Based on the 2005 British film Kinky Boots, written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth and mostly inspired by true events, the musical tells the story of Charlie Price.
Having inherited a shoe factory from his father, Charlie forms an unlikely partnership with cabaret performer and drag queen Lola to produce a line of high-heeled boots and save the business.
The original production of Kinky Boots premiered at the Bank of America Theatre in Chicago in October 2012, with both direction and choreography by Jerry Mitchell, and starring Stark Sands and Billy Porter as Charlie and Lola, respectively.
"[3][9] He said the main difference is that the musical is, "at its core, about two young men who come from seemingly opposite worlds who figure out that they have a lot in common, beginning with the need to stand up to their dads.
"[9] Lauper's inspirations ranged from the musicals South Pacific and West Side Story to Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring and pop singer Lana Del Rey.
[11] In a broadcast interview with Patrick Healy of The New York Times, Lauper and Fierstein said that, in adapting the film, they stressed themes of community and the universality of the father-son bond as vehicles to explore the issues of tolerance and self-acceptance.
Lauren, one of the women on the assembly line, explodes at Charlie when given her notice and stubbornly tells him that other struggling shoe factories have survived by entering an "underserved niche market."
An impressed Charlie begs Lola to stay until a prestigious footwear show in Milan in three weeks to design a new line of "kinky boots" that could save the factory.
Charlie is pouring his own money into the factory to ensure it will be ready in time for Milan, and he is getting frantic that the product is not right, angrily forcing his staff to redo what he considers to be shoddy work.
[11] New York Times critic Melena Ryzik wrote: "Though there are plenty of hooky, rousing numbers, the emotional heart of Kinky Boots is several ballads about the weight of parental expectations.
[38] On February 6, 2012, the Chicago Tribune reported that Kinky Boots' producers were considering taking advantage of an incentive program from the State of Illinois for out-of-town tryouts for Broadway shows.
[9][17][53] The show was directed and choreographed by Mitchell; scenic design was by David Rockwell, costumes by Gregg Barnes, lighting by Kenneth Posner and sound by John Shivers.
McLane was impressed with the "series of conveyor belts that came apart, moved around, and fit the context of the story" in order to accentuate the choreography of "a troupe of men in four-inch heels".
[63] Kinky Boots set a new box-office record at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre,[64] and "recouped its $13.5 million capitalization in a relatively quick 30 weeks of performances",[65] which was "faster than any big budget musical in recent history.
[75] The Toronto original cast, led by Alan Mingo Jr. as Lola and Graham Scott Fleming as Charlie, began rehearsals with Jerry Mitchell and the Broadway creative team on May 4, 2015.
It starred Teppei Koike as Charlie Price, Haruma Miura as Lola, Sonim as Lauren, Nami Tamaki as Nicola, Katsuya as Don, Arata Hino as George, Megumi Iino as Patty, Mikiko Shiraki as Trish, and Jonte as Harry.
It starred Keisuke Higashi and Shotaro Arisawa as Charlie Price, Shouma Kai and Yuya Matsushita as Lola, Meimi Tamura and Kurumi Shimizu as Lauren, Iroha Kumagai as Nicola, Masashi Oyama as Don, Arata Hino as George, Megumi Iino as Patty, Soko Takigawa as Trish and Yushin Nakatani as Harry.
[108] A non-replica UK and Ireland tour opened at the Curve, Leicester on January 17, 2025 starring Johannes Radebe as Lola, Dan Partridge as Charlie and Courtney Bowman as Lauren, directed by Nikolai Foster.
[110] The show premiered at the Operettenhaus in Hamburg, Germany, in December 2017, with Gino Emnes and Dominik Hees [de] leading the production as Lola and Charlie Price.
[112] A Spanish production opened on October 5, 2021 at the Espacio Delicias in Madrid, with Daniel Diges as Charlie Price, Tiago Barbosa [pt] as Lola, and Angy Fernández as Lauren.
[113] A Danish production opened in 2022 at Det Ny Teater in Copenhagen with Lars Mølsted as Charlie Price, Silas Holst as Lola, and Monica Isa Andersen as Lauren.
[117] In January 2020 [118] a production of the musical opened in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with Martin Bossi as Lola, Fernando Dente as Charlie Price and Sofia Morandi as Lauren.
"[126] Brantley wrote that Lauper's "love- and heat-seeking score" wowed with her "trademark ... mix of sentimentality and eccentricity", and that the costumes and boots courtesy of Gregg Barnes made for "big red scene stealers".
Thank goodness for Harvey Fierstein – he spins theatrical magic", but despite criticisms of the script the “perpetual cheer-churning machine” that is Kinky Boots certainly serves an important end goal; to empower not just its central characters, but the entire audience, in the spirit of acceptance.
[128] According to Julie Grossman, Kinky Boots facilitates the retraining of the eye to gender conventions and “repositions the marginalised figure as central to the spectacle of mass theatre... enacting a shift in the perspective of the viewer”.
[135] Joe Dziemianowicz of the New York Daily News wrote that while the "script has issues like a pair of shoes" that don't quite fit, "Mitchell's production moves lickety-split" and "Porter ... is a force of nature as Lola."
[58] Writing for The Guardian, David Cote noted that the decision to use American actors for an adaptation that maintained the Northampton setting resulted in a disconcerting inconsistency in terms of accents.
[136] The Wall Street Journal gave the show a negative review, calling it "an imitation heart-warming British working-class musical with a gay angle and a maudlin ending.
"[148] Time Out London called it "dazzling, fabulously sassy and uplifting," explaining "It's not all glitz and high-kicks...there are some grittier moments that give the show an edgier feel.
[165] On September 15, 2024, Cyndi Lauper revealed during her appearance on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen that plans are underway to adapt the musical into a feature film.