BWW Reviews: KINKY BOOTS Kicks A** at The Hobby Center

When all 'round here was green fields, the men in the Price family were content to live in Northampton and care for the feet of strangers, but the current Price - Charlie Price - wants something more. He doesn't know what more is, but he knows it's not shoemaking. He and his highschool sweetheart make their way to London, away from Northampton and away from the family business.

But when tragedy strikes, Charlie's dreams of more are dashed. Until he meets Lola that is. Inspired by Lola, current drag queen and former amateur boxer with major personality and major talent, and his business smart factory employee Lauren, Charlie finds what he's looking for.

KINKY BOOTS starts at the storied shoe store Price & Sons where several generations of Prices have labored and loved. Charlie's father is teaching his young ward about the importance of shoes. You can always tell a man by his shows, he says, and this is the show in a nutshell. You can always tell a man by his shoes. Simple heartwarming adages, simple heartwarming people, and simple heartwarming lessons. The mellow warmth of KINKY BOOTS is perfect for what passes for winter here in Houston.

The behind the scenes team excels in KINKY BOOTS. Director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell gives his performers acrobatic, athletic and awe-inspiring moves. His direction and choreography, Cyndi Lauper's music, Harvey Fierstein's writing, and Gregg Barnes costume design make for an awe-inspiring production.

And that doesn't even take into account the performers.

In the show's open, we see a sweet, pretty musical number in "Price & Son Theme/The Most Beautiful Thing" featuring the most adorable performances from Anthony Picarello (Young Charlie) and Andrew Theo Johnson (Young Lola).

Lola is a female version of a hustler. In Beyoncé speak, that means Lola's a diva (with a capital 'D'). As Lola, Darius Harper is compelling and dynamic even in the quiet, small moments of the musical. In "Sex is in the Heel," you can almost feel his energy making its way through the audience. That's what we call giving you life. He's an outstanding performer - vocal chops, dance chops - you can see it in his skilled footwork, confident and precise dance movements - and acting chops. He looks like Lola, walks like Lola and talks like Lola. He is Lola.

Steven Booth realizes his character completely - the awkward, unsure of himself, cringingly passive and earnest, yet loyal and good-hearted Charlie. Booth's vocal phrases are impossibly long (Where did he get all that air?) and his high notes reach outer space. His vocal control is impressive. However, at times I wished for less control in his performance. Many of his moments appeared to be too deliberate and too careful. Charlie is too cautious yes, but Booth needn't be.

Charlie's foil Lauren is played by Lindsay Nicole Chambers. Chambers is exceedingly funny and, at the very least, spontaneous in appearance. It reminds me of Lucille Ball. Despite Lucy's wild, flexible performances, no adlibs appeared in an episode of I LOVE LUCY, only meticulously planned performance choices. Fast forwarding to present day, I wonder how much work it took for Chambers to look so off the cuff despite such exacting staging, choreography, and vocal expectations from the audience.

The supporting players were equally captivating. Craig Waletzko is the quirky, wisdom-filled George. Joe Coots is the gruff, stubborn, man's man Don. And Grace Stockdale is the sexy, driven and ambitious but long-suffering fiancé Nicola. I'll note here that I was particularly fond of Harvey Fierstein's decision to make Nicola less evil and much rounder than the film, a favorite of mine, does.

Cyndi Lauper's Tony Award-winning memorable music score molds to the story and each character's transformation. The score heightens the atmosphere and the situations. There is something about the work she did that makes the musical seem whole. That brings a feeling of satisfaction once you reach the end.

Harvey Fierstein's play gets to the point. There are no wasted moments of exposition. As a result, there are a couple of, "Wait, what just happened?" moments, but his decisive writing keeps the tone light and the pace steady.

The extent of male fashion is cufflinks, cuff size, button placement and the length of a pants leg. Women have much more variety in their clothing, but gender expectations shrink the range of possibilities, even in the cornucopia of women's fashion. Costume designer Gregg Barnes fixes that. He takes the variety of women's clothing, and the cut of men's clothing, and creates a best-of-both-worlds look for Lola and her fierce fly girls, her dance troupe/side-kicks The Angels (J. Harrison Ghee, Tommy Martinez, Nick McGough, Ricky Schroeder, Juan Torres-Falcon, Hernando Umana). Seriously, those kicks were high. And I'm happy to see that not much effort went into forcing the men into the traditionally coveted hourglass shape. Oh, and the kinky boots themselves are masterpieces. Who needs a motorcycle for their mid-life crisis? I think we found the little red corvette of shoes.

Although it is nice to see diverse gender representations going mainstream, KINKY BOOTS is not breaking new ground. It's a simple coming of age story for all of it's characters and surely we can all admit that, in a world where RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE has seven seasons and ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK wins three Emmy Awards, KINKY BOOTS is not so kinky after all. But the show doesn't have to be groundbreaking. Sometimes -

Do I dare? Yes, I do. Sometimes, a girl just wants to have fun!

Come on, girl! Have some fun! Kinky Boots will run until February 22, 2015 in the Sarofim Hall at The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. For more information, visit www.tuts.com.

Photo Credit: Matthew Murphy

To post a comment, you must register and login.