Tony award-winning Broadway hit Kinky Boots is strutting its way across the pond to London’s West End for its UK premiere.
“We are thrilled and deeply honored to be bringing Kinky Boots back home to British shores, where this inspirational story is set,” said producers Daryl Roth and Hal Luftig in a statement.
Based on the film of the same name, and inspired by true events, the show tells the story of a struggling Northampton shoe factory that turns its fortunes around by catering to drag queens.
Struggling with changes in fashion and competition from abroad, Charlie (Killian Donnelly) starts to look for new markets and is persuaded by Lola (Matt Henry) to consider an expansion into “kinky boots” — women’s shoes in men’s sizes for transgender people and crossdressers.
Henry recently competed as a finalist in the UK edition of television’s “The Voice.” Some of his theatre credits include Avenue Q (National Tour), The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (Northampton), and The Harder They Come (Theatre Royal Stratford East).
At the 2013 Tony Awards, Kinky Boots won Best Musical and Best Original Score for its writer, pop star Cyndi Lauper. The New York Times referred to it as “a shameless emotional button pusher,” but praised its “zip and zeal”.
In the original film, based on the BBC documentary, Trouble at the Top: The Kinky Boot Factory, Chiwetel Ejiofor plays the drag queen who forms an unlikely business relationship with the owner of a shoe factory.
Kinky Boots will run from August 21 to September 14 at the Adelphi Theatre.
