L-R: Angels Jaden Michael Jones, Chad Takeda*, Donovan Hoffer*, Jonathan Bryant*, Joshua Bellamy, Devin Price* and Stephane Duret* (Lola) (image by Jared Morneau Photography)
by Gina Hamilton
What happens when you combine Harvey Fierstein’s firm and enduring belief in people being allowed to be who they are, no apologies, and Cyndi Lauper’s just wanna have fun music, and a lot of rainbow-colored costumes and shoes worn by men who dress as women? Did we mention fabulous footwear? And sequins and glitter and even some multi-colored confetti?
You get Kinky Boots, the campiest of drag queen courts, which is showing at Maine State Music Theatre from now until August 27. It’s not a love story, at least not a typical one. It’s a celebration of affirmation, of acceptance, and of friendship among people who might not have had the opportunity to have their minds changed by getting to know someone different from themselves.
The story is pretty basic on one level. Charlie Price (Matt Farcher) inherits his father’s failing shoe factory, and has returned to his Northampton home to sort things out, leaving his fiancee Lauren (Liz Shivener) behind in London. Although he tries to keep the factory going, he realizes he is going to have to let them go. While he is walking back to the factory, he comes upon a couple of lads attempting to bother a lady, and Charlie interferes. However, Lola (Stephane Duret) isn’t in need of his help, and isn’t what she seems to be. During the melee, where Lola comes out on top, Charlie is hurt, and Lola carries him back to her club, the Blue Angel. When he wakes, she bemoans the fact that her boots don’t hold up under her adult male weight. Charlie says he can help fix the boot, but they weren’t good to begin with, and he should consider making her a new pair. Lola says that she would give anything for a pair of boots that fit and held up.
She comes to see him at the factory, where he convinces her — and the staff — to work together to make the specialty boots. They plan to take their product to a shoe show in Milan. One of the staffers isn’t keen, though. Don (Nathaniel Hackman) carries a prejudice against Lola, leading to them agreeing to trade dares, of a sort. Lola would join in a boxing match with Don, and he … would try to change his mind about a single person. He didn’t know that she was trained to be a boxer by her father, and at the last minute, she throws the fight, but Don knows it.
Lauren, meanwhile, is tired of waiting for Charlie to come back to London, and tries to convince him that his father had planned to sell the factory as condominiums. When he tells her he has other plans, she breaks off the engagement, causing Charlie to go off on his staff just as they are preparing for the big show. The staff, including Lola, walk out, but Don brings them back, because he had changed his mind, not about Lola, but about Charlie. Lola, however, isn’t answering her phone, and the factory staff go to Milan with heavy hearts.
Charlie tries to totter around on catwalk on the eight-inch red thigh-high heels, but just as he staggers and falls, Lola and her angels show up in rainbow colored costumes and matching boots, joined by the staff and even Lauren, saving the day.
The plot may be simple, but the theme of being oneself, of letting others support you and supporting others is pure Fierstein. The dance and costuming is fabulous, and to just keep the camp theme going, LL Bean (who knows a thing or two about boots!) was the show sponsor. There were over 200 pairs of shoes on the stage, a good percentage of them boots, and in every color of the rainbow. We don’t know whether the niche boot business succeeds, and it doesn’t really matter, but we’re betting on Lola and Charlie.
The opening night of the last show is when MSMT announces its next season’s shows, and here they are. On the young people’s stage, Rapunzel, The Three Little Pigs, and Alice in Wonderland will be showing in 2023. The music stage will feature Dolly Parton, The Beatles (the solo years), and Elvis. And on the main stage, the first show will be Titanic, followed by Buddy Holly, Nine-to-Five, and Something Rotten!
Go and see Kinky Boots before it’s gone. It’ll lift you up. For ticket information, visit MSMT.org.