Kinky Boots – The New Cast!

Kinky Boots is a musical that continues to take the West End by storm. Running for nearly 2 yeas they recently injected some fresh faces into the cast & I went along to check them out.

Photo- Helen Maybanks

The show tells of Charlie Price of Price & Sons shoes, who is left to run the failing business when his father dies. Charlie is reluctant to take up this challenge until Lauren suggests that instead of closing why not save the factory by finding a gap in the market. Charlie’s gap in the market comes in the form of Lola, a drag queen whose stiletto shoe can’t withstand everything she puts the shoe through. Kinky Boots tells of friendship, acceptance and how sometimes we are more similar than appearances may have you believe.

David Hunter has been playing the role of Charlie now for just over a year and I can see why. He is a very genuine Charlie and his voice suits the role perfectly. In ‘Soul of A Man’ this is demonstrated brilliantly. New to the role of Lola is played by Simon-Anthony Rhoden. Lola is a gift of a role for someone to play with brilliant lines, costumes and songs but it would therefore be easy not to do this role justice or give it the depth it needs. Luckily Rhoden escapes this potential pitfall with ease. The sass he brought to this role was impeccable whilst managing to nicely contrast it with the quieter moments. His voice however needed a bit more strength during ‘Not My Fathers Son’ but he had a heartfelt interpretation of it, bringing a tear to my eye.

Photo credit- Matt Crockett

Also new to the cast was Verity Rushworth as Lauren. She captured the comedy very well and had me laughing out loud during ‘History of Wrong Guys.’

For me the highlights of the show however hasn’t changed since my first viewing. It has to whenever Lola and The Angels are performing together. The choreography is slick and not a stiletto heel is misplaced. The Angels make me want to be part of their squad with the fierceness of their performance, the way they make dancing in heels (even on a conveyor belt) look easy and their parade of incredible costumes.

Kinky Boots is one of these shows that has it all going for it- a story with real heart, fun catchy numbers to contrast against the more emotional ones, dazzling choreography and costumes…. all of which are in very safe hands going forward.

I saw this show courtesy of SeatPlan – a website that lets you check out the view from numerous seats in West End theatres and further afield such as Birmingham, Edinburgh and Oxford. It includes genuine audience members reviews for the seats – if you look hard enough you might even find some of my own reviews on there! You can even earn theatre vouchers from posting your own reviews and photos. Kinky Boots is currently booking until March 2018 and tickets can be purchased through Seat Plan.