‘Kinky Boots’ strutting onto Theatre Cedar Rapids stage

CEDAR RAPIDS — After a nearly two-year delay, “Kinky Boots” is finally getting to kick up its heels on the Theatre Cedar Rapids stage, from Feb. 11 to March 6.

The Broadway version swept up six 2013 Tony Awards, including best musical, best original score for pop icon Cyndi Lauper and best actor for Billy Porter, which rocketed him to superstardom.

With a Tony-nominated book by Harvey Fierstein, it’s the story of two men from very different worlds who team up to save a failing shoe factory and drag queens’ feet, through a revolutionary new line of boots. Along the way, the common ground they find will transform their lives and bring together the separate realms in which they walk and work.

Theatre Cedar Rapids just happened to know someone who could step into Porter’s celebrated shoes as Lola, so in 2019, the production team reached out to Cameron Byrd of Cedar Rapids, to audition.

If you go

What: “Kinky Boots”

Where: Theatre Cedar Rapids, 102 Third St. SE

When: Friday, Feb. 11, to March 6, 2022; 7:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday

Tickets: $22 to $52, TCR Box Office, (319) 366-8591 or theatrecr.org

COVID protocols: Masks mandatory; see more at theatrecr.org/visitor_guidelines

"We talked to him, he sang for us — we knew he was the best drag queen in town for this kind of performance,“ director Lisa Kelly said. ”He's done so many musicals. He’s both a drag queen and musical theater performer that’s really good. So we knew he was our first choice, if he could do it.“

She said that because nobody has a vocal range like Porter’s, they had to make sure Byrd could handle the vocals.

“We did have to make sure that would work,” Kelly said. ”We did transpose some things, but it definitely works.“

Byrd also has become a drag coordinator for the show, working with the other drag characters, known as the Angels, giving them makeup, clothing and high heel tutorials for theater drag — a modified version that doesn’t travel the full path to hip pads and four-hour makeup sessions Byrd uses when performing as his drag persona, Nevae Love.

Getting the actors physically comfortable in heels, wigs and drag dress was one of the show’s challenges.

“The Angels are all very new to drag, so helping them learn how to both move and dance in drag” took some time, instruction and commitment, Kelly said. “We had to have them in boots and heels right from the beginning, because if they learned (their movements) in flat shoes, it would have been even harder to get them up on heels.”

Even the shoemaker dons a pair of boots along the way, which presented a learning curve for Will Adams of Iowa City, who plays Charlie Price, the other male lead.

“I've never worn heels before,” said Adams, 22, a fourth-year musical theater major at the University of Iowa. “Lisa gave me a pair of practice stiletto boots over winter break, and I was walking around my college apartment probably twice, three times a week in stiletto boots, making my Easy Mac, making my ramen, making my turkey and cheese sandwiches or just walking around the apartment in them.

“There were certainly some trips, some falls, a little instability and balance, but I would say that we're at a confident point where we can walk in them, and I'm thankful for that,” he said. “A little personal rehearsal process with some boots.”

Part of that process involved going to Belle’s Basix in Cedar Rapids to see drag shows and ask the performers for advice on walking in heels.

“They're always saying, like, ‘They're going to hurt your feet, they’re going to hurt your feet.’ And it's not an easy task, but they love it, I love it,” Adams said.

“There's a different level of confidence you have when you put on a different pair of shoes, and this entire show is about shoes,” he added. “There's a really strong power in putting yourself into the shoes, be it your own or someone else's, because I think that tells the larger story. It's all about perspectives.

“That's the magic of the theater, because you have to step into someone else's shoes and tell a story.”

Art imitating life

Even though Byrd, 33, has been performing drag for eight years, he’s been walking in Lola’s boots for years — as well as the shoes of Lola’s male identity, Simon.

“This is my dream role,” Byrd said. “This is the role that I've been waiting all my life to play.”

He loves Lola’s big heart.

