Review: Kinky Boots (Touring)

Tuesday, 20th May 2025 at Leeds Grand Theatre

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Kinky Boots is back! This latest production from director Nikolai Foster delivers on all the fun-loving, sassy wholesomeness we’ve come to love about this show, and offers some refreshing takes on central characters.

In brief: the show covers a failing small town shoe factory and a mission to save it, throwing together an unlikely pair seeking to cater to the “niche market” of sturdy-yet-fabulous boots for drag queens. Fun, right? But with drama, of course – livelihoods and open mindedness are on the line after all! 

Book by Harvey Fierstein is full of expertly intertwining comedy and drama, brilliantly complemented by music and Lyrics from Cyndi Lauper (Musical supervisor George Dyer; original Broadway arrangements and orchestrations Stephen Oremus). The ballads pull the heartstrings and the bops get toes tapping, culminating in the uplifting acceptance anthem “Just Be”.

Johannes Radebe is our star: the fabulous Lola – oozing untouchable confidence but harbouring a faltering inner self beneath the dazzling drag. Radebe (obviously) impresses with plenty of attitude to his movement (Choreographer: Leah Hill) and a general sense of poise and powerful presence – it’s a pretty magnetic take on the role. 

Handling the “bops” nicely, from “The Land of Lola”, and “Sex is in the Heel” to “What a Woman Wants”, there’s real relish to be found in Radebe’s performance, backed by Lola’s “Angels” from the club (Ru Fisher, Kofi Dennis, Liam McEvoy, Ashley-Jordon Packer and Ben Middleton). But there’s less focus on high powered belting of those cornerstone ballads “I’m Not My Father’s Son” and “Hold Me in Your Arms”, which I did miss, as there’s a lot of untapped power nestling in those numbers. That said, there’s a softer, more sentimental side to be found through this gentler delivery, finding fresh ground with the role.

Dan Partridge is an energetic Charlie Price, and a fitting counterpart to Lola – while Radebe brings greater softness to Lola, Partridge brings a greater darkness to the conflict between them, and to Charlie’s angst too. It’s with Partridge and Courtney Bowman that we find our top belters, with Bowman’s “The History of the Wrong Guys” being the vocal highlight and Partridge’s “Soul of a Man” landing both pipes and pathos. And aside from the pipes, Bowman in particular gives a masterclass in balancing the straight-talking, no nonsense whip cracker with the lorn-lorn dweeb as Lauren.

The impatient girlfriend Nicola is given some grit by Kara Lily Hayworth while Joe Cafrey is a classically gruff nay-sayer as Don and George is given a surprising and wonderful revamp through Scott Page’s increasingly flamboyant take on the role.

If you’re after a great night of fun and uplifting entertainment, you can’t go far wrong with Kinky Boots!

Kinky Boots is at Leeds Grand Theatre until May 24th 2025 – more information and tickets can be found here.