Kinky Boots

After a three-million dollar refurbishment, Toowoomba’s theatrical jewel, the Empire Theatre, is looking more glitzy than ever, and what better show to reopen the venue than this glitzy ‘ode to acceptance’ Kinky Boots. The story of a failing Northumberland shoe factory which is reborn making sexy leather boots for drag queens, comes vibrantly alive in Alison Vallette’s production, the Queensland community theatre premiere.

Like previous Empire Theatres productions, this is a pro-am venture with former The Book of Mormon alumni Timothy Springs leading the cast as Lola. Tall, thin and lithe, he’s a sassy performer in or out of heels, dances and sings with flair, and brings a ton of emotion to the role - outrageous delivering “Sex is in the Heel” and vulnerable in “Not my Father’s Son”.

It was a terrific performance but he didn’t carry the emotional weight of the story on his own. Opposite him as Charlie Price, the son who inherits the factory, was Sean Johnston, who was no slouch carrying his part of the scenario. With a voice whose timbre was akin to a folk/country sound, he effortlessly soared on his second-act showpiece “Soul of a Man” and matched Springs with intense passion in “Not my Father’s Son”, a goose-bumps moment.

Georgia Spark was a cute Lauren and never missed a laugh on “The History of Wrong Guys”, Sophie Kleinschmidt was a snooty Nicola, but Isaac Brown’s Don lacked menace.

The drag queens all looked good and danced like they were contestants on Dancing With the Stars, credit to choreographer George Canham who drilled them within an inch of their lives. All of his routines generated heat especially, “Everybody Say Yeah” and the finale “Raise You Up”. Chancie Jessop’s set was ordinary rather than imaginative but her factory front cloth was good, Debra Nairn’s costumes mixed and matched colourfully, the backstage singers added enormously to the sound scape, whilst Shane Tooley’s band played Lauper’s score like Broadway pros.

It was a great night in the theatre and equally if not more enjoyable than the recent commercial production.

Peter Pinne