REVIEW: “Kinky Boots” stands tall in Northwest Arkansas debut

Courtesy photo

“Kinky Boots,” the production onstage through Jan. 24 at the Walton Arts Center, is about as fabulous as the kind of two and a half foot tall red patent leather boots the musical derives its name from. Which is to say plenty fabulous, even if wrapped in an external layer of manufactured gloss.

This romp of a musical, still showing on Broadway, debuted there in 2012 with creative lead from playwright/actor Harvey Fierstein and singer/songwriter Cyndi Lauper. It did so to considerable acclaim, earning six Tony Awards, including one for best musical and another for Lauper’s efforts as songwriter.

The show begins at the very stuffily British factory Price & Sons, where the Price family has been making dress shoes for men for decades. That business is about to fall into the hands of the college-aged Charlie Price, played in this touring production by Adam Kaplan.

But it’s also about to fall under the spell of Lola, a quite literally larger-than-life drag queen played by J. Harrison Ghee. You see, the market for traditional men’s dress shoes has shrunk, we learn in the show, and Price comes up with an bright and shiny kind of idea after a chance but rather violent collision with Lola on a London street. There’s an underserved market for high-quality shoes for drag queens, and Charlie bets the factory on making just such a product. But he only knows how to assemble such shoes, which means he needs someone who would know what a drag queen would want to wear. Enter Lola, who creates quite a stir in the factory. After Lola’s over-the-top introduction, the day he enters the factory in something other than a dress is a striking one, and there are many layers of complexity underneath the glossy exterior we first saw. Still, Lola’s presence pretty quickly divides the factory into pro-Lola and not-quite-as-keen-on-Lola factions, with the opposition group led by Don, played by Aaron Walpole.

There’s a pretty compelling scene that takes place near a bathroom, which begins after Don makes comments about which restroom Lola might choose. It’s a passing reference in the show, but it’s an interesting footnote when presented in a town that fairly recently debated about transgender residents picking a restroom to use during what became a community-wide discussion centered around passing a non-discrimination act. There’s an element at reality and familiarity at work in “Kinky Boots.”

That’s primarily because the show doesn’t focus on why a man might wear a dress. Underneath all of the zaniness and outlandish clothing, “Kinky Boots” is as much about fathers and sons as it is anything else. And, yes, it is also about seeing someone as they are, a labor-intensive thread that keeps stitching these “Kinky Boots” together.

Both protagonists are running away from something. Charlie wants a life in real estate, and has recently moved away from the show factory in Northampton to live with his fiancé in distant London. Lola is running from a legacy his father tried to construct for him, too. They both revisit those paths along the way towards finding their own.

This all plays out somewhat predictably, and ends much more warmly than it probably ought to, if we were to focus again on reality. But that’s not always what we want from Broadway musicals, and this show provides many of the elements that make us love musical theater. The acting was all at least very good, and Kaplan is a very sturdy Charlie. Square and sturdy falls into direct contrast to the often outrageous Lola, a part Ghee simply owns. When Lola struts on to stage in Act 1, he tells people to get a good look, and it’s indeed hard to look elsewhere during Ghee’s command performance.

It can’t be easy to dance in those high heels. But the dance numbers really pop, none more so than the number that closes the first act, an absolute romp that’s more fun and creative and well-executed than anything I can recall in recent Walton Arts Center memory. It’s that good.

The songs, likewise, are well done. Lauper doesn’t stray far from her reservoir, which means ‘80s synthpop. Think Eurythmics, The Human League and, well, Cyndi Lauper.

All told, it’s a silly show, a fun show, a shiny show.

“Kinky Boots,” by the way, isn’t a particularly kinky show. It’s funny without using blue humor, silly without being gimmicky and sexy without showing superfluous skin. That all means it’s smart. Smart and human, and that’s a pretty powerful combination. Just ask Lola.