Billy Porter to Leave KINKY BOOTS for New Original Broadway Show in 2016?

KINKY BOOTS, the smash-hit musical that brings together four-time Tony Award-winner Harvey Fierstein (Book) and Grammy Award-winning rock icon Cyndi Lauper (Tony Award-winner for Best Score for Kinky Boots), opens at the Benedum Center, August 4-9 for an exclusive engagement as part of Pittsburgh CLO's 2015 Summer Season.

The engagement will star Pittsburgh's own Billy Porter, who is stepping out of his Tony Award-winning role on Broadway - for one week only - to play Lola before his hometown audience. Billy returns to Pittsburgh CLO after getting his start as a CLO Mini Star, before graduating from CAPA, Carnegie Mellon University and appearing in Pittsburgh CLO productions, most recently Dreamgirls in 2004.

In a new interview with the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, the actor comments, "It's the ultimate moment. This is what I set out to do, and it took me a long time to do it. A lot of people felt like it was never going to happen."

Porter also shares that he wanted to perform his Tony winning role in his hometown because not everyone can make it to New York City. In addition, he reveals that with his Kinky Boots contract up in January, he won't be playing Lola indefinitely. In fact, the article shares that Porter will be on Broadway in 2016 but with a new, original musical. He teases that it's all secretive until an official announcement is made.

Read the story in full here

As BWW reported in February, Porter is currently working on a Harlem-set television drama which he described as a mashup of "Six Feet Under" and "Girls." "(It) follows a character that's loosely based on me and my archetype - that being a black, out, gay man that's not on the down-low," he said. "I find that there is often a down-low component that's associated with the telling of black, gay stories and I think it's interesting because that isn't my story. So it follows that character and his sort of four best friends as they try to figure out how to close the chasm between sex and intimacy." (Read story in full here)

Porter won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of 'Lola' in Kinky Boots.

His other Broadway credits include Miss Saigon, Five Guys..., Grease, Smokey Joe's..., Dreamgirls. Off-Broadway/ Regional: Angels In America, Merchant of Venice, Radiant Baby, Birdie Blue, Songs For a New World, Ghetto Superstar (One-Man Show), Topdog/Underdog, King Lear, The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler. Film/ Television: The Broken Hearts Club, Shake Rattle & Roll, Noel, "Law & Order," "The Big C." Recording: Untitled, At The Corner Of Broadway & Soul.

KINKY BOOTS took home six 2013 Tony Awards, the most of any show in the season, including Best Musical, Best Score (Cyndi Lauper), Best Choreography (Jerry Mitchell), Best Orchestrations (Stephen Oremus) and Best Sound Design (John Shivers). The show also received the Drama League, Outer Critics Circle and Broadway.com Awards for Best Musical and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Album, along with many other accolades.

Inspired by true events, Kinky Boots takes you from a gentlemen's shoe factory in Northampton to the glamorous catwalks of Milan. Charlie Price is struggling to live up to his father's expectations and continue the family business of Price & Son. With the factory's future hanging in the balance, help arrives in the unlikely but spectacular form of Lola, a fabulous performer in need of some sturdy new stilettos.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos