WITH top-notch performances and singing, a powerful message and plenty of red high heels, the Studley Operatic Society’s production of Kinky Boots will leave audiences swept up in the passion, emotion and fun of it all.
When Charlie Price (Paul Mitchell) reluctantly inherits his father’s failing shoe factory, a chance meeting with drag performer Lola (Michael Bentley) and an inspired choice to go into business together and begin producing ‘Kinky Boots’ gives his business the boost he never knew it needed.
As they team up to help save the factory, Charlie and Lola discover they have more in common than they could have ever imagined.
Bentley steals the show as Lola, displaying remarkable stage presence and bringing all the fun, humour and dynamism you’d want from the role.
There’s also a vulnerability to Lola which Bentley addresses with real sensitivity, doing an amazing job at subtly showing the character’s insecurities.
Mitchell sells Charlie’s transition from a down-on-his-luck, demotivated man with the weight of the world on his shoulders into someone who has discovered his true passion in life.
I was really moved by the journey Charlie and Lola take together as they look back at their difficult relationships with their fathers.
Mitchell and Bentley’s chemistry adds to the impact of the play’s more emotional scenes, with their remarkably heartfelt duet ‘Not my father’s son’ among the show’s strongest scenes.
The friction between Charlie and his fiancé Nicola, played by Kirstie Boyden, made for equally compelling viewing.
Charlie and Nicola clearly want different things in life and Boyden really flexes her acting chops during the couple’s big argument in the middle of act two.
Kelly Mitchell is fantastic as the quirky, funny but very kind Lauren, an employee at Charlie’s factory who may just see him as more than her boss.
The scene when she finally realises her feelings for him is among the play’s funnier moments, emphasised by the genius use of shifting stage lighting to reflect her thought process.
It’s not often I’m so taken aback by the set, but Studley Operatic did such a sterling job in this case it almost became a character in its own right.
Highlights included the rotating factory office which was used during Lola’s big introductory number to seamlessly show Charlie’s plight alongside the solution, as well as a conveyor belt Lola’s angels emerge from to provide a show-stopping dance display.
Another inventive set piece involves Lola’s boxing match with Don, a factory worker with very ignorant views who is shown the error of his ways in an inventive and impactful way.
Matt Bridgewater handles the complexity of this role very well and Don’s gesture to Charlie just before the finale was one of the show’s more poignant moments.
Keith Parish brings gravitas as well as a calming and wise quality to the role of factory manager George, who acts as a mentor to Charlie in the play’s early phases.
Of course, Kinky Boots is packed full of some highly entertaining singing and dancing performances and the entire cast was fabulous in this regard.
The big ensemble performances of ‘Everybody Say Yeah’ and ‘Just Be’ to end each act in particular left audiences cheering long after the music had stopped.
‘Kinky Boots’ reminds us all to just be who we want to be in the most joyous way possible and you can catch it at Redditch’s Palace Theatre until Saturday, April 22.
Tickets are still available for the performances at 7.30pm tonight and tomorrow, as well as tomorrow’s 2.30pm afternoon showing.
Tickets start from £21 each.
Click here to book tickets.
