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!

The Manila Staging of FUN HOME: Lea Salonga, Eric Kunze, Cris Villonco, Laurence Mossman

I was a little hesitant to actually sit down and interview the stars of this musical called "FUN HOME" which has already made waves in Broadway on it's first run and has also won countless awards, a Tony Award to say the least. Now it has already gone on it's first voyage internationally and where else but in the Philippines to stage it, with no less than the country's pride Lea Salonga as part of the cast. Fun Home talks about family relationships, coming of age, and coming out done in a few hours. It's a musical made by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori which they have adapted from Alison Bechdel's 2006 graphic memoir. We sat down with the lead star Cris Villonco and Laurence Mossman (who did 4 roles btw!) to get a glimpse of who they were trying to put forward. Alison Bechdel and her relationship with her father is pretty colorful, especially when she finds out some surprises in his sexuality too. Here's our interview with them on video:

Lea Salonga plays Helen Bechdel, pivotal to the very character of her daughter Alison. Lea says she's given Alison's character more reasons to come out, which made her stronger, decide on her own on how she would treat the family while going through the hardships of her relationships. They are also specifically asking for audiences not to bring their kids (PG13) so as not to be able to be confused on scenes on the musical about sexuality, some profanity that are expected to be heard in conversations. I guess that would probably deem normal, more so with Trump winning earlier. I kid.

Here's our interview with Lea Salonga and Eric Kunze. Both multi awarded actors, even if I was gasping for air sitting on the same table I could say they're amazing people to talk to. She also adds "I'm going to sing this AMAZING song and I'm so glad about it!"

As she mentioned, this is universal. We're all lucky we have understanding and supportive parents, but if you're put in a very awkward situation, or maybe a weird set of folks, it would probably be a pain to go through just like what Alison had to endure. I hope we Filipinos would come to learn and accept, not just tolerate whatever sexuality people may have. They have the capacity to love, be in a relationship and feel hurt, triumphant like we all do. Just give them the right to be human, that's probably what they all ask for in the first place and I think this is one avenue to explain things put in a grand ensemble like Fun Home.

This musical will be shown at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium at the 4th Floor, RCBC Plaza, Ayala Avenue corner Gil Puyat in Makati City. Tickets are now available through Ticketworld.com.ph and will have dates on November 10 up until the 27th, 2016. Show begins 8pm on Weekdays and two shows at 3pm and 8pm on Weekends.  They will only have 18 shows as this is on a limited run. Make sure you get those tickets early before it runs out! Again, no kids please!

For more information about their musical:

Fun Home

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http://www.atlantisproductionsinc.com/