And now, at last, Cyndi Lauper and company–including Broadway heavyweight Harvey Fierstein–have unveiled their musical. “Kinky Boots,” based on the 2005 movie, begins previews this weekend at the Hirschfeld Theater on 45th St. and Eighth Avenue (the Mark Hellinger to us old New Yorkers). Today, “Kinky Boots” was introduced to the press with two numbers– the cast, costumes and lighting but no orchestra. A disco number called “Sex is in the Heel” and a very hot gospel song “Everybody Say Yeah” came off pretty soundly. The songs are great, and so are the performers. Of course you can’t tell about a whole musical from two numbers.But things look very promising.
The creators had a little onstage Q&A between numbers. Cyndi was very warm and funny despite being pretty tired from tweaking “Kinky Boots.” Fierstein calls her “Christina Crawford” and she calls him “Mommy.” They all talked about how director Jerry Mitchell asked Cyndi for a couple of specific songs. “And I wrote them,” she said, “I do what I’m told.” She also wrote from the heart, as Cyndi does, as the characters’ back stories were deepened and fleshed out. She sang — a capella– a little of one called “I’m Not My Father”– which sounds wonderful.
You know, Cyndi Lauper is a great songwriter, so can expect some surprising and smart stuff when the rest of the material debuts this weekend. Here’s a song of of hers I’ve always liked:
