Review: Out Front’s “Kinky Boots” breaks mold with Broadway-sized panache

Out Front Theatre’s effervescent production of Kinky Boots, running through November 5, is significant for several reasons. First, it’s the most ambitious project that the relatively new theater (founded in 2016) has taken on. It’s the first production of the Tony-winning show ever staged in Georgia. And it’s also a gosh-darned ray of sequin-stitched stiletto sunshine sparkling over an anxiety-ridden, pre-midterm elections landscape. 

Inspired by actual events, Kinky Boots follows Charlie, a fellow from Northampton, England, with big dreams of escaping to big city life in London an hour to the south. But those carefully laid plans are put on pause when he inherits a struggling shoe factory after the sudden death of his dad, who has run the business since Charlie was a child. 

Worried about bankruptcy and wanting to honor his family’s legacy, Charlie teams up with irreverently funny and gloriously stylish drag queen Lola to fill a niche in footwear and save the company. Their strategy? To launch a new line of high-heeled knee-highs (those eponymous boots of kinkitude), which will provide adequate support to the men who wear them. 

It’s a classic “Odd Couple” pairing in which both people at first clash but then realize what they have in common and how their different perspectives and experiences can complement one another.

Adapted from the hit 2005 movie starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, which was itself based on a real-life story (sort of), Kinky Boots the musical features a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper. (Lauper joked in one interview that, although it was technically her first time scoring a Broadway show, “How much of a stretch is it for me to write songs about fashion, funny relationships, people changing their minds and shoes?”) It premiered on Broadway a decade ago in 2012, starring the inimitable Billy Porter as Lola and winning six Tony awards, including Best Musical and Best Actor.

As an actor, Fierstein (and his recognizable rasp) is cherished by every millennial for his appearance as Robin Williams’ sardonic movie makeup artist brother in Mrs. Doubtfire. As a writer, though, Fierstein has built a body of work that deploys dexterous prose to explore beyond the boundaries of the sexuality and gender norms of time and place. It began when he wrote the groundbreaking 1973 La Cage Aux Folles. (Robin Williams, of course, starred in the still-hilarious film adaptation of La Cage, 1994’s The Birdcage — fun facts!)

Just a year after the triumph of Kinky Boots, Fierstein penned the rich and impeccably researched 2014 play Casa Valentina, about a group of men in the 1960s who spend a weekend in the Catskills dressed as women. The point is, his writing emerges from a place of deep fascination, lived experience and empathy, which is why Kinky Boots’ relatively simple story comes across as feel-good but in a way that’s very much earned.

And Out Front has a secret weapon, too: a stellar cast that exudes assurance and joy. As Lola, a professionally trained boxer turned showstopper, Wendell Scott is luminous. From the moment Lola strides onto the stage, she brims with charisma and vulnerability, owning both the literal and metaphorical challenge of walking through the world in impossibly precarious shoes. Scott’s entrance immediately revs the energy in the house up to full throttle.

Scott’s powerhouse portrayal is closely matched by knockout performances — and phenomenal vocals — by Dustin Presley (as Charlie) and Wynne Kelly, who is coming off solid work in last year’s Heathers at Actor’s Express. Kelly shows off some ingratiating comic timing as a fellow factory worker, passionately pining for the unavailable Charlie. 

There are flaws to be sure — for what is a functional pump without a few tears at the seam? For example, is it pure, unironic capitalism fantasy that the rest of the workers in the factory would be singing along to how a shoe is the “most beautiful thing in the world?” Sure. (One wonders if this tune is what Jeff Bezos sings in his sleep.) Also, does some of the language around gender identity come across as already a bit outdated now, despite having been revised over the years? Yep.

On a practical level, at times, the limitations of the theater space itself also came into play. On opening night, the audio blared too loudly from just one speaker, making it hard to discern the lyrics of certain songs. The music levels were too high at other points and drowned out the vocals. 

However, what’s remarkable is how the show fills the relatively small space with Broadway-sized panache. Out Front Artistic Director Paul Conroy’s capable direction includes numerous inventive touches for some of the night’s standout group numbers,  like assembly line conveyor belts used to facilitate acrobatic dance sequences. The costume design by Jay Reynolds is also a magic show in and of itself, with flourish after flourish.

With this exuberant outing, Out Front distinguishes itself in a post-Covid theater scene where it is all too easy to gravitate toward safe bets. Instead, they dared to put on programming that doesn’t cycle through every year. Out Front’s Kinky Boots — like the fictional shoe factory the show depicts — went for broke and, in doing so, essentially broke the mold.

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Alexis Hauk is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association. She has written and edited for numerous newspapers, alt-weeklies, trade publications and national magazines including Time, The Atlantic, Mental Floss, Uproxx and Washingtonian. An Atlanta native, Alexis has also lived in Boston, Washington D.C., New York City and Los Angeles. By day, she works in health communications. By night, she enjoys covering the arts and being Batman.