Kinky Boots

This week I decided to take myself on an afternoon date to the theatre.  I put on my favourite boots...

and jumped onto a streetcar headed downtown to watch the best selling Broadway musical “Kinky Boots”.  

All I knew about the play was that it was based on a true story, and that the music was written by Cindy Lauper.  This was a huge draw card for me as she is one of my favourite singer/songwriters, so I was really interested to hear the music. I also heard that there was a lot of dancing, so that’s always fun to watch.

‘Dance’ seemed to be the theme of the day.  On the ride there it was amusing to overhear a pair of elderly women reminiscing about the good old days, when they used to go ballroom dancing. 

One lady was recalling the time she was soon to be married, but one night she had an amazing time dancing with a bunch of different men who literally swept her off her feet, impressing her with their dancing skills.  At the end of that night she thought to herself “why the heck am I getting married for” and apparently she returned the “big fat wedding ring” to her fiancé, cancelled the wedding plans and spent the next few years dancing and enjoying the single life.

I didn’t bother to buy a ticket in advance. I thought to myself how busy could it be - a play during the day? I imagined it would be lucky if the theatre was half full.  Believe it or not, before that day I had never been to a professional theatre event, so I was a bit naïve with regards to how popular these things could be.  As the streetcar drew near to the venue, I could see a massive crowd forming outside. 

I couldn’t believe it,  but was quietly impressed with Toronto as a city – it was so great to see so many people out and about in the afternoon supporting the arts.  

I suddenly realised that my chances of getting in were very slim, but I thought it was still worth a shot.   I  snuck past the crowded line up and went straight to the entrance.  I know there is an unspoken law against jumping lines, but I was glad that I did; I managed to get my hands on the very last ticket available.

The Royal Alexander Theatre was so beautiful! 

I’d never seen one like it before.  Apparently it was built in 1907 and is the oldest operating legitimate live performance theatre in North America.  I slowly made my way to my designated seat amongst the moving crowd, but not before I had treated myself to some popcorn and pink champagne – I was on a date after all! 

I found myself feeling pretty excited, waiting in anticipation for the show to begin.   I was already so impressed with the theatre and the quality of the stage props.  

I was close to the front, and had a great view of the stage.   My seat was amongst a group of little old ladies - I had to stumble over their walking sticks to get to my chair.   It was fun chatting with them before the show and during the intermission.  They seemed really happy to be sharing in my big box of popcorn. They were so cute. If I'm lucky enough to reach their age, I hope that I'm still out and about and enjoying myself the way they were.  Admittedly a couple of them fell asleep during the performance, but at least they were having a change of scenery.

So it turned out that the play was a drag show with a twist.    Wikipedia sums it up pretty well “ The musical is based on the 2005 film Kinky Boots by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth, which was inspired by true events, the musical tells the story of Charlie Price, who inherits a shoe factory from his father. To save the business, Charlie forms an unlikely partnership with cabaret performer an d drag queen, Lola. With Lola's help, Charlie develops a plan to produce a line of high heeled boots. In the process, he and Lola discover that they are not so different after all. “

The story was very entertaining and the performance was bright, colourful and fun.  It made me laugh, and in some moments even brought tears to my eyes.  The moral of the story was all about love and accepting people for who they are.  It was an inspiring tale about human courage and perseverance –  one mans ability  to take  a risk, and turn a bad situation into a successful one, by changing his attitude and embracing the opportunity being presented to him.

Now, I have to admit, I’m not really the biggest fan of the music in musical theatre.  For me there is a certain element of tackiness about it.  Occasionally I heard a melody that was reminiscent of Cindy Laupers sound, but these songs were very far removed from her usual style.  Even so, she did an amazing job of telling the story in song.  And there were a couple of emotional ballads that were very touching.  She is a master lyricist that is for sure.

In all, the experience was very uplifting.  Afterwards, there was a small part of me that felt inspired to dress up and dance around in spandex and spangles and tap into MY inner drag queen – that part of me that doesn’t care what anybody thinks, and embrace the most eccentric part of myself.  Besides if I guy can look so damn sexy why can’t I?

But lets face it...I would NEVER do that!  It’s just not my style.

Until the next adventure!

NN xx