"KINKY BOOTS" at Atlanta's Fabulous FOX!!!
- Cathy H. Burroughs
- Mar 30, 2016
- 3 min read

Opening Night of Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein’s Six-Time Tony Winner Kinky Boots Had Us Cheering at Atlanta’s Fabulous Fox Theatre Now through Sunday, April 3rd as the Fifth Third Bank Broadway in Atlanta Series Continues: Now on Sale...the exceptional 2016/2017 Season!
Who would have thought a musical inspired by true events - a shoe factory that in order to survive begins making “kinky boots” for transvestites - would be so extraordinary? A testament to this show’s power, glory and star wattage were in evidence at last night’s opening night as the cheering crowd took to its feet for an emotional and extended ovation! This profoundly moving 2013 Tony-winner for Best Musical Kinky Boots traces the interconnected destinies of a drag queen and a failing shoe factory now showing at Atlanta’s Fabulous Fox Theatre runs through this Sunday, April 3rd as part of the really
impressive Fifth Third Bank Broadway in Atlanta series.
The cast of Kinky Boots rock the house with this beautiful, ground-breaking show with a message directed and choreographed to perfection by Jerry Mitchell, based on the book by the four time Tony winning Harvey Fierstein, the Tony-winning score by the iconic rocker Cyndi Lauper and dazzling and original costumes and scenic design by Gregg Barnes and David Rockwell, respectively. The truly transcendental lighting is by Kenneth Posner.
Based on the unlikely friendship between Simon/Lola (a brilliant, virtuosic gender bending singing, dancing, acting performance by G. Harrison Ghee) and Charlie, the 2nd generation reluctant shoe factory owner (played, sung and danced by the very talented, and finally, kinky boot wearing Adam Kaplan), Kinky Boots is the coming of age and consciousness of two boys and a shoe factory in a provincial English town on the brink of collapse. By the way, the young boys who play the young Charlie and Lola are just terrific! Young Simon/Lola experiences an early fixation with red high heeled shoes which cost him a relationship with his professional boxer dad. He grows up to be something of a super star as the unforgettable Lola, a female impersonator with a dash of Imelda Marcos, sprinkled with a hint of Beyonce and a booty-licious sense of what makes a shoe sexy: "the sex is in the heel." Lola performs her act with the remarkable dancing and singing Angels. It took this writer almost the entire show to realize their actual gender!

Fate unites Lola with Charlie, a man trapped by a sense of duty to his father and his family run outmoded shoe factory and its workers. Charlie's girlfriend, Nicola, the drop dead gorgeous tall drink of water Charissa Hogeland wants a London life and has a habit of making the status conscious choices while the infatuated Lauren, an assembly line worker promoted to executive (a masterful physical comedy performance by Tiffany Engen) watches Charlie, and waits, from a distance.
In the course of the show, Charlie and Simon embrace and redefine their "masculine" side - the power of self assertion regardless of public opinion. Charlie, as new owner and Simon/Lola as designer save the factory by finding a new niche: "kinky boots," an outrageous line of exuberant boots marketed for show girls and transvestites, a big break for the factory and its provincial workers that requires a life-changing attitude adjustment for some. The musical has a higher calling, and hence its universal appeal for "ladies, gentlemen and those who still have not made up their minds" - the capacity for liberation, self love, and compassionate true acceptance.

Broadway in Atlanta has just announced its wonderful 2016/17 season and its current season continues with Beautiful – the Carole King Musical May 24-29; The Wizard of Oz June 21-26 and If/Then August 9-14. For tickets call 1-800-278-4447. Also coming up not as part of this series is A Night with Janis Joplin, one night only on April 17th, The Music of Elton John May 27 + 28 and much more. For more information check out The Fox Theatre website at www.foxtheatre.org or walk up to the Box Office, 660 Peachtree Street NE 30308 or call: 404-881-2100.
For more about Cathy H. Burroughs check out www.psychicsolutions.tv.
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