Theater review: ‘Kinky Boots’

The musical Kinky Boots, which won the 2013 Tony Award for best musical and is based on the 2005 British film of the same name, has just about everything that works in a standard Broadway musical.

It has the glitz and the glam — thanks to the drag queens at the center of this story about a British shoe factory on the verge of closing until its heir decides to create a niche with fabulous high-heeled boots that can support the weight of a man.

It has lovable characters, a few catchy tunes (the music and lyrics are by ’80s pop icon Cyndi Lauper, who won a Tony for her efforts), the appropriate amount of conflict and a flood of feel-good themes — about following your heart, believing in possibilities, accepting others for who they are — that really hit home.

But when it comes to storytelling, it’s all pretty conventional — and oddly so. You could adopt the paint-by-numbers formula from the “How To Construct a Musical” handbook — the precise points where the “I want” song, the conflict and the “a-ha” moments appear — and apply it to this one without any difficulties.

Directed and choreographed by Tony-winner Jerry Mitchell, it’s wildly entertaining, though. And in its first North Texas tour stop via Dallas Summer Musicals at the Music Hall at Fair Park, it boasts terrific performances, even if sound levels were problematic at Wednesday’s opening night. The show is also coming to Bass Hall in October.

Steven Booth plays Charlie Price, the heir to a shoe factory in Northampton, England, who is having to face that facts that the company isn’t being innovated, even if quality standards are high. As fate would have it, he meets Lola (J. Harrison Ghee), a drag queen who leads a drag revue at a London club. Her heel has broken, and that’s when Charlie has the epiphany.

They work on creating this new line of drag queen footwear, and not only do fortunes change, but — and this is important in musical comedy — people change, too.

Ghee is fantastic as Lola, both in and out of drag, effortlessly communicating several sides of a complicated character that most would view as a highly confident extrovert, but can be as introverted and shy as anyone else. The musical version of Kinky Boots also brings in a father-son dynamic, and his storyline for his father’s acceptance is beautiful.

Booth does a nice job as the character who is likeable for so many reasons but is definitely flawed. Lindsay Nicole Chambers is winning as the factory worker who helps Charlie with his arc.

The big drag numbers, such as Sex Is in the Heel and Raise You Up fulfill the need for flashy entertainment. Lauper’s score is heavy on synth and dance pop, but at least it does have moments that sound like Lauper, with some nice harmonies. That’s important in an era where so many popsicals sound the same.

Kinky Boots might not be earth shattering or groundbreaking, but it is uplifting — not to mention hugely entertaining. Sometimes that’s enough.

This story was originally published February 26, 2015 at 2:42 PM with the headline "Theater review: ‘Kinky Boots’."