The gender-bending musical “Kinky Boots” has a warm heart. It’s a show with a plea for universal acceptance of all lifestyles, including sexual preference and the pursuit of dreams slightly out of reach.
The challenge here, however, is to keep this otherwise appealing story from becoming maudlin, self-pitying, or sinking too heavily into message.
Director Jay Berkow and a large energetic cast steer this production in the right direction with liberal dashes of humor, raucous celebrations of life, and surprising, but believably human transformations in character. As we see by the show’s end, transformation is what “Kinky Boots” is all about.
The result of the director’s and performers’ efforts is an audience-pleasing evening in the theatre filled with lively songs, winning dance numbers, and creative staging.
The plot revolves around a young British man, Charlie Price, who recently inherited his father’s shoe factory. Although reluctant at first, Charlie soon embraces his position as owner/manager of a company that has lost customers and direction in the marketplace.
After a series of happy accidents in Charlie’s life, enter Lola, a drag queen with an interest in finding the right boots for her act. Seeing the possibility of a niche market for newly produced footwear from his factory, Charlie enlists Lola’s help and advice to save his business and with it the jobs of his faithful long-time employees.
As Charlie, Hakaan Packwood successfully navigates the numerous transitions for a character unsure of his place in the business world. Despite his role’s tentative demeanor and shifts in decision-making, as an actor, Packwood’s instincts are on the mark for Charlie. He trusts his human relationships with workers at the factory, and the bond he builds with Lola.
Although Packwood’s voice stretches for some notes in songs like “The Soul of a Man” he is always physically and emotionally credible as one torn between competing interests in his life.
Chris Reed shines as Lola, the glowing red-hot centerpiece of “Kinky Boots.” Reed appropriately manifests the gravitas of a tough, streetwise exterior. This serves as Lola’s defense mechanism, an effective survival strategy, and a mask for the heart of gold that lies beneath the make-up, wigs, and drag apparel donned by this unforgettable character.
Supported by the innovative choreography of his six “Angels,” Reed’s songs soar above encounters with homophobia, and momentary setbacks, to elevate all characters and the audience in frenzied uplifting show stoppers such as “Land of Lola” and “Raise You Up/Just Be.”
As Simon, Lola’s male persona, Reed sheds light on his character’s complex interior life and commonality with Charlie, in the biographical reveal “Not My Father’s Son.”
Augmenting the heat and light generated by Reed’s performance, “Kinky Boots” features several supporting performers to bolster lead characters, take stage occasionally, and elevate the action and stakes after slower, more reflective scenes and numbers.
Paige Madej, as Lauren, is one of the sparkplugs that helps to put a charge into this show. As Charlie’s ultimate love interest, Madej is a joy to behold as she embraces and viscerally amplifies each look, gesture, or kind word from her boss.
Deedee Nwafo provides a strong source of conflict for Charlie, as his headstrong bride-to-be. She displays impeccable timing in her heated exchanges with her future husband as she talks over his remarks, foreshadowing that this pair of star-crossed lovers has no future.
Sam Davis, as Don, the mouthy, brawny, bare shouldered laborer, is a fitting adversary for Lola and the lifestyle, mannerisms, and affectations implied by the company’s new line of boots.
After a clash with Lola over traditional gender roles in the provocative number “What a Woman Wants,” the pair engage in a boxing match, cleverly staged in slow motion. Although Davis’s character wins in the ring, this pyrrhic victory leads to a convincing change of heart for Don and a reconsideration of the naked prejudice he previously displayed.
A key to the success of “Kinky Boots” is that Chris Reed’s Lola becomes much more than the eccentric drag queen who captured our attention early in the show. This larger-than-life character, the product of Harvy Fierstein’s book and the music and lyrics of Cyndi Lauper, appears in a final iteration as a catalyst for transformation of a factory and society in need of change.
Reinforcing the implied tension between a dawning new age and the decay of an older order are Kathryn Wagner’s blatantly colorful costumes, and Garrylee McCormick’s bold hair and wigs, when seen against designer Elijah Bates’ purposefully drab, industrial age, brick background set.
This contrast seems as incongruous as the bright red thigh high boots applied to the hairy legs of factory owner Charlie Price, as he clumsily attempts to strut the Milan fashion runway.
In a show filled with consistent disruptions of normative behavior and inversion of values, we can be sure that it’s a choice meant to be deliberately outrageous. In “Kinky Boots” the incongruous always takes center stage.
Kinky Boots runs until Nov 15 in Shaw Theatre at Western Michigan University.
