BW’s ‘Kinky Boots’ charts own path

“Everybody say yeah” because Baldwin Wallace University is kicking up its heels this month with the academic premiere of the six-time Tony Award-winning musical “Kinky Boots.”

This premiere diverges from the Broadway production by director and choreographer, Jerry Mitchell.

“It’s different than what was done on Broadway. It’s reimagined in some ways, and it’s definitely fresh,” said Gordia Hayes, junior music theater major, who will be taking on the role of Lola. “We had to set the bar since we’re going to be the first school to do it and other schools are going to soon follow, so we really had to bring out all the stops.”

“Kinky Boots” follows Charlie Price, who inherits his father’s shoe factory at a time when business is not going well. He meets Lola, a fashionable and fabulous entertainer, who is in need of sturdy heels to keep her going. Through their newly minted relationship, Charlie realizes that Lola may be the perfect person to help him, not only with his failing shoe factory, but to discover who he is inside. The BW music theatre website states, “when you change your mind about someone, you can your whole world.”

The show features music and lyrics by Tony and Grammy-Award winner Cyndi Lauper and book by Harvey Fierstein based on the film “Kinky Boots.”

“There is a lot of support coming from all over: the BW community, the Berea community and the music theatre community around the country,” said Hayes. “Music theatre students at other universities are buzzing about this and making plans to come support their fellow performers and friends during the two-week run of the show.”

The show is double cast for the principal characters. The Lola Cast features Nick Drake as Lola, Charlie H. Ray as Charlie, Nadina Hassan as Nicola, Eden Mau as Pat, Lauren Tidmore as Trish and Kailey Boyle as Lauren. The Charlie Cast features Gordia Hayes as Lola, Andrew Faria as Charlie, Caroline Didelot as Nicola, Eden Mau as Pat, Lauren Tidmore as Trish and Sydney Howard as Lauren.

The Lola Cast performs Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. The Charlie Cast performs Thursday and Sunday.

“In today’s day and age, it’s a super important story to hear and is a super important message,” said junior Nick Cortazzo.

The BW production is directed by Victoria Bussert with choreography by Gregory Daniels and music direction by Matthew Webb. Beth Burrier is associate music director.

Performances run Nov. 12-Nov. 24 at the Mainstage. Tickets are going fast with only wheelchair accessible seats available for six of the performances.

Students are able to get discounted tickets at $15 with a valid student ID. Tickets are at the Kleist box office or online.