‘Kinky Boots’ Kicks Up Its Heels at the Granada

In the late 1990s, a shoe-factory owner from northern Britain named Steve Pateman was struggling to save his family business from closing. To rescue it, he went out on a wild limb and decided to make fetish footwear for men, calling his new line Divine Footwear. It was such a delightful tale that in 2005 the story of Pateman’s endeavor was captured on celluloid in the semi-fictionalized Kinky Boots. By 2013, Kinky Boots had found its way to Broadway, with a Tony Award-winning musical score by Cyndi Lauper.

Of the production, New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley summed it up well when he wrote, “Like The Full Monty, and Billy Elliot the Musical, it is set in a hard-times British factory town, where jobs are in jeopardy and spirits need lifting. Lik eLa Cageaux Folles and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, it presents drag queens as the show’s official spirit lifters. And like Hairspray, the musical this production most resembles in tone, Kinky Boots is about finding your passion, overcoming prejudice and transcending stereotypes.”

Santa Barbarans have the opportunity to see the critically acclaimed musical when Theater League brings the touring production of Kinky Boots to town next week for a two-night run Tuesday-Wednesday, February 20-21, 7:30p.m., at The Granada Theatre (1214 State St.). Call 899-2222 or see granadasb.org.