BWW Blog: Tory Ross of KINKY BOOTS -The Making of a Price and Son Shoe: Part Four

Well Kinkettes (a potential name for the fans of the Broadway musical Kinky Boots... thoughts?), all good things must come to a (pro tempore) end. And thus, I give you the final installation of the making of a Price and Son shoe. Before we get to that how'er, I wanted to tell you that with months of hard work and anticipation behind us, we finally got to do our musical for a paying audience and THE RESPONSE WAS INCREDIBLE. Honestly, I've never experienced the wall of sound that erupted in our direction after our first preview. It was equal parts mind-blowing and life-altering. People are really digging our story and the house looks packed, so please buy your tickets now and join our dance party. No spoiler alert... dance party is a metaphor here. Or is it? You won't know until you see the show.

But back to the matter at hand: Gemma Louise Hunter. Gemma, as portrayed by Ellyn Marie Marsh, is a "jack of all trades" at Price and Son, but for the purpose of this series, is our boxer. She places the finished shoes in the box. This is her job. Dually, she is also a woman of intrigue who has been mentioned in previous interviews, so I thought it fitting to end our four-parter with her. Some excerpts:

Tory Ross as Pat Smythe: I'm sitting here with Gemma Louise Hunter and Gem, how long have you worked at Price and Son?
Ellyn Marie Marsh as Gemma Louise Hunter: I've worked at Price and Son for thir... are you recording this?
TR as PS: Yeah, 'course.
EMM as GLH: Where is this going to be seen and heard?
TR as PS: Why you so suspicious?
EMM as GLH: Well I do get CSI on the satellite TV. So I do know the... you know...
TR as PS: Is that your favourite programme on the telly?
EMM as GLH: Yeah, I like CSI, i like Friends and Neighbours, I like...
TR as PS: Is CSI your favourite programme 'cause secretly you are mischievous and do terrible things to people like chop up bodies?
EMM as GLH: Next question please.
TR as PS: Right.
EMM as GLH: I've been there for twelve years, Pat.
TR as PS: There is some controversy about you in the factory. People either think that you are their favourite worker or their least-favourite worker in the factory. Would you care to comment on that?
EMM as GLH: Well yeah, I'd just like to say that, if you're referring to Marge, she's a twat. So of course she would say that. I'm sure you can't publish that in any kind of publication, but Marge is an old, wrinkly twat.
TR as PS: Would you care to comment on Don and the prom that he stood you up for in fifth form?
EMM as GLH: Yeah, I mean, you actually know everything there is to know. He stood me up. I was dressed and waiting and I stood there waiting and he called, he said he got a flat tire, look at my face: don't believe THAT for a minute, do I. So, yeah and so now, he always tries to get back in my good graces and you know, three words: NOT GON HAPPEN.
TR as PS: What were you wearing that night?
EMM as GLH: I was in a beautiful, taffeta... sort of pants suit.
TR as PS: Which leads me to my next question: are you a gay lesbian?
EMM as GLH: I dunno why you'd even say that, Pat. No, I'm not a lesbian. I had a date with a man named Sam the other day. We went to the Indigo Girls concert.
TR as PS: A man named Sam?
EMM as GLH: Correct.
TR as PS: [pause] Did you verify that it was, indeed, a man?
EMM as GLH: I don't know why you're questioning me in such a manner. I'm a good worker and I'm not a lesbian. I like it when... men put their hands... on my body.
TR as PS: Right. Okay... so, what do you do at Price and Son?
EMM as GLH: Well a bit o' this and that, don't I Pat? Yeah? I measure things. I package things. I do alot o' sorta... tea drinkin'.
TR as PS: For the purpose of this, um, four-part series, I thought you were our main boxer?
EMM as GLH: Yeah, I do do a bit o' boxin', but since Lauren got executized, she was also boxin' so, now, that's what it says on my factory ID. It says boxer. But, because I am so multi-talented, I am called upon to do other things.
TR as PS: So you like boxes?
EMM as GLH: Yeah, I like boxes.
TR as PS: Do you like to touch boxes?
EMM as GLH: Yeah, I touch 'em at work all the time. I don't understand your line of questioning.
TR as PS: Right. What do you do with the boxes?
EMM as GLH: Well, you know...
TR as PS: Do you stuff them?
EMM as GLH: Yeah. Yeah! I stuff boxes! [pause] Is this a lesbian joke?
TR as PS: Thank you, Gemma Louise.

Ellyn Marie Marsh as Gemma Louise Hunter: Boxer

The mullet haircut: "BUSINESS in the front, PARTY in the back."

Don and Gemma... apparently, not meant to be.