Review: Kinky Boots the Musical

Kinky Boots the Musical at MK Theatre – 29/10/19

Having seen the film Kinky Boots, I was very excited to go and see the musical that has arrived in Milton Keynes for the next couple of weeks.

Based on the true story of WJ Brookes, the musical follows the trials and tribulations of Charlie Price, a Northampton shoemaker, who has inherited a failing shoe factory from his father. To turn things around and stop the building being sold to property developers, Charlie decides that his company needs a niche market. Enter Lola! If you’ve seen the film, then you’ll know the casting of the character Lola is quite pivotal to the story, and the casting of Kayi Ushe as Lola in this stage version is perfect!

Lola is a drag queen that always has problems with the heel snapping on her (his) boots. Charlie sees this need and decides to do something about it. The audience is taken through the journey of Charlie’s up and downs as he produces ‘ladies footwear for men’.

Sometimes when a film is adapted for the stage it can cut out a lot of the detail and songs can be inserted for the sake of it – not necessarily adding anything. I don’t feel this was the case with Kinky Boots. The songs added to the story and engaged the audience with the mood of the scene, whether that be happy, sad or comical.

Giving the audience the complete immersive experience was the set. A backdrop of a shoe factory but with a central rotating ‘room’ that with a quick spin, transformed the stage to a bar, storeroom, a boxing ring or Lola’s stage. All very clever and allowed the action to flow effortlessly from one scene to the next.

On page 15 of the November Phonebox we spoke to Joel-Harper Jackson who plays Charlie. He said his favourite part is the big finale. Whilst watching it, you can really understand why he would say that as it was such a feel-good moment – and as he mentions, the audience really did go wild.

Kinky Boots is on at Milton Keynes Theatre until Saturday 9^th November.

Tickets available from https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/kinky-boots/milton-keynes-theatre. I’d be quick though, as this is going to be a popular one.

'tap dance day'

Time for one of those bizarre 'days', and today is National tap dance day! A day to celebrate tap dancing, it began back in 1989 in America, and is now celebrated in many places by tap dancing shows, clubs etc held on the day. 

Why not get inspired to try tap dancing on this national day of tap dancing?! We've had a search for some of the local dance schools in the area if you fancied it... 

• The Olney School of Dancing - Ballet and Tap Dancing classes for children and adults. The Olney School of Dancing is a well established dancing school which holds a range of classes in both ballet and tap dancing . Children can be entered for the  Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing examinations in tap dance.
• Sue Coles School of Dance - The school follows the I.S.T.D. syllabus, with classes from Primary through to Advanced standard. The children and students can work towards a graded examination if they wish to. An Adult Advanced class is also available.

• Leanne Hughes Theatre School - We offer weekly classes in ISTD Ballet, Tap, Modern dance, as well as classes in Jazz and Musical Theatre.  Weekly adult classes are also held in Ballet, Tap and Modern and are suitable for all levels.

• Diamond School of Performing Arts - Diamond School of Performing Arts runs classes in Newport Pagnell Youth Club. Classes include Drama, Singing, Musical Theatre, Ballet, Tap, Freestyle and Hiphop. Diamond Students get so many wonderful opportunities including professional work (film, television, theatre, radio and modelling), performances at numerous charity, community and corporate events plus we have 2 school shows per year – our Review Show in June and a full scale production in October.

• Arts1 School of performance - Classes from aged 4 up to adult. Learn the technique and step sequences often seen in Musicals in the West-End and Broadway and in films of the Golden era of musical theatre in a class led by a fully qualified ISTD tap teacher. Students take part in a nationally recognised and accredited exam syllabus, learning choreographed sequences and exercises focused on developing rhythm, muscularity, musicality, co-ordination and performance technique.

This is just a small selection, but there are clearly lots of places to learn tap dancing in the local area! Why not get on those dancing shoes and give it a shot?!