Kinky Boots
Winner of six Tony Awards including Best Musical, Kinky Boots features a joyous, Tony-winning score by Cyndi Lauper and a hilarious, uplifting book by four-time Tony winner Harvey Fierstein.
Kinky Boots is a Tony Award-winning musical that tells the heartwarming story of a struggling shoe factory in Northampton, England, and its unlikely transformation with the help of a drag queen named Lola. Inspired by a true story, the musical features a score by Cyndi Lauper and book by Harvey Fierstein, and explores themes of acceptance, tolerance, and the power of individuality. The show follows the journey of Charlie Price, who inherits his father’s shoe factory and teams up with Lola to create a line of high-heeled boots for drag queens, ultimately bringing the factory and its workers into a new era of success and acceptance. With its catchy pop score, dazzling choreography, and heartfelt message, Kinky Boots has become a beloved staple of Broadway and beyond.
NODA North West
Author: Jake Powell
D&S Productions returned to the Brindley with their production of ‘Kinky Boots’ directed by Donna Dale. This is a musical where you need strong, confident performers, and Donna assembled a cast who most definitely were! There were a few moments where blocking and stage positioning could have been tidied up, particularly in some of the factory scenes, especially when it was busy on-stage. On the whole, the direction was solid, with some great character development. The set looked good and was fit for purpose, with trucks wheeled on for some scenes. It was a great idea to have the stage crew costumed as factory workers with the green apron. It ensured the pace didn’t slow. Costumes were very good, especially the Angels, who all looked fab!
The musical director was Craig Price. The band sounded great bringing Cyndi Lauper’s music to life. It was clear the amount of work that Craig had done with the cast to ensure that the vocals were excellent, considering the full-on choreography.
Gemma Walker choreographed ‘Kinky Boots’. The choreography was delivered well by the cast. Everyone appeared to be confident and secure in the routines, especially in the finale with everyone dancing in heels!
Lighting and sound were good throughout. The band seemed that little bit louder during the opening, but it was soon sorted to ensure a good sound balance for the rest of the production. Lighting was good, and used well to enhance the production.
Jon Croft was a tour-de-force as the drag queen Lola! An absolute powerhouse in terms of singing, dancing and acting. As Lola, Jon was fierce and took no prisoners, which was the complete opposite to Simon. Jon was able to play the tenderness well, leaving the audience in an emotional mess, especially with ‘Not My Father’s Son’ and ‘Hold Me in Your Heart’, which was delivered with so much feeling.
Equally as good was Chris Doyle as Charlie. The internal struggle of what to do with the family business was well played by Chris. There was a great deal of pathos, as well as some great comedy moments. Chris excelled in his songs, with ‘The Soul of a Man’ being a highlight.
Lauren was played by Gabrielle Stanfield. This was a very good performance from Gabrielle, battling to be noticed by Charlie. Gabrielle has a good knack for comedy, which she was able to display in this production. ‘The History of Wrong Guys’ was performed very well.
Jen Ellison did well in the role of Nicola. She developed a believable relationship with Chris, and the audience could see the change in her character as the production went on.
Sam Eggins impressed, playing both Harry and Richard Bailey. Two contrasting characters that Sam really sunk his teeth into. ‘Take What You Got’ was a great number performed by Sam.
John Denny played George. This was a good performance, providing a fatherly figure to Charlie.
Don was played by Antony Holden. This was a convincing performance from Antony who was able to show Don’s journey to accepting people’s differences.
Jasmine Farnworth provided some good comedy moments as Pat. She had some great interactions with the factory workers, and with Jon as Lola/Simon.
Anna Graves provided good support as Trish. It was a good characterisation, and Anna worked well with the rest of the cast.
Kriss James appeared as Mr Price. Kriss was good in this cameo role, helping to establish the story. It would have been lovely to see Kriss join the ensemble after the cameo role.
The Angels (Shane Bear, Hayley Dale, Chloe Davies, George Lomax, Stuart Wilson-Maher, Jessica Martin and Damian Riverol) were quite simply fabulous! They strutted on stage with ease, performing high energy numbers very well. Each Angel had their unique character, which was very much appreciated.
