A charming, touching and over-whelming musical experience that manages to transcend stereo types and really get to the heart of its characters. We follow Charlie who has inherited a failing shoe factory from his late father. His only financial recourse is to find a new niche market to cater to. His life is then changed forever after an altercation with a drag queen called Lola.This was my first trip to the Adelphi and to Kinky Boots. It was also the current cast’s second performance. So there were a lot of fresh faces in the house that evening.
David Hunter as Charlie is charming, awkward and, most importantly, relatable to. Moving onto Elena Skye, this west end newcomer had, in my opinion, one of the hardest challenges as his love interest. She had to make me enjoy “The History of Wrong Guys,” a song I usually find soporific, irritating and humourless. Accomplishing the impossible, in her hands this song becomes endearing, entertaining and, above all, legitimately funny.
Lastly the Angels are the spectacle that really gives this show its pop. Every time they enter we know we are about to be treated to some choreography that some female would find difficult in a pair of sensible flats.
Matt Henry as Lola exceeded my expectations. Kinky Boots the film is one of my personal favourites and would recommend it to anyone, but I think I preferred Matt Henry to the Oscar nominated Chiwetel Ejiofor. Matt Henry is sometimes over-the-top but is always truthful, he challenges what I thought could be truthful from an actor and I thank him for that.
As for the production itself, the set-design perfectly encapsulates the disparity between the two worlds of Charlie and Lola, from the rustic, shabby-chic charm of the factory interior to the neon spectacle of a cat-walk in Milan.
The Ensemble in this show sounds amazing and has the quality I believe all great ensembles have, a strong group identity while maintaining all the members’ individuality.
Harvey Fierstein’s book is hilarious and touching and, thankfully, leaves in all my favourite lines from the movie. Some of my favourites, “Please tell me I haven’t inspired something burgundy” and “I guess fags got him in the end.”
Something small that was changed was my favourite scene in the movie. Don, in the show, challenges Lola to a boxing match instead of an arm wrestle. This is a prime example of a film set-piece not being transferrable to the stage due to scale and then being fixed with a perfect solution.
A very important trait that this show has, directorially and in terms of lighting design, is the ability to easily control the audience’s focus. We never find ourselves distracted by something that isn’t the focus even when all hell is breaking loose in term of staging, lighting and high-kicks. This plays particularly well when combined with the small elements of magicianship and sleight of hand as we see a shoe made in front of our very eyes.
In summary, this show really doesn’t put a single stilettoed foot wrong. As entertaining evenings at a musical go this is one of the best. So grab your friends and a couple of glasses of wine and come see a show Ru Paul would be proud of.
Bill Murray’s creation of Phil Connors, an egotistical and contemptuous TV weatherman who finds himself trapped in a time-loop whilst conducting an outside broadcast in Punxsutawney, a Pennsylvania backwater, achieved instant cult status when the original film of “Groundhog Day” was released in 1993. The backwater and its unsophisticated inhabitants, whose singular notoriety stems from the antics of a ground-dwelling rodent, (which legend tells can predict the weather depending on whether it spies its own shadow on February 2nd), is the focus of short-lived annual interest, but viewed with undisguised derision by our anti-hero.