Review: KINKY BOOTS, Adelphi Theatre, Sept 15 2015

There's a little bit of heartwarming joy at the Adelphi Theatre now that Kinky Boots has moved in.

Where its predecessors there have filled me with righteous suffragette-like rage (Made in Dagenham) or raised more questions than they answered (Love Never Dies), this Tony-winning transfer was a straightforward delight.

It's a musical musing on masculinity, and what it is to be a "real" man - evergreen themes for art and for society as a whole. It's also about acceptance - of oneself, with all one's flaws, and of others, likewise.

Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein's names attached to a project are always going to attract attention (as they did in person on the red carpet). Lauper's score is often reminiscent of her pop writing, as one might expect, but there are glimpses in there of a broader approach to musical theatre and story through song - it'll be great to see whether she brings another project to the West End in the future.

As for the cast, this is a bravura performance from Matt Henry as Lola, by turns hilarious, moving, a diva, a damaged child. It's easy to grab the eye when you're stalking round the stage in your six-inch heels, but to command and keep the audience's attention in the way that he manages is an entirely different challenge. He'll get all the plaudits and he deserves them.

His accompanying Angels are gorgeous throughout - nary a stiletto nor an eyelash out of place; Amy Lennox is funny and touching as Lauren; Killian Donnelly sings as well as you'd expect as Charlie, but redeeming his character seems a rather thankless task - our ostensible leading man is rather weak and charmless most of the way through with one big outburst of unforgiveable behaviour (one can't help thinking than he and his heartless fiancee Nicola somewhat deserve each other). Oddly, it doesn't really matter - regardless of what we're seeing on stage, he's not the one we're really rooting for. We want Lola to be happy; we want Lauren to fulfil her potential; the future of Charlie's shoe factory is tertiary.

A first-night audience is inevitably giddily gleeful - one suspects that most audiences at the Adelphi for the foreseeable future will be just as moved and just as excited by this joyous, sparkling show.

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