The Restricted Review: February 2025

(Rated 5/5) If my memory serves me well – it often doesn’t 😉 – the 2005 film ‘Kinky Boots’ was my first encounter with one of my favourite actors of all time – Chiwetel Ejiofor. I was blown away by his portrayal of drag queen Lola – in playing her (and her alter ego) he expressed his wide acting range all in one role. I’ve never been disappointed by him since. Someone else who has never disappointed, and just like Chiwetel, continues to move me every time I see him, is Strictly dancer Johannes Radebe. In his first celebrity encounter on Strictly – partnered with Catherine Tyldesley – he showed me and all Strictly fans, what a beautifully expressive emotional human he is; capable of incredibly loving, nurturing, holding relationships producing the best from others, and at that stage possessing a wide dancing range from Afrobeats to Ballroom, and much in between. It was in that relationship with Catherine, that she or he, or maybe them both together, had the dream of Jojo on stage as Lola. The perfect role for him!!!

Kinky Boots is based on a true story. The son (Charlie) of a shoe factory owner meets a drag queen (Lola). Charlie’s father dies and the son discovers the factory is not doing well at all. How to save the factory – they need a niche? That niche becomes boots for drag queens with Lola invited to design them. So lovely and moving in itself. But, in this musical version as Johannes explained it’s even more a story of fathers and sons and the potential joys and challenges of those relationships. And, knowing Jojo’s own story and relationship with his father, he lends so much of his own experience and story to Lola.

Another draw to this musical version for me is that Cyndi Lauper wrote the music and lyrics. Within each song there is so much depth and joy or angst and, in some cases, powerful stream of consciousness processing – especially in ‘I’m not my father’s son’ – a duet sung by Lola and Charlie. And my goodness, Jojo has really extended his performance range adding singing and acting – both really coming along a treat. Yet I would have a few miniscule notes for him at this stage if I’m honest: Some fiddling with Lola’s wigs – though maybe that was a choice? His lack of confidence as Lola’s alter ego Simon felt a little 2D somehow, though maybe hard to accept Jojo lacking in confidence! And at one stage he held up a boot covering his face so we couldn’t see the expression he was delivering to a fellow actor. BUT, given he is doing all this from nothing, it’s all just minor and I am certain he will keep shining brighter and get to the point where it all flows completely smoothly and naturally just like his dancing. It’s truly wonderful to witness him enjoying himself under the bright lights. The book is expertly written by Harvey Fierstein and the stunning set and costumes are by Robert Jones. Dan Partridge excellently plays Charlie and we feel solid and safe with him as leading man in this musical. He has clearly thoroughly embraced being Jojo’s training partner when it comes to acting and singing. Courtney Bowman is a wonderfully adorable Lauren. A brilliant cast provides expert support.

Anything Jojo feels personal to me, and so here comes the personal aspects of my experience with this show so far… and I’m certain more will follow. I would have wanted to see it more than once anyway, but through trips to Jojo’s other shows I’ve added friends along the way. This Woking experience happened so I could meet up with one of my new Jojo Pals. Two more are happening as a result of wanting to share with fellow Jojo fan friends! And an extra one in Oxford just because it’s Oxford – I’ll have to encourage someone to come with me! Very early on in planning, I decided I wanted to dress for the occasion. I acquired my own set of ‘Kinky Boots’, and without knowing anything about the costumes for the show, I combined them with a LBD (little black dress), and given it’s winter a black cardigan with red buttons. My idea was the boots need to be the stars of the outfit. Same idea as Robert Jones, who gave the whole cast each their own individual Kinky Boots with all black outfits for the finale, so those red boots shone out above everything else. I received many compliments for mine 😊 That was so much fun. Including one of the two daughters in the family I sat next to. I was several seats down from my friend, but the dad in the family chatted with me at points, and I visited my friend in the interval. She had gone to the opening night, and told me Jojo had seemed very nervous. He now seems to have relaxed more and loving the vibes of it all. Unfortunately, post-show I lost sight of my friend – we’d planned to ‘stage door’ together. I hesitated a little thinking what to do, and chose to go to find the stage door anyway. She wasn’t there, but about twenty people were, so I wasn’t waiting around on my own. A little while later – and still no Jojo – my companion in life arrived so I felt safe and that someone had my back. Silly maybe, but even with someone like Jojo, I feel nerves approaching him, or, at least, I thought I would. Some more waiting… other cast members had already come out and gone. And then dear Jojo appeared – not from out of the stage door, but it seemed from behind the tour bus. He told us his car was waiting. I imagine he’d seen us and being the lovely soul he is came to say ‘Hi’ so we wouldn’t have been waiting in vain. I stood back a bit while others got autographs and selfies, and then he looked to me. I asked if I could give him a hug – yes – so I did, and told him he’d done amazing – he replied ‘I’ve been practising really hard’. Then we kinda said ‘Take care and see you soon’, and I left for others to have their turns. It all felt so completely natural – ‘the way old friends do’ <3 <3

Of course, I am biased, BUT I genuinely couldn’t recommend ‘Kinky Boots’ enough for it’s joyous celebration of difference; its message around acceptance and learning about and from others; it therapy-ness (sorry just invented that as I can’t think of another word that fits); its fun; its laughter; its poignancy; its depth of exploration of relationships especially fathers and sons, but also around what women want and women’s relationships with women of all varieties; its music; its lyrics; its colour combatting and yet also amongst dark or greyness; its world; and its humans within that world.