After a two year postponement due to covid restrictions we are delighted to finally bring this new musical to Northern Ireland. BDG return to the Riverside Theatre with the Northern Ireland Premiere of KINKY BOOTS – the freshest, most fabulous, feel-good musical of the decade.
KINKY BOOTS will run from Friday 26 May until Saturday 10 June
at the Riverside Theatre, Coleraine.
In January 2021 Ballywillan Drama Group were scheduled to stage the musical KINKY BOOTS in the Riverside Theatre, Coleraine. All of a sudden Covid put a stop to that, and most everything else in the world, as the battle to beat the disease raged on.
Now, nearly two and a half years later, KINKY BOOTS is ready to be unleashed onto an unsuspecting public! Finally Ballywillan can show their audiences just what has been “bottled up” during those lost years – a wonderful Northern Ireland Premiere of the freshest, most fabulous, feel-good musical of the decade.
The musical has music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper and script by Harvey Fierstein. Based on the 2005 British film of the same name, and mostly inspired by true events, the musical tells the story of a certain Charlie Price, who, having inherited the almost bankrupt Northampton shoe factory from his father, forms an unlikely partnership with cabaret performer and drag queen, Lola, in order to produce a line of high-heeled boots to save the business.
The heart warming script reinforces the musical’s main message – do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It’s not a show all about drag queens. It’s a show about acceptance and love. Charlie’s story is just as important as Lola’s. In the process, Charlie and Lola discover that they are not so different after all.
The musical premiered on Broadway in 2013 before transferring across the Atlantic to open at the Adelphi Theatre, London on 15 September 2015. It played to capacity audiences for over 1400 performances before closing on 19 January 2019.
Along its journey the show garnered many awards including Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Original Score and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical.
How do you bring the grandeur of that London show to a much smaller theatre that is the Riverside Theatre? Answer: with an ingenious mix of traditional scenery and the most up-to-date digital scenery available. In conjunction with American company ‘Broadway Media’ the clever, moving projections will transport the audiences from location to location in a continuous and imaginative way.
The absolutely fabulous costumes, iconic to this musical, have been designed and made by Ewan Campbell of Utopia Costumes in Scotland. They have to be seen to be believed! And what about those famous boots? Well, they have been handmade by the firm who designed and made the boots for the original London production – what a coup, and again, you really have to see them!
A superb cast has been assembled (the majority of whom were put in place way back in 2020!), with the show featuring Alan McClarty as Lola, Adam Goudy as Charlie Price, Chloe Freeman-Wallace as Lauren and Stevie Black as Don. They are supported by Lindsay Nelson, Jim Everett, Una Culkin, Vicki Hogg, Patrick Connor, Clare Campbell and many other familiar Ballywillan faces making up a forty strong company.
Another treat for audiences are the ‘Angels’. These are six drag queens who appear with Lola in her cabaret club. These queens are wonderfully played by six of the group’s most talented young men. For each performance they must undertake a two hour long metamorphosis by makeup artistes, hair and wig stylists and costume teams as these men are transformed into six beautiful ‘ladies’.
Ballywillan Drama Group are grateful for the financial support of HSBC and SPECSAVERS, Coleraine, in staging KINKY BOOTS. Their help, and that of other financial supporters, is so important in bringing the Northern Ireland public such great shows.
Booking is underway and the show is selling well. There are sixteen performances from Friday 26 May to Saturday 10 June in the Riverside Theatre, Coleraine. Various ticket pricing options are available. Book online at www. riversidetheatre.org.uk or telephone the box office on 028 123 123.
Booking is Now Open at www.riversidetheatre.org.uk
KINKY BOOTS IS PRESENTED IN ASSIOCATION WITH HSBC UK & SPECSAVERS COLERAINE
