{"id":214735,"date":"2025-06-26T02:32:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T02:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/214735\/"},"modified":"2025-06-26T02:32:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T02:32:11","slug":"kinky-boots-the-musical-lyceum-theatre-sheffield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/214735\/","title":{"rendered":"Kinky Boots the Musical – Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield"},"content":{"rendered":"

Original Motion Picture: Geoff Deane and Tim Firth<\/strong><\/p>\n

Book: Harvey Fierstein<\/strong><\/p>\n

Music and Lyrics: Cyndi Lauper<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director: Nikolai Foster<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kinky Boots the Musicalfirst appeared in London\u2019s West End ten years ago, and since then it has enjoyed a UK tour, regional non-replica productions and a multitude of amateur productions. Now it embarks on its second UK tour in a brand new production with Nikolai Foster at the helm.<\/p>\n

The musical tells the story of Charlie Price who inherits his father\u2019s dying shoe factory. When Charlie stumbles across Lola, a drag queen, he finds a niche market that could just save the factory and the livelihoods of all those that Charlie grew up around.<\/p>\n

\"Unnamed<\/p>\n

The original production ofKinky Bootsbecame iconic and much loved for its phenomenal costumes and fabulous sets and lighting. Whilst at times it can feel like this is Kinky Boots on a more limited budget, this new creative team have done a fantastic job at reimagining the show to make it feel more British and more grounded in reality.<\/p>\n

Nikolai Foster directs the production, leading his company to find their own versions of their characters, meaning this feels completely fresh. The choice to include Young Charlie and Young Lola in much more of the show than has previously been seen works well at times, whilst at others it doesn\u2019t make complete sense. Leah Hill\u2019s choreography is vibrant and energetic. Whilst the iconic treadmills are missed from Everybody Say Yeah, Hill ensures that every inch of the stage is filled with movement during the many large ensemble numbers.<\/p>\n

Robert Jones\u2019 set design isn\u2019t overly imaginative, but it works well. A few more physical set pieces or walls that fly in and out wouldn\u2019t have gone amiss to help portray the locations that aren\u2019t in the factory. When we fly to Milan for the fashion show at the end of the musical, it doesn\u2019t feel that much more glitzy or glamorous than the factory in Northampton. Jones\u2019 costumes are a significant departure from what has been seen in previous productions, particularly with the ensemble of drag queens. They are not as extravagant as we\u2019ve seen before, but this works very well \u2013 it portrays the drag queens as people you might actually see performing in your local pub, rather than performers straight from RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race. There is additional costume design for Lola from Tom Rogers. Lola\u2019s costumes are wonderfully colourful, with her appearing in something new every scene. They\u2019re never too over the top which grounds Lola as a human.<\/p>\n

Harry Blumenau CDG has assembled a talented cast for this production, withStrictly Come Dancingstar Johannes Radebe headlining the production as Lola. This is Radebe\u2019s first musical and the show virtually sold out across the nation on his name alone, before anyone had an idea whether the man could sing or act. Luckily he can do both. Whilst he may not be the strongest vocalist to have ever played Lola, he more than makes up for this in stage presence. He leads ensemble numbers effortlessly and lands both the camp and comedic moments and the tender and heartfelt moments.<\/p>\n

Alongside Radebe is Dan Partridge as Charlie Price. Partridge delivers powerhouse vocals and has a great rapport with his various co-stars. At times, some of his outbursts of anger can seem a little extreme but on the whole he portrays Charlie\u2019s excitement and his struggles very well. Kara Lily Hayworth\u2019s Nicola is generally quite difficult to like which is probably intentional and means we really root for relationship between Charlie and Lauren, played by Courtney Bowman, to flourish. Bowman is the highlight of the show and quite possibly delivers the greatest Lauren we\u2019ve ever seen inKinky Boots the Musical. She feels completely human, where previously Lauren has almost purely been there for comedic value. The relationship between Charlie and Lauren gradually develops throughout the production, and we see it\u2019s a two way thing, rather than them coming together unbelievably quickly. Bowman also delivers impeccable vocals, putting her own stamp on History of Wrong Guys.<\/p>\n

The supporting cast also features some wonderful performances. Joe Caffrey\u2019s Don is great, portraying the character arc of acceptance well and hitting the high notes flawlessly. Kathryn Barnes is great fun to watch as Pat, Jonathan Dryden Taylor delivers rich vocals in his limited stage time as Charlie\u2019s father, Mr Price, and Scott Paige enjoys chewing the scenery as George. He is great fun, adding huge amounts of wonderful comedy to the production.<\/p>\n

Kinky Boots the Musicalis a fabulous, feel good musical which is guaranteed to leave you tapping your feet and humming the catchy songs, penned by Cyndi Lauper. Meanwhile it is a poignant show, feeling as relevant today. In a world where LGBTQIA+ people are constantly pushed down or even erased, this musical lifts them up and shows how much value they add to their local communities.<\/p>\n

The show is virtually sold out across the whole tour, but if you can get a ticket this is a night of great fun at the theatre.<\/p>\n

Runs until 28th June 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Original Motion Picture: Geoff Deane and Tim Firth Book: Harvey Fierstein Music and Lyrics: Cyndi Lauper Director: Nikolai…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8817],"tags":[748,85391,85392,85393,393,85394,4884,85395,85396,85397,85398,85399,85400,85401,85402,85403,85404,24648,1620,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-214735","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sheffield","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-courtney-bowman","10":"tag-cyndi-lauper","11":"tag-dan-partridge","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-geoff-deane","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-harry-blumenau","16":"tag-harvey-fierstein","17":"tag-joe-caffrey","18":"tag-johannes-radebe","19":"tag-jonathan-dryden-taylor","20":"tag-kara-lily-hayworth","21":"tag-kathryn-barnes","22":"tag-kinky-boots","23":"tag-kinky-boots-the-musical","24":"tag-leah-hill","25":"tag-lyceum-theatre","26":"tag-sheffield","27":"tag-uk","28":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114747326188873709","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}