Reuben Walker (Young Charlie) and Thomas Graves (Young Lola) both performed well, and looked like they were having the time of their lives.
The ensemble provided good support throughout. Each had thought about a character and developed that individual character throughout the production. Caireen Candlin particularly stood out from the ensemble with some well-developed characters.
Overall, this was a great production. It was a show full of love, inclusivity and some excellent performances from this company.
Thank you to D&S Productions for their warm welcome and kind hospitality. All the best for your next production.
North West End
D&S Productions presented Kinky Boots at The Brindley Theatre in Runcorn. D&S Productions are an award-winning community theatre group based in Ellesmere Port/Chester who regularly perform at The Brindley Theatre. D&S is a company that took to the stage in 2021 and belong to the National Operatic and Dramatic Association (NODA). D&S are passionate about creating quality theatre, they pride themselves on valuing people, they’re deliberately inclusive and are committed to raising money for good causes and charities close to their heart.
Director Donna Dale is no novice when it comes to theatre being both on stage as a performer and as a fabulous director – she has been involved in performances since the age of 3. Kinky Boots is no easy task to produce as it requires both precise direction and imagination to create such a flamboyant show, and the iconic songs such as ‘Land of Lola’, ‘Sex Is in the heel’, ‘Not My father’s Son’ and ‘What a Women Want’s’ are a cosmic task to pitch correctly.
Kinky Boots tells the tale of Charlie Price (Chris Doyle) the son of shoe factory owner Mr Price (Kriss James) who dies unexpectedly. This then leaves a discontented Charlie to run the factory that he really doesn’t want to do especially when he discovers that the business is failing.
Whilst in London with his fiancé Nicola (Jen Ellison) he stumbles across Lola (Jon Croft) a larger than life drag queen being harassed by two abusive men, Charlie tries to intervene but quickly finds out that Simon aka Lola can handle the situation themselves. This chance meeting leads to a fellowship to gap the hole in the commercial market for women’s boots to be made to withstand the weight of a man. With lots of twists and turns over the course of the story and some prejudice from some male factory workers especially by Don (Antony Holden) they prepare to produce kinky boots for the prestigious catwalk show in Milan.
Director Dale must have thought all her Christmas’s had come at once when Jon Croft auditioned for the part of Lola, it is Croft’s first performance for D&S, but I can imagine it isn’t his last! Croft brought Lola to life with his confident and vibrant rendition of the character, with his pitch perfect vocals he matched any profession performance I have ever seen in the West End and on Broadway.
Chris Doyle delivered a sterling performance as Charlie Price and worked superbly within the production displaying both his acting and impressive vocals throughout. The whole cast have clearly put a lot of work into the production, and all shone as individuals during the performance. The Angels were magnificent and captivated the audience during their every scene, they consisted of a remarkable mix of male and female actors who clearly work well together with their exceptional combination of female dancers and male drag queens. Special mention goes to Jessica Martin for displaying the most professional elegant dance moves I have seen for some time in an amateur production, and it was an honour to see the Angels strut their stuff and shine like the bright stars they are. Huge credit to Choreographer Gemma Walker and Charlotte Allmand Dance Captain for creating such a phenomenal display of movement and dance.
The entire production was of the highest standards for an amateur production which is colossal credit to the productive team for constructing such a magnificent delivery of this amazing heartfelt and uplifting musical.
I thoroughly enjoyed the show and singularly noteworthy was Gabrielle Stanfield who played Lauren, her delivery of the love-struck factory worker who is promoted to deputise was first class and would give any leading lady a run for their money in the professional world of theatre. Stanfield’s recital of ‘The History of Wrong Guys’ was sensational and left me wondering how this young lady isn’t on the professional circuit, she is certainly one to watch in the future.
Well done to the production team and all the cast for generating a glorious rendition of Kinky Boots.
An amateur production at a professional standard.
Reviewer: Katie Leicester
Reviewed: 6th October 2023
