By Sharon Eberson
Spirit-lifting entertainment is always in too-short supply, but just now, it’s a necessity. Enter Kinky Boots, striding onstage at the Benedum Center to raise you up and lend a helping hand.
Avoiding heel and shoe puns and simply saying “Yeah!” will be difficult from here on in, but it’s easy to say that Pittsburgh CLO’s first homegrown production of the Tony Award-winning musical is a knockout.
And yes, along with drag queens and factory workers, shiny garments and stiletto heels, plus plenty of heart and soul, there is a boxing scene in this touching, wild ride.
First and foremost to all who are familiar with Kinky Boots, and those who have yet to decide, CLO has gathered lead performers with the vocal and emotional chops to deliver Harvey Fierstein‘s award-winning libretto and dynamic pop songs by Cyndi Lauper.
Any top-notch production of Kinky Boots would be lucky to include Broadway veteran Darius Harper, radiant and fierce as the drag queen Lola; Brian Sears as Charlie Price, who unleashes his inner gumption during the course of the show; and Carnegie Mellon rising junior Savannah Lee Armstrong as Lauren, a woman with a history of wrong guys.
If you’ve seen the show on Broadway or in touring companies – including Billy Porter’s unforgettable stint to join the tour in Pittsburgh – you may be wondering about the differences between those productions and CLO’s. The biggest is the lack of a factory conveyor belt for Jerry Mitchell’s Tony-winning, break-neck dance moves. However, there remains demanding athleticism devised by CLO director/choreographer Gerry McIntyre, particularly for Lola and her Angels.
Lola’s entourage, The Angels, and CLO’s ensemble, as always, are the unsung heroes of Kinky Boots, navigating a tight turntable set and performing dancing feats atop impossibly high heels.
Their field of play is a set designed by Tim Mackabee (CLO’s Game On, Brigadoon and Mary Poppins; Broadway’s The Elephant Man), who has devised a nimble turntable that transforms into various other locales. A pair of movable steps raise up performers in big numbers, including Act 1 ender “Everybody Say Yeah!”
Lauper’s songs are Tony-worthy for many reasons, but I’ll go first with her ability to express a gamut of emotions.
I’ve often seen Kinky Boots described as “the feel-good musica,” but on this particular opening night, I was reminded that the show is designed to take you down, way down, before it raises you up so triumphantly, that only the uplift remains,
“Hold Me in Your Heart,” sung with a beautiful balance of tenderness and power by Harper, always gets to me. However, before this production, I admit I never thought much about the back-to-back songs following a rift between the two leads.
First comes Charlie’s cry of pain and redemption, “The Soul of a Man,” right before “Hold Me in Your Heart.” On this occasion I noted that: A) Charlie’s song is a tough act to follow when a singer such as Sears hits every emotional and musical note. And B) What comes next gives audiences little time to savor what they’ve just heard.
Belting through tears, Sears’ voice never breaks as he lyrically beats himself up. It’s an emotionally wrenching solo – followed immediately by Harper’s Lola bringing down the house with a plea to, “hold me in your heart just the way that I am.”
For me, nothing will ever equal Billy Porter delivering the song to a standing ovation on his triumphant homecoming in 2015. But for many people coming to see CLO’s Kinky Boots in 2022, it’s Harper’s version that will live on in memory. And deservedly so.
Harper handles Lola’s outward confidence and simmering pain with equal grace, as the drag queen’s chance meeting with Sears’ Charlie Price develops into a partnership. We meet Charlie leaving his home and the factory behind, following his fiance (Gina Milo) to a new life in London.
When Charlie’s father dies suddenly and the factory’s fate is left in his hands, it’s Lola who gets him back on his feet – Charlie realizes there is a niche market for boots that will support the weight of a man and he recruits Lola as the designer, which means her return to a place very like the one she has fled – a small-minded smalltown.
Neither Lola’s presence nor the kinky boots solution is an easy sell at Price and Son, particularly to David Aron Damane’s macho Don, who eventually gets schooled about masculinity and what a woman wants from a man.
Thus lives are intertwined, with revelations and disagreements along the way, heading toward a showing of the new Price and Son line of Lola’s Kinky Boots at the annual Milan fashion show.
Among the cast, Pittsburgher Saige Smith, who is seemingly everywhere these days, including a role in the ongoing CLO Cabaret show Puffs, shows off her singing voice as factory office manager Pat. Making his CLO and Benedum Center debut is Wali Jamal as George, the affable factory manager, in a role that is another notch in his resume – which now can include dancing in high heels.
CLO vet Jeff Howell was out on opening night, replaced by Joe Joyce, with swing Jerreme Rodriguez moving into Howell’s ensemble slot. With that in mind, here’s to the understudies, swings, et al. who allow the show to go on, a reminder that comes almost immediately. As Charlie Price’s father, Joyce’s is the first voice you hear in the show, along with young Charlie (Henry Thomas). LaTrea Rembert and Tre’von Yancey portray Lola’s father and the young Lola, respectively, while Jarod Bakum, in his CLO debut, shows some sparks as Charlie’s pal Harry.
Click here to get to know the hard-working, high-kicking Angels and ensemble members, many with local ties. Music director James Cunningham leads a 12-piece CLO Orchestra, their first outing of the season, following the tour of Jersey Boys.
The entire cast takes to the stage for “Raise You Up / Just Be,” the grand finale (it is grand) of Kinky Boots. The mashup is a must for any playlist of “Songs for Lifting Spirits.”
It isn’t just Pittsburgh that can’t get enough of this show.
CLO’s production arrives as Kinky Boots is headed back to New York City. It closed on Broadway in April 2019 after 2,505 regular performances, but you can’t keep a good musical down. The show debuts off-Broadway at Stage 42 on July 26.
This CLO summer season is a great example of what the company does best; Reviving classics such as the upcoming Godspell, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and putting its stamp on new classics, especially ones that lift the spirits as profoundly as Kinky Boots. It’s enough to make you say, “Yeah!”
Pittsburgh CLO’s Kinky Boots is at the Benedum Center Through July 10. Details and tickets: pittsburghclo.org.
Categories: Show Previews
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