The national tour of the 2013 Tony award-winning musical “Kinky Boots” returned to IU on Feb. 10 and 11, bringing dazzle and heart to the auditorium stage.
The musical follows Charlie Price (Noah Silverman), who inherits a failing shoe factory from his late father. Determined to find a way to reinvent the brand to bring it new life, he teams up with Lola (Omari Collins), a drag queen in need of sturdy high-heeled boots. Together, they design a line of stylish high-heeled boots made for men in a last-ditch effort to save the shoe factory, and along the way, discover the power of opening one’s mind.
I had never seen “Kinky Boots” before, but was drawn to it after hearing a synopsis of the plot. Especially considering it’s inspired by a true story, this seemed like it would be a fun, distinctive and heartfelt musical, and it delivered on all fronts.
The musical opened in a way I’ve personally never seen done before; with a character rushing on stage, supposedly on a phone call, to communicate to the audience to turn off their cell phones and put them on silent. It was a pretty jarring way to open the show, but it immediately grabbed my attention and was definitely the most interesting pre-show PSA I’ve seen.
The story then started with the introduction of Mr. Price, Charlie’s father, who is played by Dominic Pagliaro, an IU alumnus. I was quite surprised to discover the show is actually set in England, and every character has a British accent. It was a bit off putting at first, but the characters’ British charm soon grew on me, despite it making it a bit difficult to understand some of the dialogue.
I think the true heart of this show was Lola, played by Omari Collins, also known as Scarlett D. Von’Du in drag. She instantly commanded the stage when she made her entrance and continued to serve looks, comedy and much of the show’s emotional depth throughout the rest of the musical.
It took me a little bit of time to get into the musical, especially because of the songs, which at the beginning sounded quite generic to me. The moment the show really hooked me was during the number “Sex Is in the Heel,” led by Lola.
This scene was very fun and lively and was the first time the ensemble characters became distinctive. While many of the side characters don’t get too much depth throughout the musical, they’re all still very individual thanks to their quips and one-liners that made up many of the most comedic moments in the musical.
My favorite part of the musical, however, was not one of the flashy dance numbers, but rather Lola’s ballad near the end, “Hold Me in Your Heart.” This song was brought to life beautifully by Collins’ powerful vocals, and while the scenic design during this number was rather simple, it was very effective. Lola’s flowy white sequined dress made her look ethereal, and the back light that shone out into the audience at the end of the song really made me feel like I was being serenaded at the gates of heaven.
However, my biggest gripe with the musical was the third act conflict. This is something that I think a lot of musicals, and stories in general, struggle with because it’s very hard to do well. There’s always a big dramatic moment in the last 30 minutes of the story where everything goes wrong and the main character reaches their lowest point, but after this, the damage that was done needs to be completely resolved and tied together with a nice little bow in a small amount of time.
Up until the third act conflict of “Kinky Boots,” I was actually very pleased with the fact that Charlie didn’t come into the story being homophobic or rude toward Lola, as this easily could have been the trope that was used for the entirety of the musical. However, my admiration for his character swiftly dissipated when he became the rudest, most homophobic character in the show for the sake of a third act conflict.
While I thought his apology to Lola after this was well done, I found myself struggling to sympathize with his character after this conflict. It made me not want Lola to accept his apology or come to his rescue at all.
I know a big conflict and subsequent resolution was necessary for the structure of the story, but I wish Charlie hadn’t gone as far as he did, or at the very least, that there was more time to have him learn from his mistakes and prove he could be a better person to Lola, instead of a two minute apology over voicemail magically solving everything.
Regardless of my feelings about the third act of the musical, this was still a phenomenal performance. I laughed, I cried, I danced along and I found myself wanting a pair of thigh-high red sparkly boots so I can try and be even a fraction as cool as Lola.
