, along with the ticket prices.

You also have some electrifying performances, especially by J. Harrison Ghee as Lola, the drag queen who helps the shoe factory create boots that are all about S.E.X. Mr. Ghee gives it all in his performance. You get the finger popping sass and fun moves and attitude as you’d expect from a drag queen. But here…oh boy…you also get a final number, “Hold Me in Your Heart,” that leaves Celine and Barbra in his dust. It’s there, where Mr. Ghee, dressed in a long, white, flowing gown, stands down center in the spotlight, singing out his heart, soul and body. Really, you think big show in Las Vegas. It quite the high point.

But in the first act, the high point comes courtesy Tiffany Engen who is Lauren, the factory worker bee who discovers she has the hots for the young owner, Charlie Price. Her big number is “The History of Wrong Guys” in which she sings about all the wrong men she’s dated and how she’s destined to do it all over again because Charlie is not only her boss, but he’s also engaged. Ms. Engen is hysterical in this number as she uses a pneumatic device to dry off her sudden perspiring underarms and then blow back her hair (think Beyonce) while she sings. And yes, this gifted comic performer does a lot more than that. She’s funny and bold and energetic and has perfect comic timing.

Kinky Boots National Touring Company. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

Kinky Boots National Touring Company. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

As Charlie, Adam Kaplan finds the right mix of awkward and arrogance. He’s especially endearing in his relationship with Lola and in his big number “Soul of Man” when he laments about not being what his father, who founded the factory, would have wanted. Other standouts in the tour are Joe Coots as Don, a luggish factory worker who turns his head around and learns to respect the man called Lola; and the bevy of marvelously festooned dancing drag queens who backup Lola.

This is a fun show. It has talent and it has heart. Don’t miss it.

SIDE O’ GRITS: “Kinky Boots” runs through Sunday at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, 445 S Magnolia Ave, Orlando, FL. Tickets begin at $93.75, but you better act fast. The entire run is nearly sold out. The best way to get tickets is through the Dr. Phillips Center website, so click here. Good luck getting tickets!