THEATRE REVIEW: "Kinky Boots" at the Oriental Theatre (Chicago, IL)

      On August 31st, 2016, I saw a performance of the Cyndi Lauper / Harvey Fierstein musical "Kinky Boots" at the Oriental Theatre (now called the Nederlander Theatre) in Chicago, IL.  The National Tour of the musical had already performed in Chicago for a four-week engagement in 2015 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, and the World Premiere Production played at the Bank of America Theatre (now called the CIBC Theatre) in 2012 for about six weeks I believe.  So this time, the musical was only in Chicago for one week.  This was my first time seeing the show.  








     The production featured scenic design by David Rockwell.  It reminded me of Eugene Lee's scenic design for the original production of  "Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street."  The two musicals couldn't be any different though.  I remember I wasn't budgeting my money well the days leading up to seeing "Kinky Boots,"  and spent even more money on the theatre ticket.  If I remember correctly, Broadway in Chicago had a "buy one, get one free" ticket sale with "Kinky Boots" and "Newsies," which was playing down the street at the Cadillac Palace Theatre a few weeks earlier ("Newsies" and "Kinky Boots" are two other musicals that couldn't be any different).  So, I saw both shows for the first time while they were in town for return engagements.  Anyway, I hadn't eaten anything the day I saw "Kinky Boots," and was irritable for the first part of the show until the "The Sex is in the Heal" number.  Then I started to smile and enjoy myself.  






     I don't remember who was in the cast of this production.  It was in the late summer of 2019 that I got rid of my playbills.  Luckily I scanned most of them, but just the covers in most cases.  I sort of wish I saw the world premiere of "Kinky Boots" in 2012.  Instead I saw the world premiere of "Big Fish" which ended up being a flop.  That tends to happen with most world premiere or pre-Broadway engagement I see.  





  
     The cast of the touring production, when I saw the show included J. Harrison Ghee, Adam Kaplan, Tiffany Engen,  Aaron Walpole, Charissa Hogeland, and Jim M. Bullock.  I wonder if Adam Kaplan is ever called Mr. Kaplan like Cary Grant was called in the movie "North By Northwest."  If he was, he would probably just say, "I'm Adam.  Mr. Kaplan is my father."  Wow, this blog writes itself!  I wasn't lying when I said I didn't remember who starred in the production when I saw "Kinky Boots."  It just so happens I came across a scanned image of the cast list while writing this blog post.  







     The Broadway Production of "Kinky Boots" premiered on April 4th, 2013 at the  Al Hirschfeld Theatre and ran until April 7th, 2019.  The first preview performance of the Broadway Production was on March 3rd, 2013.   The Original Broadway Cast included Billy Porter,  Stark Sands, Annaleigh Ashford, Celina Carvajal, and Marcus Neville.  The musical is based on the Miramax motion picture "Kinky Boots" which was written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth.  



Adam Kaplan, J. Harrison Ghee, and the cast of "Kinky Boots" (photo by Matthew Murphy).


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