Welcome to another journey through the sights and smells of the Great White Way—better known to the rest of mankind as Broadway! I hope to share my passion for music theatre with everyone in engineering, especially some shows that may be lesser known, or better yet, get you hooked on the catchiness of showtunes or obsessed with their reflection of certain parts of reality. Last time, I took you behind the scenes of Hamilton: An American Musical to honour the premiere of Hamilton’s America. This issue, we’ll be visiting what I think is a really upbeat musical, which I hope will motivate you as you start preparing for finals and inspire you to appreciate “the most beautiful thing in the world” (whatever it may be, in your perspective).
Welcome to the world of Lola through the lens of Kinky Boots. This show was based on the 2005 film of the same name by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth, which was based on a true story. Cyndi Lauper wrote the lyrics and music, while the story was written by Harvey Fierstein.
The Kinky Boots story follows the protagonist Charlie Price, who inherits a nearly bankrupt shoe factory called Price & Sons from his aged father, who suddenly passed away. In order to save the business and preserve his family’s legacy, he forms an unlikely partnership with cabaret performer and drag queen Lola. Their only hope of saving Price & Sons is to show off a unique design at a prestigious footwear show in Milan: what they refer to as “kinky boots”, since—according to Lola—“the sex is in the heel”.
The intriguing thing about Kinky Boots is that it isn’t the type of musical that typically draws my attention. However, I will admit that its name was the first thing that caught my eye. I also greatly appreciate art that reflects reality — especially when it is based on historical events — so I immediately gave it a shot when I learned that it was based on the true events behind the near closure of W.J. Brooks Ltd., a family-controlled shoe factory in Northamptonshire that was saved by Steve Pateman.
Besides Lauper’s intention to preach sexual tolerance in an uplifting fashion, it also touches upon other issues that may hit home for a lot of us.
For example, some of us may study engineering for the sake of carrying on the family legacy or in the hopes of starting one—much like how Charlie gives up his dream of the glamourous London city life and returning to Northampton to save his family’s company. Let’s admit it: engineering isn’t easy, and being proud of continuing or beginning upholding the family honour in engineering is admirable.
The partnership and eventual friendship between Charlie and Lola is interesting to watch develop, too. As different as they were on the surface, through their duet “Not My Father’s Son”, they learn that they are facing similar situations. Both of their fathers had very different expectations of them and did not approve of their life choices. For me, as important as it is to have my parents’ approval for everything that I do, it is important to recognize the numerous differences in our philosophies which stems from the difference in age, having grown up in a dissimilar era, and having been raised in North America versus Asia. However, with sufficient communication (or in the case of Broadway, singing—obviously!), we can at the very least understand, accept, and appreciate our differences in perspective.
That’s it for now! I hope that you give Kinky Boots a shot and are hyped by its hopeful messages.
As for this column…well, I’m back on a school term in Winter 2017. I definitely want to continue this column; however, I may tackle it from a different light. Instead of exploring a different musical each issue, I might tackle some musical history, composers who have made significant contributions to Broadway, etc.
Thank you for having followed Discover Broadway for a semester! I hope that you fell in love with at least one of the four shows that I brought into the spotlight.
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