Oct 18, 2018

[Theater] Kinky Boots (Marina Bay Sands) Review


My love for the original Kinky Boots movie made the decision to watch the Atlantis staging of the musical an easy theater decision to make. But when provided a chance to catch the international touring production while in Singapore came up, it took a while to reassure myself that the cost was totally worth it.

And yes, the show was even more amazing that I had expected it to be and I'm super glad that we watched. I wish I had been able to catch it with my partner Tobie, but at least I wasn't entirely alone either.

Synopsis: Kinky Boots  is a Broadway musical adaptation of the 2005 movie of the same name. Music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper and book by Harvey Fierstein. The touring production was staged at the Sand Theatre at Marina Bay Sands from 5-14 October 2018.

Similar to the movie, the story centers around the shoe factor of Price & Son in Northampton that struggles to keep up with the times. The latest in the Price line is Charlie (Lance Bordelon), who starts the play making the move to London with his fiancée (Hayley Lampart) but soon he receives a call that his father has passed away, thus forcing him to return home to deal with the factory. And things haven't been going well when their biggest client had apparently cancelled their orders for the coming seasons and the factor still working on fulfilling those orders.

As he starts going through the process of giving the folks at the factory their two weeks' notice, one employee Lauren (Sydney Patrick) challenges him to find a new niche for the factory to fulfill instead of just giving up. That leads him back to an unusual encounter he had while in London with a larger-than-life drag queen called Lola (Jos N. Banks) who may hold the keys to the niche market that Charlie needs to save the factory.

What I Liked: As much as I enjoyed the Manila staging of the play, the talent assembled for this production were mind-blowingly amazing and really made this show feel distinct. Bordelon has an amazing voice and a very strong set of pipes and he's able to really belt it out and given Charlie life. And you need that sort of strength when performing with the likes of Banks who is a killer Lola not just in her singing but in how she carries herself on-stage with various embellishments and adlibs.

I particularly loved Patrick as Lauren as she was totally hilarious and clearly had a lot of fun with the role. But this really isn't a play that you can feel bad about especially with the supporting Angels adding so much life and color to different numbers throughout the play.

I can see the consistencies between the Manila and Singapore stagings but of course there were more dynamic set elements that resulted in some surprising scene transitions. And things all come together with the big finale number that was super, super fun with very well thought-out lighting cues and some killer choreography that made the most of the dynamic stage.

What Could Have Been Better: Noticeably absent were the younger character versions for Charlie and Lola/Simon, as I assume the touring production didn't want to bother with the challenges of being on the road with young child actors and those limited parts got written out. It took away some of the emotional fulfillment as a large part of this play is focused on the relationship between fathers and sons but it's an understandable change.

And then this limited touring run felt like a major experiment or gamble for the team and I think they hedged their bets by not coming with supporting merchandise for the show. So we didn't even have the option to buy a playbill for the show or any other souvenirs and cases like that disappoint me as a theater patron since I always like having something to hold onto after the show.

TL;DR: Kinky Boots is definitely one of my favorite musicals and this feeling was cemented after watching this production. It's a great show and should it come to your area you should definitely take the time to watch the show. Thus is gets a full 5 cases of the Angels coming in as wonderfully timely backup out of a possible 5.


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