Kinky Boots

So Jim, Goeff, Sam, Michael Marie, Mr. Adam & I all went to go see Kinky Boots on Broadway.  It was good.  Not great ryan charisma?  No, not great.  And let me ‘splain to you why…

The musical follows the movie very closely right down to the line “the sex is in the heal”.  The show has some great high points.  I found the book by Harvey Fierstein well done and not heavy handed with the whole gay/drag queen theme.  Cyndi Lauper’s music worked well with the show.  Sadly (and I love you Cyndi!), I didn’t notice anyone leaving the theater tapping their toes to any of the songs.  I even made a point of asking Mr. Adam (on our way home post show) if he was humming any of the songs from the show.  “No, I don’t remember any of them” was the answer.  There you have it.  Moving along…  I don’t usually mention performances but I feel as though I should since the Tony nominations were announced and I have to say – I don’t get it.  Billy Porter was only ok.  There I said it.  Now you know.  He wasn’t bad, he just wasn’t good.  He was mediocre.  In fact, he had several songs that screamed for a big, black, diva voice and that voice never came.  I was waiting.  The audience was waiting.  And we waited.  And waited.  And waited…  And then there was the whole scene in the men’s room where Billy’s character Lola tells us (Charlie) about Lola’s relationship with his father.  Ugh.  I kept thinking “Really? This is a Broadway performance?”  This is my humble opinion, but I think if they recast Lola with someone else – who has that “umph” – the show can only be even better

Now don’t get me wrong, I adored other performances in the show.  Specifically Stark Sands & Anneleigh Ashford.  So gorgeous were their performances.  We loved both of them.  But overall, I’d say the show is good.  Yes good – not great.  Go see Lola’s understudy or better yet… go see Pippin!