The national tour of “Kinky Boots” strutted into the Buell Wednesday with its tale of tolerance and bona fides sure to raise expectations. In 2013, the show — book by Harvey Fierstein, music and lyrics by pop sweetheart Cyndi Lauper — was nominated for 13 Tony Awards in 2013 and won six, including best musical.
Yet, for too much of the first act, this high-heeled, highly praised show (through Nov. 9) was more like a nice pair of pumps than fierce stilettos.
Based on the charming 2005 British indie movie of the same name, “Kinky Boots,” introduces us to Charlie, a reluctant shoe factory scion who must take over Price & Son when his father dies.
This was hardly the plan. Charlie (Steven Booth) had high-tailed it to London with upwardly focused fiancée Nicola (Grace Stockdale, in a nice return to her home state).
Only the market in beautifully crafted brogues is faltering. The newbie boss is faced with laying off workers he’s known since he was a wee lad: Gruff Don (Joe Coots), supportive Lauren (a winning Lindsay Nicole Chambers), perhaps even factory manager George (Craig Waletzko).
When Charlie teams up with an unlikely business partner named Lola, he and his employees get a kick in their provincial keisters. Soon they are designing boots for an exacting niche market: drag queens.
If Price & Son can sell them at the renowned Milan shoe expo, they may well save the factory.
As Lola — the boxer turned drag queen — Kyle Taylor Parker wields an authority both muscular and diva-esque.
“Kinky Boots,” like “La Cage aux Folles” and “Priscilla Queen of the Desert” before it, works as a sequined, beaded, fab fable of tolerance.
Where there are drag queens let there be bold, whip-smart repartee and brash, vogue-style dancing. The Tony-winning moves come from director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell.
But “Kinky Boots” gets its heartbeat as a father-son story. Charlie’s dad seemed upstanding. Simon’s was judgmental, cruel even. Both men must reckon with the legacy of that and do so in “Not My Father’s Son.”
In a first act in which the energy felt flat, this building duet and Chamber’s funny, charming rendition of the crush song, “The History of Wrong Guys,” promised better things to come.
They did. “Kinky Boots” hits its stride in the second act, even in the tantalizing, teetering, towering boots, as it heads for a celebratory pageant of a finale.
Lisa Kennedy: 303-954-1567, lkennedy@denverpost.com or
“KINKY BOOTS.” Book by Harvey Fierstein. Music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper. Directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell. Featuring Kyle Taylor Parker, Steven Booth, Lindsay Nicole Chambers, Joe Coots, Grace Stockdale and Craig Weletzko. Through Nov. 9. 2 hours, 20 minutes. At the Buell Theatre, 14th and Curtis streets. Tickets $25-$115 via or 303-893-4100.
