Theatre review: Powered by a showstopping Lola, Kinky Boots is a much-needed kick
Superfans pull out their fine footwear for an Arts Club rendition full of drag divas, disco numbers, and heart
A fierce yet vulnerable Stewart Adam McKensy is ably supported by the dazzling Angels in Kinky Boots. Photo by Moonrider Productions
The Arts Club Theatre Company presents Kinky Boots at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage until July 31
KINKY BOOTS IS the show you didn’t know you needed right now. Unless, of course, you count yourself among the superfans who showed up on opening night in their finest patent-leather and leopard-print high-heeled footwear.
Thanks in large part to an electric performance by seasoned star Stewart Adam McKensy as Lola, the Arts Club’s new production had the entire crowd—even the masked octogenarian sitting next to me—whooping and clapping in the Stanley. Lola is memorably supported by a quartet of high-kicking, catwalk-strutting, splits-dropping drag Angels (Jeffrey Follis, Andrew J. Hampton, Joshua Lalisan, and Ryan Maschke, with props to choreographer Julie Tomaino).
This perfectly timed blast of uplift also celebrates acceptance and individuality in a way that hits the sweet spot right now. As Lola says, “Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken!”
Based on the 2005 film of the same name, Harvey Fierstein and Cyndi Lauper’s musical starts with underdog Charlie (Sayer Roberts) inheriting a failing Northampton shoe factory. A chance encounter with Lola helps him reinvent the business for a niche market: that of drag queens who need size-12, thigh-high, stiletto-heeled red boots—“two-and-a-half feet of irresistible tubular sex”. But what gives the show its heart—especially in the hands of McKensy and Roberts—is the way the two connect over being victims of paternal expectations. McKensy brings something so raw, emotional, and moving to their tender duet “Not My Father’s Son” (his very real tears express an experience that resonates across the queer spectrum) that it’s breathtaking in a way you wouldn’t expect in a show this full of glitzy impromptu disco numbers.
And so the performer opens himself to deep vulnerability while also biting fiercely into the camp side of Lola—someone who can express volumes about her footwear-colour preferences with the simple inflection of “re-e-e-e-e-d” or “b-u-u-u-rgundy” (the latter better reserved for “hot water bottles”, apparently).
Another standout is actor-comedian Kelli Ogmundson, who brings a hilariously quirky sense of irony to Lauren’s goofily winning “The History of Wrong Guys”, a song about her inner conflict over falling for Charlie. In fact, the show is chock-a-block with Vancouver A-list character actors (including Kayvon Khoshkam, Andrew Wheeler, Jennifer Copping, and Colleen Winton).
If there are flaws in the original script, they’re minor ones. The part of Charlie is essentially that of straight man to Lola and her crew’s antics. Still, Roberts brings nice self-deprecating shades to the role, not to mention effortless, nuanced singing. (More problematic, his brief conflict with Lola in the second half, in which he cracks under pressure and takes it out on his newfound drag shoe designer, resorting to homophobic slurs, has always been hard to reconcile.)
There’s an argument to be made that there isn’t a ton of story here. But like the best vogue-ball stars, man, do these folks work it. Under the energized direction of Barbara Tomasic, it’s a blast—something we can all use right now. Just wait till you see the staging of the slo-mo boxing sequence in the second act.
Overall, this Arts Club production is smaller scale than you’d see on Broadway, but the big plus is the chance to experience the hit show close up. McKensy’s glam, showstopping “Hold Me in Your Heart”, in Act II—whose punchline is she’s actually performing in an old folks’ home—practically blew the first two rows backwards. So seats toward the front are highly recommended. Just watch out for the high-kicking stilettos.
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