REVIEW: Joyful, exuberant ‘Boots’ has all the feels
Two of the most transformative, fulfilling, fun and deeply meaningful experiences of my life were last year, when I got to accompany Quad City Music Guild’s powerful productions of “Rent” and “Sweeney Todd.”
I was wishing I was back on the keyboard playing for the equally extraordinary, emotional, energetic and gut-wrenching new version of “Kinky Boots,” now dazzling at the Prospect Park theater (1584 34th Ave., Moline). But I was in the second-best place – the audience, my heart bursting with pride, joy, and all the feels.
It was especially gratifying to see so many alums of the iconic “Rent” and “Sweeney” shows part of this one – I counted 14 of the 23 total cast, and eight of the staff, including the amazingly talented, committed director, Kelsey Walljasper (stage manager of “Rent”), for whom “Kinky Boots” is profoundly personal.
In an illuminating, soul-baring essay in the Guild program, she wrote how she came to admire the beauty, confidence and courage of drag queens, especially as she came out as queer as a young woman and fell in love with her now-wife, Myka (a performer in “Rent” and the current “Kinky”).
Kelsey wrote that the 2013 “Kinky Boots” – with a joyous, Tony-winning score by pop icon Cyndi Lauper, and a hilarious, uplifting book by four-time Tony winner Harvey Fierstein – is so much more than “men in wigs.”
“Underneath the façade of it all – the sparkle, the lights, the makeup, the boots – there’s heart,” Kelsey said. “People that just want to live. My hope is that audiences take that with them when they go and ask themselves: In a world that often seems so heavy, cruel and empty, what does it mean to just live?”
In “Kinky Boots,” that huge, generous heart is on full, flowering display, and dispels any rationale for discrimination or prejudice against any group of people – based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity. We all have a heart, we all have feelings, we all have love, dreams, and purpose, and should have the freedom to pursue them.
Kelsey wrote in the program that she wants to grow up to be a drag queen – not literally, but to “have the same confidence, enthusiasm, and passion for life that so many drag queens carry with them daily. I wish for an ounce of the ability to push forward so easily when I otherwise feel like giving up.”
The undisputed star of “Kinky Boots” here is Keenen Wilson of Rock Island, who (as Lola/Simon) absolutely dominates this full-throated entertainment with his own boundless confidence, enthusiasm and passion.
In the England-set story (originally a 2005 film, Charlie Price (an outstanding Dave Edwards) has reluctantly inherited his father’s shoe factory, which is on the verge of bankruptcy. Trying to live up to his father’s legacy and save his family business, Charlie finds inspiration in the form of Lola (born Simon), a flamboyant drag queen in need of some sturdy stilettos.
As they work to turn the factory around, this unlikely pair find that they have more in common than they realized…and discover that when you change your mind, you can change your whole world.
Wilson also has an intensely personal connection to the show, since he grew up as a queer Black kid, who struggled under many expectations he thought he had to live up to in order to be a “real” man. He was very sensitive as a little kid growing up in Davenport, and took karate from ages 9 to 13 to “toughen him up.” (In “Kinky,” Simon is a boxer.)
What I love most about this show – in addition to its plea for tolerance, acceptance, welcoming of all people – is that journey of self-discovery, which I can certainly relate to, and the challenge of dealing with heavy parental expectations.
It’s hard enough for me to be the best version of myself, but both Charlie and Lola must chart an entirely new direction for their own lives. The shoe factory, Price and Son, has been in business over a century, and when Charlie’s father dies, he must a way to reinvent it to save his employees’ jobs.
Lola has a distant relationship with her dad, but that love remains evident in a climactic, triumphant “Hold Me In Your Heart” that Wilson belts out at the nursing home (in a glorious, sparkling gown) where Lola’s father sits in a wheelchair.
Lola and Charlie really connect in the story and share a bond, working together to save the family factory. Where I have seen two previous versions of “Kinky Boots” (at the Adler and Circa), I didn’t especially remember the Charlie as more than a cardboard do-gooder type, but at Guild, Edwards embodies the part with a volcanic force; a fierce, theatrical fire, and innate goodness.
The emotional high point of the first act is the pivotal duet between Edwards and Wilson (mostly indelibly sung by the latter), “I’m Not My Father’s Son,” which makes poignant use of actors who pantomime a young Charlie and young Simon (Jack Carslake and Antoine Richmond).
It’s a tender, yet strong, dramatic declaration of independence for the two adult men, and the Music Guild veterans briefly showcase nice harmonies.
Wilson is assured in seemingly every scene as Lola (including when he wears men’s-style clothes in the factory), including blazingly colorful numbers with Lola’s Angels – Bradley Jensen, Topher Elliott, Gary Mayfield, and Makis Witt.
Among many show highlights is “Sex Is in the Heel,” in Act I when Lola rebuffs the first boot design in burgundy (too boring), when it has to be sparkly, bright red, which is the color of sex, as well as the great “What a Woman Wants” when Lola makes fun of the gruff, rough Don (a wonderful Luke Vermiere, as a yelling grouch), the factory bully and misogynist, and shows how Lola earns affection from the females.
Edwards clearly shines in many songs, including the fun, inspiring “Take What You Got” (led by the charming Evan Gagliardo), “Step One” in Charlie’s new beginning, and Act II’s breathtaking, cathartic “The Soul of a Man,” where Charlie learns from his mistakes and charts a path to victory and self-actualization in work and life.
The two main women in the show are solidly played – Abbey Donohoe, who’s Charlie’s fiancée until they split, and Adrienne Jane Evans as the factory worker Lauren, who becomes his new love. In a part Evans said is very close to her own personality, her tremendous Act I showstopper, “The History of Wrong Guys,” had me smiling all the way through – Evans is unabashedly awkward, quirky, nerdy, loud, nervous, funny and adorably cute.
“Kinky Boots” is beloved for being an exuberant joy, and that’s exemplified by the big ensemble closers to each act – “Everybody Say Yeah” before intermission and “Raise You Up/Just Be” at the end, both uninhibited, blissful parties.
“Just be who you want to be” and “celebrate who you are” go some of the latter’s lyrics. This needed sentiment is more relevant than ever in a world so filled with hatred, violence and polarization.
And this terrific, boisterous, beautiful, deeply humane musical – with expert music direction by Mitch Carter, choreography by Shelley Cooper, and eye-catching costumes by Lee Mclain & Em Schwartz, makeup by Nikki Murray and lighting design by Roger Pavey, Jr. – proves both the thrill of artistic victory and ecstasy of de feet.
Also not to be missed is a mini exhibit in the lobby featuring Music Guild history, alongside a special showcase highlighting drag culture at Guild and in musical theater, courtesy of Luke Vermiere (who also directed “Sweeney Todd”). That display includes costumes and wigs used for “Rent,” “Sweeney,” “The Producers,” “Peter Pan” and “Disaster!”
“Kinky Boots” continues Friday, April 12, and Saturday, April 13 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, April 14 at 2 p.m. at the Prospect Park Theater. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for children 12 and under, available by calling the box office at 309.762.6610 or by visiting the QCMG website HERE.
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