Kinky Boots the Musical (Explicitly LGBT!)

So my sister came back from college for Spring Break so as a family we went to see a musical on Broadway. (One of the perks of living in NYC, I love theatre). I sat with my sister, while my parents sat separately. They had decided to see Kinky Boots.

I had a vague idea of the storyline behind Kinky Boots, however I really wasn't prepared for such an explicitly LGBT storyline. The star of the show is a drag queen. The explicit message of the play is "accept somebody for who they are".

Without getting too much into depth (though it's a fun musical, so there's no real in-depth plot developments to spoil, the fun is in watching the actors sing and perform), it's about an old shoe factory in Northampton, England that is no longer able to stay in business forced to compete with cheap foreign imports. The son named Charlie inherits the factory from his father but realizing he cannot survive financially, he is forced to fire the longtime workers and plan to close the factory.

But then by chance in London he runs into a woman named Lola, who turns out to be a drag queen. Ultimately Lola saves the factory, as she becomes the designer and the factory is converted to fill a niche market: womens' boots in mens' sizes.

Lola frequently addresses her audience as "ladies, gentlemen, and those of you who've yet to make up your mind". :newcolor:

Lola and her girls (all drag queens) performing is the main attraction of the show, it's basically a drag show on Broadway.

But the play confronts ignorance directly, one ignorant factory worker who kept making derogatory remarks about Lola is challenged to accept people for who they are and change his ways.

In the end the whole cast dons those big bright red "kinky boots", including the ignorant stout and chubby old factory worker.





In the midst of the show Lola quotes one of Oscar Wilde's famous lines: "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."

The music and lyrics for the show were written by Cyndi Lauper (a strong LGBT ally and activist), while the play was written by Harvey Fierstein, an openly gay man who has himself performed in drag (most famously as Edna Turnblad in "Hairspray" on Broadway).

Both the musical numbers and the storyline were fabulous so I would highly recommend seeing Kinky Boots, it was an amazing show. :eusa_clap

Of course, as you would expect from a fun musical written by a gay man, the play is very silly and filled with lots of camp humor.

At one point Charlie asks Lola the difference between a transvestite and a drag queen:

My mother and stepfather were of course both there and said they enjoyed it afterward, though I wonder whether the whole point of the play flew right over their heads. They threw a fit when I once came home with just a little eyeliner on (I had been all done up in drag that day, I had washed the rest of my drag makeup off, but couldn't get that last bit of eyeliner off). My mother flipped out and was enraged when she found out I was wearing girls' leggings, she tried to throw my pink pair of leggings in the garbage until I hid them. She was in shock when I told her I had been to drag shows. So I'm hoping the message of Kinky Boots has somehow sunk into their thick skulls, and they weren't just sitting there enjoying the music while being oblivious to the whole point of the play.

Has anyone else out there seen Kinky Boots (I know there was also a 2005 British film of the same name, though I haven't seen that and very much doubt it is as good as the Broadway show)? If not, again, I highly recommend you go see it! :icon_mrgr

 

Ugh, that's the thing that I'm afraid of with my parents, only with the musical version that they were only focused on the music and completely missed the deeper serious message underlying all the glamour and glitz and Cyndi Lauper tunes.

Don't get me wrong, the music was great, in fact I'll share one of the songs I liked most from the musical, the finale song sung by Lola, her angels, and the entire cast:

Kinky Boots Soundtrack: Raise You Up/Just Be - YouTube

[YOUTUBE]bsjmeMEca48[/YOUTUBE]