Kinky Boots

With funky pink hair, Cyndi Lauper slipped into the theatre as opening night guest of honour, earning an impromptu ovation during the interval. The fact that she came from the US to the second city opening in Australia reflected the pop diva’s enthusiasm for her new career as a music theatre composer.

Her talent and down to earth hard work was reflected on the stage. Kinky Boots is a beautifully crafted musical, with lots of laughs and loads of heart.

It’s famously based on the real life story of a Northhampton shoe factory that was saved from closure by changing its business to model from regular footwear to high heel camp boots.

The razor sharp wit of the original movie and Harvey Fierstein was reflected in the frequent wise cracks. The lead Drag Queen - Lola observes that her father “wouldn't talk to me even when he got lung cancer. So it's ironic, really. Fags got him in the end.”

Lola loves doing exactly the opposite of what is expected. “She” also loves red because it is the colour of sex, whereas burgundy is the colour of hot water bottles.

In the role was sublime young British talent Callum Francis. Aged in his early twenties he’s got the big star stamp firmly planted on his forehead.

Local Sydney boy Toby Francis (same surname but no relation) played the straight lead – Charlie - bravely working to save the jobs of his shoe factory after his father died.

It is an incredibly demanding role involving volumes of rapid fire dialogue with turns of shouting and high range tenor songs. On opening night Toby dug deep to give the gutsiest performance that won a stirring ovation.

None of the other roles offer much in terms of character development opportunities apart from Don (Joe Kosky) who evolves from being a burley homophobic factory worker to a model of tolerance.

The recognition of how brave a man must be to appear in public in a dress forms the resounding moral to the story.

As a musical there are not a lot of tunes that you go out whistling. The songs though are loads of fun, from the exuberant “Sex is In  the Heel” and “Everybody Say Yeah” to the reflective “Not my Father’s Son”.

 All the musical roads though lead not to Rome but Milan where Price and Sons shows off its new range of flashy and sexy boots. The image that lasts is the gorgeous kaleidoscope of colour on the runway set to the anthem “Raise You Up”.

Kinky Boots is a musical that has legs!

David Spicer

Photographer" Matthew Murphy