Two very popular shows that both won Tony Awards as Best Musical close today, April 7, on Broadway. Kinky Boots and The Band’s Visit both won Tony Awards as Best Musical for their respective years of eligibility (2013 and 2018).
Kinky Boots first opened at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in March 2013. As it closes, there have been over 2,500 performances. The Band’s Visit at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre opened October 2017. There have been over 550 performances.
Enjoyed seeing both shows
I was fortunate in getting to see both shows and I enjoyed them a lot. When I saw The Bands Visit last month, I was very impressed by the simplicity of the production. The story line had a well developed but simple edge to it. The characters were not one dimensional. They had multiple parts to them but they weren’t so complex that one had to pour over them to see what was occurring. The joy of music and how it unites all peoples was a great theme. I also liked the mix of music and was especially impressed with the Middle Eastern sounds that made up a lot of the score. Katrina Lenk as Dina and Sasson Gabay as Tewfig did a fabulous job along with the entire cast.
My first time seeing Kinky Boots was early in the run when Tony Award Winner Billy Porter played the lead as Lola. Stark Sands played Charlie with Annaleigh Ashford as Lauren and Lena Hall as Nicola. The entire cast was fabulous as they acted out the story written by Harvey Fierstein and performed songs written by Cyndi Lauper. They were filled with energy and enthusiasm and I left the show on a positive high very certain that Broadway had a new hit. And it did.
Wanting to see it one more time, I was able to get a last minute ticket this weekend. This time I saw J. Harrison Ghee as Lola and Andy Kelso as Charlie. Carrie St. Louis played Lauren and Caroline Bowman played Nicola. It was a nice surprise to see many of the original cast still in it like Daniel Stewart Sherman as Don, Adinah Alexander as the Milan Stage Manager, and Joey Taranto as the Angel who also belts out “In this Corner.” I enjoyed the show just as much maybe even more this time. When you have some familiarity with the story, you can sit back and take it all in. And I did and said “This is perfection.” Everything about this show just shines and I don’t mean just the costumes. It was a total joy to see again.
As a theater writer and tour guide in the area, I get asked a lot for what shows I might recommend seeing. Kinky Boots was one of those I recommended many times over the past few years. Sure, there are some higher ideas at work there like accepting people for who they are. And I know that loads of people who saw this show got that too. But it is also a lot of fun to see. You leave the theater with a positive and happy glow! I was starting to include The Band’s Visit on my suggested see list too. If it wasn’t closing, it would have been a big one on my list to suggest this summer.
What no one really knows is how often over the past six years I walked past the Hirschfeld Theatre. Even if I had no reason to be on that street, there was just something so appealing about that Kinky Boots sign hanging over the entrance that would draw me down W. 44th St. I often stopped to look at the banners that hung outside the theater. It was fun to see the faces of the cast changing and equally fun to think back to how much I enjoyed the show.
Shows open and close on Broadway all the time, but when two of this caliber close on the same day it is a loss to the Broadway Neighborhood. Both have themes that are very relevant to the times we live in. Both are well done productions with music that has you humming as you come out.
Thanks for so many great performances Kinky Boots and The Band’s Visit!
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