“Lola is fun. She has a big heart,” he said. “She's a big people person. She's had a big heart — let me say that again — she has a big heart. She also has a vulnerable side that comes to light during ‘Not My Father's Son.’ She really lets her guard down, and she doesn't do that very often, because she's always has that performance on.”

Lola and Simon are fraught with conflicts in both worlds. As that song reveals, Simon has a difficult relationship with his father. He’s also mocked by the factory workers, whether dressed as Lola or Simon. Byrd has had his share of conflicts, too, whether dressed as a man or a woman.

In the play, Lola is physically assaulted in an alley, which stops when Adams’ character, Charlie Price, steps in to break it up.

“I've been in drag and I've had people call me ‘fagot,’ ” Byrd said. “I've never been assaulted, thank God, but I have had people show their ignorance and verbally assault me,” even over the phone in his job as a customer care advocate, which he feels is because of the higher pitch of his speaking voice.

"Not My Father's Son" is Byrd’s favorite to sing in the show, where Simon sings about trying to repress what scares his father, until at last, he “felt so proud just to live out loud.”

“It speaks to me as Cameron, but obviously, it also speaks to me as Lola,” Byrd said. “I was fortunate enough to have a father who did eventually accept me. It took a little time … but he has been amazing.”

Byrd’s twin brother has seen him perform in drag, but his parents haven’t.

“They just aren't ready for that, and I understand it. I get it,” he said. “They accept me, but too much is too much, so they have not seen me in drag. I hope that one day they will.”

“Kinky Boots” may be that chance. He said his parents have seen him in plays many times, and he’s hoping that health issues won’t keep them from driving down from Waterloo to see the show.

Pandemic affect

“Kinky Boots” has a message of healing the team feels is needed after living through the pandemic and social and political unrest. The lessons of acceptance also make it a show suitable for families and audience members of all ages, Kelly noted.

“It really is a show that goes after the saying, ‘You can change the world when you change your mind,’ ” Adams said. “That's something that I've emphasized since Day One of this process, and something that I'll carry with me for the rest of my time — whether that be accepting yourself, accepting others or just making sure that you're kind to every person you meet.

“We're all in this together, and I think that's why it also reaches out to how we're living today — through a pandemic through the struggle with coming back to a society. When we've been away for so long and not being able to communicate, we might have lost some of that social network,” he added.

“It's been a very, very large passion project, but also helped me learn a lot about myself and make sure that I'm being the best person I can be every single day.”

“To add onto what Will said, I feel like we've given so much of ourselves in these past two years …,” Byrd said. “And this is a chance for us to be fed again and to be nourished again. And I'm so excited that I am able to help be that nourishment, because we need it.

“This community in this world right now is starving for something that doesn't include a pandemic. You know what I'm saying? We're starving for that right now,” he said, “and I think theater and the arts is exactly what we need to get fed again.”

Angie Toomsen, TCR’s artistic director, is excited to get the show on its feet, after initially postponing it for a few weeks, which she said was “unprecedented” for the community theater troupe. Those weeks stretched into nearly two years, which meant filling the roles from people who were no longer available to do the show in its new time slot.

It also means having a COVID compliance officer on hand to monitor cast and crew health, as well as having cast members understudy various roles in case someone has an exposure or tests positive and has to step out to isolate until it’s safe to rejoin the show.

Last summer, TCR decided to move and plan a six-show season, even with the pandemic remaining a wild card.

“We absolutely approached this season with the understanding that the unthinkable could happen at any time, because it already had,” Toomsen said. “In theater, we really live by that mantra ‘the show must go on,’ so not being able to go on was mind-boggling, but also, an opportunity to re-evaluate the way we do things.

“And so heading into this new season, we have remained committed to our values and our intent to produce the show, but also (remain) flexible enough to weather whatever circumstances arose.”

While she’ll still have the usual butterflies on opening night for “Kinky Boots,” Toomsen said it will be a celebration for her, adding:

”I just feel a great sense of pride for our team.“

Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com