David Cook Will Make His Broadway Debut in KINKY BOOTS

Rock singer and former American Idol David Cook will be making his Broadway debut as Charlie Price in Kinky Boots this spring! Cook will begin performances on Tuesday, April 3, 2018 and will play a limited run through Saturday, May 5, 2018.

Cook, who will release his brand new EP Chromance on Friday, February 16, 2018, succeeds Jake Shears. Cook will join the recently announced Wayne Brady who takes over as 'Lola' on Monday, March 5, 2018.

The producers also announced today that Grammy Award-winner Kirstin Maldonado, of the hit acapella group Pentatonix and currently starring as 'Lauren', has extended her run through Thursday, April 26, 2018. She was originally scheduled to play through Sunday, April 8, 2018.

"I am so thrilled and honored that I am going to be part of this show and get to work with so many amazing people!" Cook said. "I love the collaborative aspect of theatre, the idea of being part of a creative team and working it out in front of an audience each night. I can't wait to join this incredible cast in Kinky Boots including the very talented Wayne Brady and Kirstin Maldonado!"

The winner of six 2013 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Kinky Boots features a Tony Award-winning score by Cyndi Lauper, a book by Tony Award-winner Harvey Fierstein and direction and choreography by Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell. Kinky Boots tells the uplifting and heartwarming tale of Charlie Price, a young man reluctantly taking over his family's struggling shoe factory and looking for a fresh idea. Charlie meets and finds inspiration in Lola and together, they discover that it takes a good friend to make a great pair.

Kinky Boots has won every major Best Musical Award and is represented around the world with the Tony Award-winning Broadway company now in its fifth year, a London production in its third year (where it won the 2016 Olivier Award for Best Musical) with a recently announced UK & Ireland Tour commencing next summer, a North American First National Tour in its fourth year, an upcoming production in Germany beginning performances later this month, a Korean production returning to Seoul for a third season this coming Spring and a Japanese production returning for a second season to Tokyo and Osaka in 2019. Other previous productions include an extended run in Toronto (winner of the Dora Award for Musical) and an award-winning Australian production which concluded in October 2017. The Grammy Award-winning Original Broadway Cast Recording of Kinky Boots is available on Sony Masterworks Broadway.

The current Broadway cast of Kinky Boots includes J. Harrison Ghee (as Lola), Jake Shears (as Charlie Price), Kirstin Maldonado (as Lauren), Daniel Stewart Sherman, Caroline Bowman, Marcus Neville, Adinah Alexander, Eugene Barry-Hill, Stephen Berger, Holly Davis, Jesus Del Orden, Stephane Duret, Mia Gentile, Blair Goldberg, Natalie Joy Johnson, Jake Katzman, Kevin Smith Kirkwood, Blaine Alden Krauss, Eric Leviton, Jake Odmark, John Jeffrey Martin, Julia McLellan, Michael Milkanin, Connor Mills, Christian Mullins, Fred Odgaard, Robert Pendilla, Jennifer Perry, Kyle Post, Charlie Sutton, Joey Taranto, Stephen Tewksbury.

The design team for Kinky Boots includes Tony Award nominee David Rockwell (Scenic Design), Tony Award-winner Gregg Barnes (Costume Design), Tony Award-winner Kenneth Posner (Lighting Design), Tony Award-winner John Shivers (Sound Design), Josh Marquette (Hair Design), Randy Houston Mercer (Make-up Design), Telsey + Company, Justin Huff, CSA (Casting), Brian Usifer (Musical Direction), with Musical Supervision, Arrangements and Orchestrations by Tony and Grammy Award-winner Stephen Oremus.

Tickets for Kinky Boots ($55 - $163) are available for purchase in person at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre box office (Monday - Saturday, 10am - 8pm; Sunday, 12pm - 6 pm), online at www.ticketmaster.com. For information on group sales, contact Group Sales Box Office/Broadway.com at groups@broadway.com or 1-800-BROADWAY, ext 2.

The performance schedule for Kinky Boots is as follows: Monday at 8pm, Tuesday at 7pm, Thursday at 7pm, Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm and 8pm, and Sunday at 2pm and 7:30pm (see KinkyBootsTheMusical.com for variations). There is a general ticket lottery each day; lottery entries will be accepted online (lottery.kinkybootsthemusical.com) beginning at the curtain time of the previous performance up to 3.5 hours prior to curtain of the desired performance, and names will be chosen at random, for a limited number of $40 tickets. See KinkyBootsTheMusical.com for details and restrictions.

Kinky Boots is produced on Broadway by Daryl Roth and Hal Luftig, James L. Nederlander, Terry Allen Kramer, Independent Presenters Network, CJ E&M, Jayne Baron Sherman, Just for Laughs Theatricals/Judith Ann Abrams, Yasuhiro Kawana, Jane Bergere, Allan S. Gordon & Adam S. Gordon, Ken Davenport, Hunter Arnold, Lucy and Phil Suarez, Bryan Bantry, Ron Fierstein and Dorsey Regal, Jim Kierstead/Gregory Rae, BB Group/Christina Papagjika, Michael DeSantis/Patrick Baugh, Brian Smith/Tom and Connie Walsh, Warren Trepp, and Jujamcyn Theaters.

David Cook (Charlie Price) immediately launched to stardom following his Season 7 American Idol title. Cook broke several Billboard chart records when 14 of his songs debuted on the Hot Digital Songs chart and 11 of his songs debuted on the Hot 100 and went on to sell more than 1.5 million albums, including his certified platinum eponymous album. Collectively, David has sold over 5 million tracks worldwide including 2 singles that have been certified Platinum. In 2012, David relocated to Nashville, TN and found the creative environment re-invigorated his passion for creating music. He not only found success as a writer for other artists, his 2015 studio album, "Digital Vein" debuted in the top 5 on the Billboard Pop Chart. Cook continues to tour throughout the world in support of his multiple hits. David will release his brand new EP Chromance on Feb. 16. The release is teased by the first single, "Gimme Heartbreak" which is available via all digital platforms now.

Photo Credit: Matthew Murphy