Kyle Taylor Parker to Temporarily Take Over as 'Lola' in KINKY BOOTS on Broadway; Billy Porter Extends into 2016!

Producers Daryl Roth and Hal Luftig announced today that Kyle Taylor Parker, who is currently earning raves as 'Lola' in the National Tour of the Tony Award®-winning musical Kinky Boots, will step into the role on Broadway at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre (302 West 45th Street) for three months, taking over for Tony® Award-winner Billy Porter from January 27 - April 26, 2015. Porter will return to Kinky Boots on April 28, 2015, and has extended his contract through January 2016.

"Lola is literally my dream role, and I'm still loving every minute of it," says Porter, who has played more than 750 performances in the role that won him a 2013 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. "But I'm going to take a few months at the beginning of the year to do concerts, some directing, and other things. Then I'll be back at the end of April, and am excited to say that I get to strut my stuff in this glorious show until January 2016."

Porter will also return to his hometown of Pittsburgh, PA to star as 'Lola' when the National Touring Production plays the Pittsburgh CLO from August 4-9, 2015. Parker will head back to Broadway to fill in for Porter during those performances as well.

Kyle Taylor Parker made his Broadway debut as an 'Angel' in the original company of Kinky Boots and has been playing the role of 'Lola' in the First National Touring Production since it opened to rave reviews in Las Vegas in September 2014. Other credits include In the Heights (National Tour), Hair(ATC) and more.

Darius Harper and J. Harrison Ghee, who currently understudy Parker on the National Tour, will alternate playing the role of 'Lola' during this time.

Kinky Boots tells the uplifting and heartwarming tale of Charlie Price, a young man reluctantly taking over his family's struggling business. Charlie meets and finds inspiration in Lola and together, the unlikely pair finds that they have more in common than they ever dreamed possible... and discovers that when you change your mind about someone, you can change your whole world. The winner of six 2013 Tony® Awards, including Best Musical,Kinky Boots features a Tony® Award-winning score by pop icon Cyndi Lauper, a book by Tony® Award-winner Harvey Fierstein, and direction and choreography by Tony® Award-winner Jerry Mitchell.

The current cast of Kinky Boots includes Tony® Award-winner Billy Porter, Andy Kelso, Jeanna de Waal, Daniel Stewart Sherman,Cortney Wolfson, Marcus Neville, Nick Rashad Burroughs, Paul Canaan, Sean Patrick Doyle, Kevin Smith Kirkwood, Kyle Post,Joey Taranto, Adinah Alexander, Douglas Baldeo, Eugene Barry-Hill, Stephen Berger, Cameron Colley, Alfred DalPino, Anna Eilinsfeld, Mia Gentile, Natalie Joy Johnson, D'Andre Lee, Eric Leviton, Ellyn Marie Marsh, John Jeffrey Martin, Graham Montgomery, Abby Mueller, Jake Odmark, Nathan Peck, Robert Pendilla, Jennifer Perry, Stephen Tewksbury, and Timothy Ware.

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 ($87 - $157) are available for purchase in person at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre box office (Monday - Saturday, 10am - 8pm; Sunday, 12pm - 6 pm), online at www.telecharge.com, or by calling Telecharge at 800-432-7250 or 212-239-6200. For information on group sales, contact Group Sales Box Office/Broadway.com at groups@broadway.com or 1-800-BROADWAY, ext 2.

The standard performance schedule for Kinky Boots is as follows: Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday at 2pm and 8pm, Thursday at 7pm, Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm and 8pm, and Sunday at 3pm (see KinkyBootsTheMusical.com for variations). There is a general ticket lottery each day; lottery entries will be accepted outside the Al Hirschfeld Theatre box office (302 West 45th Street) beginning two and a half hours prior to each performance, and names will be drawn at random, for a limited number of $37 tickets, two hours before curtain time. 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.

Photo by Matthew Murphy