As part of the arts curriculum, the junior class was given the opportunity to see “Kinky Boots” at Olney Theater Center on March 9, a show that celebrates drag like no other. 

“Kinky Boots” is a musical which centers around Charlie Price, a man who has recently taken over his family’s failing shoe business. Price does not know how to save the business until he meets Lola, a drag queen with a broken shoe. Charlie and Lola’s tale is a story of drag, family and acceptance. 

This production was all around a masterpiece, but one thing that truly stood out was the actors’ chemistry with one another. It was almost palpable, the connections you could see between the different characters. Bringing a fictitious connection to life is a difficult task, and the actors made it look like a breeze. 

Something else that was done exceptionally well by the set designers at Olney Theater Center was the transformative nature of the set. For any smaller scale production, building a set can be extremely difficult because of budget restrictions, but Olney Theater found a great solution. The set was able to go from being the shoe factory to Lola’s club, a flat in London and even more. 

They were able to do this through manipulating lights and set pieces, such as turning all the lights pink in the club scenes and moving the stairs together to make them look like a doorway. 

The show was well received by the students, including junior Dalia Greenblum. 

“My favorite part was the drag queens dancing because it was really entertaining and they were really good,” Greenblum said.

The choreography done by Tara Jeanne Vallee was very original and required the dancers to take up space and truly perform. She mixed classic musical theater dance with “voguing” and other styles of dance historically associated with drag. 

Another aspect of this show that impressed was their costume design. Each outfit told the character’s story and it was clear they had been chosen with care. Not to mention the absolute drama brought with the excess of glitter and sequins that littered the shoes, making everyone shine. 

This show, while really only appropriate for a PG-13 crowd, is a great story about finding your passions and loving your neighbors. The Olney Theater cast does an amazing job at giving the performance of a lifetime.