Kinky Boots UK Tour at The Mayflower Theatre

Thursday 5 September 2019
** Press tickets**

It's been a minute since I was last able to pop along to the Mayflower Theatre for a review but the time has finally come to see Kinky Boots! I have this strange thing of ignoring the books and films that come before the theatre shows because I find the musicals that come after, so much more captivating, I don't know if its the performances the actors give or the atmosphere of being in an audience that makes me say that but, the shows will always be my favourite.


Kinky Boots is currently on its UK & Ireland tour which means it finally made its way to Southampton! I spied it on the Mayflowers website months ago & knew it would be something I would love to see. I mean, musical &  DragQueens? What's not to love?

The musical has won every major British Musical award including the Oliver Award, which instantly gave me high hopes for this show.
There's songs by Grammy &Tony award winning Cyndi Lauper, directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell & book by Harvey Fierstein. This musical has turned a dreary real life tale from 1979 to a fabulously loud & uplifting show.


The show starts off with Charlie played by Joel Harper-Jackson headed off to London to start a new life with his fiance Nicola played by Helen Ternent while leaving his Farther Mr Price behind with a struggling factory.
Nicola clearly didn't want the Northampton life they were leaving behind but Charlie didn't seem sure. Nicola wasn't a very likeable character and unfortunately, her pitchy number at the begining didn't help so much, hopefully it was just an off day. After Mr Price passed away suddenly it was time for Charlie to head back home and come to the realisation that the factory isn't doing well & something needed to be done. He went to friends for help & luckily for him, he bumped into Lola not knowing that she was about to change everything for him.

  
When Lola played by Kayi Ushe took to the stage she absolutely owned it, Kayi's performance could not be faulted, he captivated the audience and brought Lola to life. The sass, the confidence & the voice was everything. Charlie was lucky to come across such a strong person when he did. To save the family factory Charlie needed to think outside the box, make something new that people will actually buy & Lola had all the answers, women's shoes that could hold the weight of a man and Kinky Boots was born. There were hardships of course, people that didn't approve of the shoes, people that didn't think that Charlie could do it & people that didn't approve of Lola but it all comes together so spectacularly.


The show its self was well put together, mostly upbeat but of course there's a few touching moments, it was a Broadway show after all. I think my only negative would be that at times, the orchestra were louder than the voices of the actors & you couldn't quite hear them signing, I also couldn't work out if the voice of Lauren was suppose to sound slightly out of tune as part of the character or not....but all in all, it's a damn good show.


Lola of course stole the show along with her Angels while her and Charlies relationship was really special to watch, along with being able to see the rest of the cast slowly start to understand and embrace Lola, after all, her designs did save the factory.

You couldn't help but jump up and start dancing when the big numbers came on & when the whole cast came out in their own pair of Kinky Boots everyone was cheering. Specially for Don & George, it was the perfect sign off for the show.

I really enjoyed myself & I know everyone around me did as well thanks to that everlasting standing ovation & I have to say Joel & Kayi's voices are amazing.

Kinky Boots is running at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton September 3rd - 14th, tickets are still available & you can get them here!

Seriously, if you can, then you need to go!
Emily-May x 

** Tickets were gifted as part of a press invite, views and words are of my own as always, please see disclaimer

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