Brighton Year-Round 2025
Kinky Boots The Musical
Royo & Curve
Genre: Adaptation, Comedy, Contemporary, LGBTQ+ Theatre, LGBTQIA+, Live Music, Mainstream Theatre, Musical Theatre, Theatre
Venue: Theatre Royal Brighton
Festival: Brighton Year-Round
Low Down
With Harvey Fierstein’s book and Cyndi Lauper’s music and lyrics, Kinky Boots The Musical, from 2012, directed by Nikolai Foster with superb choreography by Leah Hill, arrives at the Theatre Royal Brighton till March 29th. It continues touring till December 6th.
A busting-out-all-over must-see for spring.
Review
Just occasionally something British benefits from the Broadway treatment; but it’s good to have it back. Based on the 2005 film, and written by Geoff Deane and the prolific Tim Firth received just that. With Harvey Fierstein’s book and Cyndi Lauper’s music and lyrics, Kinky Boots The Musical, from 2012, directed by the Curve’s Nikolai Foster with superb choreography by Leah Hill, arrives at the Theatre Royal Brighton till March 29th. It continues touring till December 6th.
Newtion Matthews is Lola, or “Simon from Clacton” as he later reveals: and is a revelation. It’s a while before he turns up, as first we’re Priced in. We see Charlie the boy (a winning Leo Hollingsworth on this occasion) drilled by his Northampton shoe manufacturer father Mr Price (Jonathan Dryden Tylor, later the kinkiest of angels in magnificent voice in “The Most Beautiful Thing”) on the value of shoes.
When Mr Price dies, sceptical Charlie (now Dan Partridge, singing ardently with an American accent in the inciting songs “Soliloquy” and “Step One”), contemplates having to shut down the four-generation factory, making everyone redundant. Old-fashioned brogue orders are being cancelled. Fiancée Nicola (Cara Lily Hayworth, last seen as Cilla and with sadly nowhere to prove her own singing) is all for a move to London. Whilst visiting there, friendly shoe-making colleague Harry (an alert, affable Liam Doyle) assures Charlie Price & Sons is outdated but buys up at cost. With a brief rescue Charlie’s assaulted – and rescued by Lola.
The rest is history: in patent red. And “Sex is in the Heel” supplants the ensemble factory anthem “Price & Son” like a violet dream. When “Land of Lola” reprises, Matthews is joined by a strut and swirl of Angels (Kofi Dennis, Ru Fisher, Liam McEvoy, Jordan Isaac, Ben Middleton). They’re blatently magnificent.
Originally directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, Foster and Hill turn a tour into West-End quality. The original Broadway score by Stephen Oremus now benefits from musical supervisor George Dyer – musical director Sioned Evans gets an ovation on his own. It’s helped by Adam Fisher’s sound: clear, punchy, never overwhelming.
Visually Kinky Boots gleams even more. It’s a must-see for this alone. No sad stage props and even more threadbare plot. Robert Jones’s set and costumes are outstanding. Known for his verismo approach (his 18th century set for The Score at the Haymarket for instance) Jones delights in a detailed factory: glum tall Victorian windows grimed with years giving onto a flexible stage with benches morphed into things like catwalks. Upstage there’s a boss’s office at gallery level with descending staircase, and beneath even a toilet (for contemplation only!). Offsetting this, with Ben Cracknell’s virtuoso lighting there’s a large frame that pulses with a kaleidoscope of colours every time there’s a club or catwalk scene, transforming the stage. There’s hardly ever been such a glare of grime and glamour here.
Partridge has to rise to his occasion as a tongue-tied, later boot-tied gawky young man (those “I want” songs) whose essential shoe-genes kick in for him to become an inspirational leader. He recruits Lola to help him craft “kinky boots” for drag queens to wear and not break with their greater weight. There’s a magical moment in Charlie’s duet with Lola, joined by both younger selves in “Not My Father’s Son”. Sekhani Dumezweni silently harmonises with them and Hollingsworth in the most touching quartet here.
It’s a turn-off for poor Nicola, who in Hayworth’s portrayal shows reluctance to let Charlie go, and tenderness to the end. Her denouement is underplayed by the way she exits unlit. But it’s a huge turn-on for colleague and factory worker Lauren. Courtney Bowman is a revelation, like Matthews. In her torch song “The History of Wrong Guys” her soaring soprano is also cut-through, with a touch of acetylene, and full of character. Her Lauren’s boppy, poppy, wholly believable, full of self-betraying desire and the lightest of pratfalls, as well as truth-telling. You feel sorry for Hayworth’s Nicola, and that’s important. But Lauren with Bowman blows you away.
There’s memorable support from bass Scott Paige as George: the burly man with an open mind. His bass really cuts through, a thrilling profundo vibrating through the sonics. In contrast Joe Caffrey’s initially homophobic Don has the longest journey of acceptance, which gleams like pewter near the end. Don’s given moral support by Trish, the hugely experienced and incisive Lucy Williamson, who delivers home truths of her own, particularly in leading “What a Woman Wants”. It’s followed by the famous boxing bout and the ensemble “In This Corner”.
Kathryn Barnes’ Pat in loppy specs gawks and gestures her way to people’s hearts, the embodiment of warmth and worry. Ashley Jordon-Packer is briefly Lola’s father (Simon Senior) in a painfully silent scene. The ensemble flick with characters – Cerys Burton, Kara Farruga, Cole Dunn, Deena Kapadia, Tori McDougall.
I wonder at Charlie’s crisis – a nasty reactive moment brought on by revelations about his father and rigid mind-set about employing models for Milan. It gives Partridge plenty of bite, though it emerges suddenly (we’ve no clue earlier). But it does allow for a great apology and songs like “The Soul of a Man” after his “Soliloquy” reprise. They’re countered by Matthews’ “Hold Me in Your Heart”. By now Matthews has been firing on all chambers of his heart for some time. It’s a privilege to see him realise Lola’s character so keenly, and worth seeing just for him and Bowman in particular; with Partridge a shining foil.
The final number “Raise You Up/Just Be” like the joyous Act One finale “Everybody Say Yeah” reveals catchy songs: quite memorable if not earworms. And the finale’s heartwarming and redemptive as well as hilarious. With more complex themes than most across its two-hours-twenty, a male romantic lead with two crises born of separate flaws, two romantic interests and above all the sheer romance of Lola and Angels, this is a busting-out-all-over must-see for spring.
Alternate Charlie Joshua Beswick, Lonan Johnson
Alternate Lola Jesse Manzi, Lawrence Ndola-Myers
Props Supervisor Lisa Buckley, Wigs, Hair & Makeup Designer Campbell Young Associates, Casting Director Harry Blumenau CDG, Associate Director Michaela Powell, Associate Choreographer Johnny Bishop, Associate Sound Designer Harry Barker, Music Technology Phil Adams, Keyboard Programming Randy Cohen, Costume Supervisor Poppy Hall, Ableton Programming & Electronic Drum Programming Sammy Merendino
Orchestral Management Laura Llewellyn-Jones, Marketing Dressing Room 5, Press Buchanan PR, Social Media Management Tandem Marketing, Artwork Feast Creative, General Management Royo, Production Management Setting Line
