Kinky Boots

Guest Review 

We didn't quite know what to do after brunch that day we were visiting New York City but my brother Eric suggested that we get in line at TKTS and see what show we could get into. Of the available shows, I wanted to see Kinky Boots, not because I knew anything about the show but because I had seen the title for so many years and it was a provocative one. We all agreed and were lucky to get great seats.  

The show started off in a shoe factory in England. After a few numbers, I was just about to lean over and ask my wife Cathy "When is the show going to start?" when the crowd suddenly went beyond wild and the stage exploded with the appearance of Lola and the Angels. The response and energy were so intense that something was obviously going on, but we were in the dark until we found out at intermission that Todrick Hall's run as Lola was ending this very night. He was faaaaabulous--charismatic, nuanced, effortlessly in control and as fresh and startling as Tim Curry was a lifetime ago.

Todrick Hall

A standing ovation stopped the show after "Hold me in your heart" and what seemed to be a break in character ("I am so glad to be here...") was a slyly scripted and comical segue back. But the tears seemed very real, as they were in several cast members' eyes during the finale.

Todrick spoke for 5 or 10 minutes to the standing audience--while saying his mike would soon be cut off--exactly how long hardly mattered when you realized you were witness to a real bit of history and not just a musical. He ended graciously by bringing out his dressers, the actor who would succeed him, and by talking about his origins in Texas, and how a child in the company Instagrammed him that he should audition.  He gave thanks to his fans for supporting him as an out gay black man and asked the audience to return and support the show and its message, which is not about party or politics but about love. And the house went crazy again. We were privileged to be given another great Broadway memory. Memories I've only experienced in NYC. 

Guest review by Sanford Goldstein The incomparable and irreproducible sharpness of Broadway productions keeps me returning to NYC from the other coast and those 2 1/2 hour nuggets continue to be among the most lasting and vivid of my encounters with performing art. Great theater reminds my soul to wake up and start dancing again. My alter ego is a mild-mannered retired physician who mostly reads either religion or science fiction, so I've already read about anything that is likely to occur tomorrow. Goldstein's first rule is "don't marry crazy." My first law of physics is "bad parties don't get better."