Johannes Radebe Dazzles in Kinky Boots at Newcastle Theatre Royal
Kinky Boots has strutted back into Newcastle Theatre Royal
After inheriting his family’s failing shoe factory Charlie Price is facing more than one challenge in his life, until he meets Lola, a drag queen who might just be able to help him save the business. As a huge fan of the 2005 film starring Nick Frost and Bradford-born Sarah-Jane Potts, and an even bigger fan of Strictly Come Dancing, of course I couldn’t miss this brand-new production of Kinky Boots starring the superbly talented Johannes Radebe.
It seems many more of the audience members felt the same. When Johannes made his grand entrance as Lola his first line was drowned out by cheers and applause. The Tony and Grammy winning music and lyrics in this musical are from the mind of pop icon Cyndi Lauper, and you can tell. Our highlight is Sex Is In The Heel, when Johannes dazzles us with his dance moves. He commands the stage and has the audience in the palm of his hand scene after scene. That’s unsurprising of course – he’s a Strictly pro. But his talents don’t stop there. Lola, in this musical, is an all-singing, all-dancing, all-dominating character and Johannes doesn’t disappoint. He’s made for this role, and you can tell how much he cares about it.
But this doesn’t take away from the rest of the cast, who match him in his charisma… uniqueness, nerve and talent… (one for the RuPaul's Drag Race fans). Courtney Bowman brings heaps of humour to the character of Lauren as she belts out The History of Wrong Guys, and Johannes and Dan Partridge (as Charlie) have great chemistry on stage, most noticeably in their heart-wrenching performance of I’m Not My Father’s Son. A shout out also to Scott Paige who has the audience in fits of laughter, and plays George with so much enthusiasm.
Lola’s entourage of drag queens continue to impress in act two, but despite being blown away by Lola’s stunning outfits, hair and makeup (and how quickly Johannes changes in and out of them) we just can’t wait for him to don the famous boots. Before that though Dan throws all his emotion into a powerful rendition of Soul of a Man. Woven throughout the comedy and fabulous dance numbers is lots of this raw emotion and Kinky Boots raises many important topics which remain relevant to audiences today. Supporting these emotional moments are Young Charlie (Lonan Johnson) and Young Lola (Lawrence Ndola-Myers) who shadow their adult selves as they move around the stage.
The musical’s set is clever and changes seamlessly. We particularly love how at some points there’s a stage within a stage, and then a catwalk. By the time we reach the fashion show and the final two numbers, Raise You Up and Just Be, the atmosphere in Newcastle Theatre Royal is buzzing, and audience members are already on their feet clapping along. When Johannes takes his final bow, I participate in what I think might be the loudest applause I’ve ever heard in this theatre. An LGBT pride flag is laid on the stage as the audience head out onto Grey Street – a reminder of the importance of this powerful story about acceptance.
