Just Be! Who You Wanna Be! The Story of Kinky Boots from the Kelsey Theatre & Thank You 5 Productions

by Josh Buffington

Ladies, Gentlemen, and those who have yet to make up their minds. Walking into the Kelsey Theatre at Mercer County Community College and seeing the set for the first time made my expectations for this show even higher than expected.  The set designed by Jeff Cantor was amazing!  The amount of skill every part or the set had by adding a skywalkway and using underneath it as the stage for Lola and her Angels.  Also, the way they used the depth of the stage was very impressive, including having Charlie’s office on an elevated platform behind the entrance of the sky walkway.  

In addition to the set, as I entered I heard amazing music played by the Pit which includes; Aaron Allen, Steve Miller, Cameron Stahl, Sophia Isnardi, Brian Barber, Terry Chesnovitz, Marty Weisberg (3/21-3/23), and Laura Neville (3/28-3/30) all conducted by the incredible Sue den Outer.  The Pit all throughout the show was spectacular from every song to transition, everything was flawless.  In addition to the pit, the Pit singers were outstanding adding so much volume to each song it made me feel like it was 40 people singing when there were only a dozen.  Those incredible voices belong to Morgaine Ford-Workman, Patrick Lavery, Lisa Reifschneider, and Bill Weir.

In the beginning of the show seeing Young Charlie played by Ty Bedesem and Young Lola/Simon played by Naomi Gooden drew me into the story immediately.  The transition from Young Charlie to Old Charlie was flawless and perfectly executed.  Charlie Price played by Vinnie DiFilippo has such an amazing voice and fits the character pretty much perfectly from every song to every acting choice, all of it was great and kept the audience on their feet. Vinnie’s song in the first act “Step One” was literally jaw dropping with the singing and nearly made me want to get out of my chair to applaud.  Another song in act 1 that was amazing is “The History of Wrong Guys”.  Lauren played by Samantha Phillips was spine chilling, especially when she uses the air compressor in her hair. It was so good I thought I was watching a movie.  

We cannot forget about the astonishing Lola/Simon played by Tyron Howard and her angels played by Justin Derry, Nick Pecht, Darrell Watts, and Samuel Zdanowicz.  All of them brought so much life to the stage and ate up every single song that they performed and the beautiful costuming by Louisa Murey.  One of their notable ones being the act 1 finale “Everybody Say Yeah” which had everyone cheering at the end for it to keep going. There are so many awe-inspiring moments that described how well Tyron played Lola/Simon; her sad emotions of standing up for herself as an example. Every choice that was made was so good I started tearing up after the song “Hold Me In Your Heart”.  The mixture of lighting design by Chris Ghaffoor and the emotion Tyron Howard was singing along with Johnnie Bryant Jr. as Simon Sr. was filled with so much emotion.

Also bringing life to the stage was the amazingly talented ensemble which included; Dana Jasperelle (as Pat) who was sensational as her character, Gigi Bella (Trish) literal angel with every dance and song, Dan Slothower (George) who had amazing choices, some that I loved may have gone under the radar to some audience members, but did not while I was watching, Lori Howard (Marge) some of the best acting choices I saw in the show, D Dutko (Harry) some of the best hair I have seen, Bill Weir (Mr. Price) he played this role so perfectly acting like he was in charge of Price and Son, but also so approachable and dependable, Ed Liu (Richard Bailey) who I did not even realize was in the crew from how good he was in the show and scenes as the realtor, Johnnie Bryant Jr. (Simon Sr.) who played the best Simon Sr. I have witnessed, and most notably Sal Sciortino who played Don who was the douchiest douche Don I have ever seen play that character and I loved every moment of it.  Every single song they sang their faces off and danced their hearts out making the show so incredible that it felt like I was in the streets of South Hampton.  We also must not forget the incredible Nicola played by Jazmynn Perez who was so good at portraying the impossible.  

This show, Directed by the spectacular Laurie Gougher, Assistant Directed by Andrew Deblin and Produced by Beverly Kuo-Hamilton, was a work of art. Others who really made this possible, the rest of the crew, included; Sheilla Kraft and Simon Hamilton (Choreographers) most notably my favorite choreography was “In This Corner” during the boxing match, Sue Den Outer (Music Director), Evan Paine (Technical Director), Fabiola Bien-Aimé (Stage Manager), Miranda Williams (Props Manager) she had some very convincing props in this show and the way that the cast used them was so realistic, Chris Ghaffoor (Lighting Designer), Jackson Siegal (Lighting Operator), Noah Schwartz (Sound Designer) and single sound effect that this man used was an amazing fit and made me laugh with some of the funny effects.

In addition to those behind the scenes we also have Jeff Cantor (Set Designer), Louisa Murey (Costumer), Katie Silitti (Fight Choreographer) from the boxing match to every slap it all looked so realistic and so convincing, Diva Divine Monroe (Drag Queen Consultant) who brought Lola and the Angels to life, and lastly Ed Liu and Zhi Sharpe (Stage Crew) these two were also in the show so it made it feel like the stage wasn’t just left behind it made it even more immersive to the scene changes.  

Thank you for Kelsey Theatre and Thank You 5 Productions for having me!  If you have the chance to see, go do so immediately!  Kinky Boots runs On March 23rd at 2pm, and March 28th and 29th at 8pm.  Only a few tickets remain! You can purchase tickets here: https://www.purplepass.com/events/296524-kinky-boots-mar-28th-2025