Stark Sands and Annaleigh Ashford to Depart KINKY BOOTS in 2014; Billy Porter Extends Run Through July

Billy Porter, this year's Tony Award-winner for Best Actor in a Musical, has extended his contract in Kinky Boots, producers Daryl Roth and Hal Luftig announced today; Porter will remain with the show at least through July 2014. They also announced that Natalie Joy Johnson (Legally Blonde) will join the cast of the smash hit musical, taking over for Tory Ross on December 23, 2013.

Kinky Boots' other Tony Award-nominated stars, Stark Sands and Annaleigh Ashford will both depart the show in early 2014. Sands' last performance will be January 26, 2014, and Ashford will leave in March to film the next season of Showtime's "Masters of Sex."

The current cast of Kinky Boots also includes Lena Hall, Daniel Stewart Sherman, Marcus Neville, Paul Canaan, Kevin Smith Kirkwood, Kyle Taylor Parker, Kyle Post, Charlie Sutton, Joey Taranto, Andy Kelso, Adinah Alexander, Douglas Baldeo, Eugene Barry-Hill, Stephen Berger, Sandra DeNise, Jonah Halperin, Jaden Jordan, Eric Leviton, Ellyn Marie Marsh, John Jeffrey Martin, Nathan Peck, Robert Pendilla, Jennifer Perry, Tory Ross, Lucia Spina, Sebastian Hedges Thomas, Stephen Tewksbury, Timothy Ware and Cortney Wolfson. Abby Mueller makes her Broadway debut when she joins the cast on December 23, replacing Lucia Spina.

Kinky Boots features a Tony Award-winning score by pop icon Cyndi Lauper, a book by four-time Tony Award-winner Harvey Fierstein, and direction and choreography by two-time Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell. The smash-hit musical plays to standing-room-only crowds nightly and continues to break box office records at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre (302 West 45th Street), where it started previews on March 4 and officially opened on April 4, 2013.

In Kinky Boots, Charlie Price (Sands) has suddenly inherited his father's shoe factory, which is on the verge of bankruptcy. Trying to live up to his father's legacy and save his family business, Charlie finds inspiration in the form of Lola (Porter). A fabulous entertainer in need of some sturdy stilettos, Lola turns out to be the one person who can help Charlie become the man he's meant to be. As they work to turn the factory around, this 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.

Kinky Boots won six 2013 Tony® Awards, the most of any show this season, including Best Musical, Best Score (Cyndi Lauper), Best Choreography (Jerry Mitchell), Best Actor (Billy Porter), 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, along with many other accolades.

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. 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.