Q&A KINKY BOOTS
The hit musical tells the story of shoe maker Charlie Price and a flamboyant drag queen, Lola, who team up to design women’s shoes for men. Delivering a message of acceptance at a time when Australia debates such concepts, Inspire editor Emily Selleck sat
Q You have been doing eight shows a week for nearly a year. How do you deal with the challenges of keeping the show fresh?
Callum Francis: Out of all the shows I’ve worked on, we’re probably the closest cast, we all get along really well and we bounce off each other. If the audience reacts to something differently that takes us by surprise we can see it in each other’s faces.
Toby Francis: You’d be amazed by how much you can read in someone’s eyes in a moment.
Callum Francis: I always laugh when I see Toby looking back at me instead of Charlie, you can tell the difference and that’s what keeps it fresh.
Sophie Wright: Plus no audience is the same. Q
Kinky Boots has a strong message of acceptance and it seems more relevant than ever given the discussion around marriage equality. Is this the musical Australia needs right now? Callum: If you take away what’s going on in Australia right now, the show still has a very powerful message about acceptance and it resonates worldwide. But the fact we’re in Australia at the time that it needs it, kind of makes the show more important to us.
Toby: The No campaign likes to say things along the lines of, “think of the children” but the irony is we are the ones thinking
of children. Gay teens and gay kids commit suicide in much higher numbers than heterosexual kids and to do a show that says we accept you for who you are, we love you and we stand with you is just so important.
Callum: Kinky Boots opened on Broadway in a similar (political climate) that Australia’s in right now. America was passing their gay rights and I’d like to think Kinky Boots is going to help the cause in Australia. It’s having an impact on so many audience members who come to the show not really having an opinion on the issue, and they all leave with the same opinion.
Toby: I have younger kids who are part of the (LGBTIQ) community come up to me at the stage door and say how much it means to them to see something that is part of their world on stage. So I say think of the children and vote Yes.
Q
Callum, you understudied Lola in the West End production of Kinky Boots.
Did the possibility of starring in the Australian production ever cross your mind?
Callum: Not at all and it’s still bizarre to think that I’m here and I’m so settled. There’s so much talent in Australia, I’ve never felt so intimidated in my entire career than I do every night with this lot. I actually arrived in Australia one year ago last week.
Q And to top it off you won a Helpmann Award earlier this year.
Callum: Yeah, as if it wasn’t good enough being here in Australia, I won that, which I was stupidly honoured by. It was a complete shock.
Q
How long did it take you to master your British accents for the show?
Sophie: I’m lucky I really like mimicking accents, so for me it was more fun than anything. Each character does have their different quirks so we had an accent and dialect coach to help us master that.
Callum: The Australians are actually really good at it. My accent is probably becoming more Aussie now and they sound more English than I do.
Toby: One of my best friends in the whole world is from Northampton (where Kinky
Boots is set), so I got lucky.
Q
What do you have planned for your downtime while in Queensland?
Callum: For us, because we use our voice, our downtime is basically sitting in silence and being a bit anti-social. That said, we are going to go to Movie World and Dreamworld and will scream our heads off.
Q You’ve spoken about the energetic crowds in Sydney and Melbourne. How does Brisbane compare?
Sophie: They’re actually so much better. This is our last city so I feel like maybe it’s because they’ve heard the hype from Sydney and Melbourne and they’ve waited so long.
Toby: That’s the way it is with Brisbane. A lot of shows tend to do Sydney and Melbourne first, but Queensland loves musicals, people here buy their tickets in advance and they spend that whole year getting pumped.
Callum: It sounds like a cliche but we’ve definitely saved the best until last.
Q With Kinky Boots finishing in less than two months, what’s next? Sophie: I’d love to know! Toby: I’m doing a show at the Hayes Theatre (in Sydney) which I’m producing called High
Fidelity.
Callum: Hopefully my next job will be in flat shoes ... the funny thing is they’ve always been kind of comfortable. I found after my first week in the shoes, my lower back and voice were so tired because the boots change the way you sing. It’s been nearly 2½ years for me, so I’m probably going to have to get used to singing in flats, or I could just sing in heels forever.