Broadway smash hit making Dayton stop
Broadway hit has music by Cyndi Lauper, book by Harvey Fierstein.
Rest assured that you need not be a shoemaker or a drag queen to appreciate the high energy and touching themes of“Kinky Boots.”
When “Kinky Boots” opened on Broadway in 2013, folks in the Miami Valley were pretty excited to learn that Muse Machine alum Tory Ross was featured in the cast.
“It’s an incredible feeling to be in a show that people have such an exuberant, positive response to,” Ross told us just before her live performance at the 57th annual Tony award show broadcast from Radio City Music Hall.
The collaboration between fourtime Tony award winner Harvey Fierstein, who wrote the book, and Grammy Award-winning rock icon Cyndi Lauper, who penned the score, captured six Tonys that night. It won for Best Musical, earned Lauper the Tony for Best Score and won Jerry Mitchell the honor for Best Choreography. The slew of other awards included a Grammy for Best Musical Album.
The touring production of the smash hit comes to Dayton as part of the Victoria Theatre Association’s Premier Health Broadway series. It will be on stage May 23-28 at the Schuster Center. Rest assured that you need not be a shoemaker or a drag queen to appreciate its high energy and its touching themes.
Ross told us she believes that the shows popularity really stems from its central message: Just be who you wanna be. Never let ‘em tell you who you ought to be. “I think the message particularly resonates these days because no matter who you are or how you were raised, you have a moment where you have been made to feel like you don’t belong,” she explained. “Kinky Boots is for people who refuse to be categorized.”
What’s it about?
The musical, inspired by true events and a popular 2005 British film by the same name, centers around a gentleman’s shoe factory in Northampton, England and its owner. In order to save his failing family business, the owner forms a partnership with a drag queen in search of stilettos and thigh boots that will fit men who are cross-dressers. Though their worlds couldn’t be further apart, the partners discover that —in many ways— they’re not so different after all.
“The real love story here is these two gentlemen who become friends,” says Fierstein.
Starring as Lola
Daytonians will be privileged to see actor Timothy Ware as Lola. He performed the part on Broadway 186 times as the understudy for Billy Porter. Ware has also toured the country in “Mamma Mia!” and “Jesus Christ Superstar.” When he appeared in the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park production of “Thunder Knocking at the Door” in 2012, he was described by CityBeat magazine as a blend of James Brown, Little
Richard and Eddie Murphy.
“The message of ‘Kinky Boots’ is that you change the world when you change your mind,” Ware said in a recent phone interview. “Don’t judge a book by its cover. Learn to accept others for what they are.”
Both of the lead characters in the show struggle to live up to their fathers’ expectations. Cyndi Lauper’s song in the show, “I’m Not My Father’s Son,” addresses that issue. Ware says it’s his favorite song in the musical.
“It’s funny, I made ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun” very famous. Now I see the other side of the coin,” Lauper has said. “When this came along, the biggest draw was that every parent goes through this and every kid goes through this, and the disappointment for a kid to feel like they failed their parents is so huge, whether you’re gay or straight. And the fact that the guy’s a drag queen, to me, is inconsequential— except for the fact that he’s so different from this factory bloke; that they can come together, overcome their differences, outside and in, for the greater good.”
Ware says the song is sung in an intimate moment between Charlie and Simon, Lola’s male persona. “They both realize that it’s not possible to live up to their fathers’ expectations and they have to live up to their own expectations and be true to themselves,” he says, adding that “Kinky Boots” is both humorous and heartfelt, a moving and emotional story. “Audiences laugh and cry at the same time,” he adds.
On the road
Ware says touring as Lola involves a lot more responsibility than filling in for the star on Broadway. “On tour, I’m performing this role eight times a week as opposed to when the lead is sick or on vacation,” he explains. “Now I’m representing the company and the show to make sure the story comes across the way it should.”
Landing the role
Ware donned high heels for the first time at his audition. “That’s where your acting training comes in,” he notes. “You try to tap into a side of you that you didn’t know was there. You take the skills you’ve obtained and implement them. I believe you can find yourself in every role.”
He grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, performing from the time he was a kid. His first professional acting role came at the age of 12 in a production of “Big River,” the musical about the adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
The role of Lola, he says, will be a high point in his career. “It’s a great role to have. She’s a tour de force,” Ware says. “There are very few roles for black men in musical theater that allow us to sing, dance, act. I was very grateful to take it on.”
Ware was also in the news for his Pride Project. His mini-web series is a collection of poems he wrote and video-taped with New York actors. “In today’s world we don’t listen to one another,” he believes. “The idea is that people have made us feel ashamed and how do we find pride in our shame. How does a full-figured woman find pride in her body? How does a dark-complected African-American find joy in his complexion? How do Hispanics learn to embrace their background without being embarrassed?”
Ware believes the concept behind his poems and videos can also be related to his character and the themes of “Kinky Boots.”
“The character of Lola felt shamed because her father put shame on her for being different and wanting to dress like a woman,” he says. “She’s just more in tune with her feminine side. But somehow — and some way — she found pride in that shame and was able to find joy within herself and spread that joy to others. It always comes back to this — how do you learn to love yourself for who you are.”
Ware believes art is the strongest form of communication. “Through performing arts we can reach across the aisle,” he says. “Art has a way of putting ideas and thoughts into a form that allows people to feel like they can listen, observe and maybe change their minds and see a different perspective. “
Asked whether a musical that revolves around drag queens is off-putting for some audiences, Ware says it varies from city to city and show to show depending upon a particular audience.
“People may come assuming its about drag queens but its really about humanity and everyone finds a little bit of themselves in the show by the end,” he observes.” Some audiences are more reserved at the beginning, but by the end of the show they’re all on their feet no matter what their politics. It’s an uplifting story and people leave feeling changed.”