Boot To The Head

In my time here in Toronto, I rarely attend any of the big theatres showing the more popular Broadway productions. They always seemed a bit overpriced. But on Saturday, I went for the first time to the Royal Alexandra Theatre for Kinky Boots. An out-of-town visitor wanted the big-city experience.

These old theatres always feel smaller than expected since we are used to the larger scale of modern architecture. The Royal Alex was a paean to the WASP nature of old Toronto. Ornate decorations, busts of dead white men, and red velvet everywhere. It was both luxurious and a bit silly, but I can see how it could appeal to a certain nostalgia.

Our front row seat on the 1st balcony gave us a great view of the action. The musical opened with the brick facade of Price and Son, a shoe factory in Northampton. The wall would peel away to reveal the  cast of characters. First though, there was a flashback to the childhood of the two main characters: Charlie Price with his dad, and Simon with his gruff boxer father. Mr. Price regaled his son with the wonders of a well-made shoe in The Most Beautiful Thing In The World, while a young Simon was secretly indulging his love of women's shoes.

In the present day, Charlie (Graham Scott Fleming) came back from London after his father's death to find the factory on the verge of bankruptcy. Nobody wants to buy well-made, but pricey and rather stodgy, shoes. Simon has grown into the diva drag queen Lola (Alan Mingo Jr). She and her coterie of sassy sisters would dazzle "men, women, and those who haven't yet decided" in any setting: be it a dimly lit club or a retirement home. A chance encounter made Charlie realized that perhaps he could save Price and Son by filling an empty niche: towering high-heel women's shoes and boots, but made strong enough to support the weight of a man. Along the way, there are bigots to smack down, controlling girlfriends to confront, skeptical workers to persuade, culminating in a big show in Milan.

The songs written by Cyndi Lauper were rather forgettable. They covered all the bases: heartfelt solos, rousing ensemble, and given the characters, lots of upbeat "you better work" showtunes. The plot, taken from the 2005 movie, was equally paint-by-numbers. There was some inventive choreography on act 1 closer Everybody Say Yeah with the cast members dancing on the moving factory conveyor belts. Although the band O.K. Go did perfect that years ago in their video Here It Goes Again. Kinky Boots is a confection, sweet and fun, but you won't remember it after you leave the theatre.