Things are getting kinky over in Cerritos as 3-D Theatricals treats SoCal audiences to a sensational first L.A. regional staging of the crowd-pleasing, transformative, emotional-punch-packing 2013 Tony–winning Best Musical Kinky Boots.

Like the 2005 British movie on which it is based, Kinky Boots The Musical recounts the true-story-inspired tale of a couldn’t-be-odder couple of 20something English lads: straight-laced Charlie (Lukas Poost), owner of a floundering Northhampton shoe factory he has just inherited from his recently deceased father, and flamboyant drag queen Lola né Simon (Cornelius Jones, Jr.), whose need for a stiletto heel strong enough to support a fully-grown man-in-sequins provides Charlie with an idea that might just give the family business new life.

Also along for the ride are factory workers Lauren (Emily Goglia), who’s got an eye for her new boss; George (Jeff Skowron), who’s been Charlie’s father’s right-hand-man for years; and Don (Javier Garcia), a mountainous bloke with homophobic dislike for men in drag.

Most eye-catching of all are Lola’s “Angels,” a sextet of the curviest, leggiest men-in-drag to light up a Broadway stage since La Cage Aux Folles’s Les Cagelles debuted exactly three decades before.

Proving that coming-of-age stories can extend well into a character’s twenties, Kinky Boots follows its mismatched heroes on their parallel paths to true adulthood, demonstrating along that way that you don’t have to be manly to be a man. You simply need to accept others for who they are, something more easily imagined than done.

Book writer Harvey Fierstein (Tony-nominated for Kinky Boots) knows a thing or two about drag, and his latest hero(ine)-in-spangles joins Torch Song’ Trilogy’s Arnold and La Cage Aux Folles’s Albin in three-dimensional, six-inch-stilettoed fabulousness as pop legend Cyndi Lauper serves up a dozen or so of her instantly infectious songs.

Back in December of 2014 I wrote, “With Kinky Boots still going strong on Broadway and its National Tour running through at least the next year, it will likely be a good long while before any local theater gets its hands on the show’s regional rights,” and indeed it’s taken over five years for 3-D Theatricals to finally be granted permission to stage the show.

Audiences who’ve seen Kinky Boots in its previous incarnations probably won’t notice anything all that different at first glance given the production’s original Broadway sets, costumes, and wigs, nor does this give John Tartaglia much chance to show off directorial ingenuity unlike choreographer Linda Love Simmons, who does get to do her own fresh new thing, particularly when the Angels take spectacular flight.

What director Tartaglia has been able to do with an almost entirely L.A.-based cast to rival their New York/National Touring predecessors is to elicit one fresh character take after another in a series of richly-layered, profoundly human performances.

Leading man Poost possesses that indefinable likeability factor that makes him the perfect Charlie, particularly when our young hero’s innate goodness temporarily fails him, and his vocals are as gorgeous and soaring as they get.

Jones’ petite dynamo of a Lola is fierce, defiant, wounded, resilient, and utterly fabulous throughout, and like Poost’s “Soul Of A Man,” Jones’ “Land of Lola,” “Not My Father’s Son” (duetted with his co-star) and “Hold Me In Your Heart” are guaranteed to provoke shivers and even a tear or two.

Goglia gives Lauren plenty of feisty, girl-next-door appeal while belting high notes to the rafters; the uber-versatile Skowron adds the punctilious, perhaps not-so-straight George to his lengthy resume; Garcia’s big burly Don proves that even the narrowest mind can widen; Dayna Sauble makes Charlie’s London-obsessed fiancée Nicola something deeper than just a self-serving meanie; and glamazons Eric Stanton Betts, dance captain Jake DuPree, Callum Guger, Gerry Kenneth, Christopher Mosely, and Rodrigo Varandas (who doubles as a high-note belting Announcer) are all six leggy, luscious, high-kicking, acrobatic dance whizzes in stiletto heels no less.

Sia Arvinger, Candice Rochelle Berge (Pat), Chris Bey, Chris Bona, Zach Fogel (Richard Bailey), Cameron Gilliam (Harry), Ceron Jones (Simon, Sr.), Candi Milo (Trish and a hilariously high-strung, Italian-spouting Milan Stage Manager), fight captain Guy Noland (Mr. Price), Simmons, and Molly Stiliens perform with abundant versatility, virtuosity, and pizzazz, and child performers Matthew Carl Garcia and Myles A. Carr give Young Charlie and Young Lola both charm and spunk.

Gregg Barnes’ sparkly, spangly, Tony-nominated costumes feature the most to-die-for boots you have ever seen in your life, David Rockwell’s Tony-nominated scenic design goes from splendid to spectacular, Josh Marquette’s wigs range from factory-worker awful to drag queen glamour and glitz, and local designers Jack Hayback (sound), Denice Paxton (makeup), and Jean-Yves Tessier match their Broadway counterparts every step of the way.

Last but definitely not least, music director/conductor Benet Braun and his Los Angeles Musicians Collective orchestra provide pitch-perfect backup throughout, and Caitlin Mulder scores points for some spot-on dialect coaching,

Vernon Willet is production stage manager and Terry Hanrahan is assistant stage manager. Hannah Jean Simmons is associate choreographer.

Additional production credits are shared by Amber Snead (casting), John Shivers (original sound effects), Kathy Fabian (original prop design), and Melanie Cavaness and Gretchen Morales (prop coordination).

Now that Kinky Boots has closed on Broadway after a whopping 2500+ performances and its 2nd National Tour has shut down shop, audiences can expect regional theaters to jump on the rights to this bona fide crowd-pleaser. First at the starting gate, 3-D Theatricals’ Kinky Boots gets everything right.

Cerritos Center For The Performing Arts, 12700 Center Ct Dr S, Cerritos.
www.3dtshows.org

–Steven Stanley
February 15, 2020
Photos: Caught in the Moment Photography

Tags: 3-D Theatricals, Cerritos Center For The Performing Arts, Cyndi Lauper, Harvey Fierstein, Los Angeles Theater Review