Cyndi Lauper: It’s great seeing my Kinky Boots back home in London footlights

Award-winner: Cyndi Lauper with Beverley Knight after the show
Dave Benett
Alistair Foster16 September 2015
The Weekender

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Cyndi Lauper declared Kinky Boots had come home after her musical adaptation, which won six Tony awards in New York, opened in the West End.

The Grammy-winning singer wrote the music to the Broadway hit based on the true story — turned into a 2005 British film — of a doomed shoe factory in Northampton which turned its fortunes around by making footwear for drag queens.

“This is a homecoming,” Lauper, 62, told the Standard during the after- show party at the Connaught Rooms in Covent Garden, as she praised London audiences for being so accepting of drag queens.

“A lot of times we get these guys walking in and they don’t want to be there but by the end they are happy.

Kinky Boots press night

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“I was excited that people did cheer for the drag queens, because I’m a drag queen myself.”

Writer Harvey Fierstein said: “The show has something we call the happiness factor. It’s not a phoney show. It’s about things we all go through.

“The reality is it’s about our relationships with our parents and how we want their approval.”

Kinky Boots’ run in London stars Killian Donnelly, who joined the show at the Adelphi Theatre after having appeared in West End hits The Commitments and Memphis.

He revealed: “To prepare I wore high heels any opportunity I could at home and it’s amazing how comfortable you can feel in them after just a few hours.

“This is my first time having a leading man and I prefer bromances to be honest.”

His co-star Matt Henry told how the show has taken him full circle, saying: “I started off when I moved to London working at the Adelphi as an usher. Then I went to drama school and ended up in The Lion King and did various other things.

“But this is my first ever leading role in an original West End show and it’s fantastic.”

The audience last night included singer Beverley Knight, chat show host Graham Norton and diver Tom Daley.

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