Kinky Boots on March Run

I’m sure some of you haven’t seen KINKY BOOTS yet and the last time I wrote about it I warned you that you’ll miss half of your life. The musical is great, undeniably one of the best I’ve seen in a while and I’m betting half my shoe collection you’ll love this too. They’re getting a re-run this March 2-18, only 12 shows so this is a limited run. We had coffee with the cast this afternoon.

Nyoy excitedly tells us “There is less pressure now that we know it worked the first time. We now focus on small things, to improve. You don’t get to do this often, but in the rerun you can apply what you feel should make a difference. There’s this thing that you look at here, small things you won’t notice but you’ll feel it’s different, it brings as a different dimension. If we had a moment to share, we experience it because she’s there. The fact that we have done this before, you are conscious and add small details. I was scared to actually do it wrong, it’s not just acting because you represent a society that is under represented, I didn’t want to offend people up until I got to do it on stage and people saw it. I am friends with a lot of LGBT and I want to do it in the nicest way possible. It’s so easy to take it to a comical place but he doesn’t do that, there’s heart to Lola, not just a drag queen and make them human. If you don’t care and just do it, that’s where you lose the heart. You are sympathetic and emphatic, I just wanted it to be funny. Physically it’s hard, the rehearsal process took us there. Dancing, singing, we had to do it until it’s like second nature. Just getting as much information, material, because of schedule conflicts we are going to have new faces. Bibo Reyes, Nelsito Gomez, Mica Fajardo, Emeline Celis-Guinid, you’ll see more and people are hand picked and they pickup fast. You either pickup or get left behind because prior to it we rehearsed for a month. This time the new ones will rehearse it for 2 weeks. Sink or swim in Atlantis. For someone to do this with passion, you thrive and it will help you work anywhere. I am very proud of it, the message that it has and the heart that comes with it. It’s a nice message behind the spectacle, you will see it one way or another. It’s one of those things where you have to be there to feel it.”

Nyoy’s wife Mikkie Bradshaw is also here and she laments “Working together is the best thing that happened, we go to work at the same time and we carpool. We enjoyed it, we go to dinner, we go home to see each other and don’t have to do much. He can be a little stubborn but there’s more good than that. We are just playing and we enjoy this together. When Sophie saw it, she was obsessed with the Angels and it’s her favorite. She’s also in Chittychittybangbang and she has valued this work because she’s around and she’s aware of the musical and she loved it. She says it’s nice to know you can be yourselves and she saw it on stage. We want our daughter to be a vessel of love and acceptance. I’m looking for my big solo, it’s one of those numbers where you can play around with it. It’s open for interpretation. The skills you learn in Atlantis can take you into any arena, a lot of credit will go to them.”

One of the angels Ritz Beltran who is also the assistant choreographer says “Working is different but if you are doing what you love, you get to bond with artists, the production and even if it’s a first time, I love it. We didn’t have names for the characters or background but it was our assignment and we really talked about it and how Lola discovered us.”

Here’s a snippet of what happened earlier:

Again this is going to happen on March 2-18, and is under Atlantis Productions. Please watch it because it’s real good.

KUMAGCOW

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5 Reasons Why You Should Watch KINKY BOOTS

What? You haven't seen it? Are you crazy? Oh man, you must have been living under a rock. 

Have you heard of Kinky Boots? It's that successful Broadway musical with music and lyrics done by Cyndi Lauper and based on a book by Harvey Fierstein. Those names along could have already convinced me to watch it, but man, this show was given a Tony Award for Best Musical, Best Choreography and Best Original Score - and yes an Olivier award too. 

I watched it last Saturday and if you haven't scored tickets yet, you better do. I'm here to tell you 5 reasons why you should watch the Manila staging of KINKY BOOTS. Are you ready?

1.  The stellar CAST - If you haven't seen the cast yet it includes singer, songwriter Nyoy Volante, and the good looking guy Laurence Mossman who was also part of the cast of Fun Home (wherein Lea Salonga was also in). Yanah Laurel (lets not call her Franco Laurel's baby sister) did a super great job doing a love strucked assistant of Charlie Price (heck she's so good I waited for her character to blossom, and she did get there). Tricia Canilao (albeit a veteran doing Cosette of Les Miserables and lead of Miss Saigon, was good, but could hopefully improve more her portrayal of Nicola i.e. accent delivery "(I'm really sorry I had to say that, but fwiw it was negligible)" ) plays Nicola (Price's fiance) who will have issues with his man who wants to achieve his dreams. It's so good you would want to know more of the characters, especially Jamie Wilson who played Don in the musical. We laughed with him in the beginning, we hated him in the middle, but he was so good at the end of the show. 

2. The LOVE angles - If you think this was only a musical with trans women dancing around, that's the wrong notion. Each had a story, a reason why they were there and why they are doing it. They saved people with their talent, you'll know about it when you watch the show. You'll see love, racism, and how it has also affected their lives. I love how they put that into the story and how it will teach the audience about it. Then ask yourself, will I go to my passion? Or be a slave of marriage? What are your priorities?

3. Exceptional CHOREOGRAPHY - You won't be able to hide your feelings, you really can't help but see yourself tapping your feet along the beat, then stand up and dance because it's okay... the rest of the audience will be doing that too. Kudos to the Angels who not only danced to the music, they completely obliterated it! If it was a dance off, they'd win that in a heartbeat. You'll be seeing splits and drop dead moves you've never seen before on theater. It would look like they've been doing it for ages, and that takes a lot. For that alone, you should definitely see this musical.

4.  Super Good RUNS - Not that I don't believe that Nyoy Volante is capable, I know he is. But KINKY BOOTS had him do it with complete dance numbers that would probably put any professional singer lose their breath. It required them to do it that long, like a piece in a concert, a medley at that. I was literally tired for him after that number, but again you've got to watch it on the second part of the show. 

5.  The KINKY BOOTS - You will know how these Kinky Boots saved a lot of lives. It will also open a lot of skeletons in the closet, discuss how what you think you should do for yourself or for other people. It will teach you how to be selfless, to find yourself and eventually how you can connect that thought with the dream of making the perfect pair of shoes by making it sexy. Nyoy Volante must have felt this was a dream, he was giving it his all and I could feel it from the audience. You will too. 

To give you a taste of what to expect in the first part of the musical, Nyoy Volante gave the people over at SHOWTIME a taste of LOLA. You'll love her for sure in Kinky Boots!

Oh and for the ladies or those who haven't decided yet, Laurence Mossman is more than eye candy. He's like a motor run on diesel, he gets better as the show progresses and I'm sure you'll love him too. Now it's not good that you're just hearing or reading these things on this blog, you've got to experience it for yourself. Wear the boots while you're at it and enjoy the show with friends, family, or your special someone. It's worth every cent!

You can buy tickets at Ticketworld here or at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium at the RCBC Tower. They've got small counters there selling tickets. You can thank me later if you loved the show. You should definitely enjoy it because I did!