The boots are kinky, the boots are splashy, the boots are made for a lot more than walking.
Inside those boots, though, are highly trained dancing feet called together from all over America for the touring cast that's sashaying into Prince George next week.
A cast of 27 performers plus a sizable touring crew will dazzle the CN Centre stage in one of the hottest blazes of musical theatre glory to burst from Broadway in years. There's a wagon load of Tony and Grammy awards on the shelves of the creators (music by Cyndi Lauper, choreography by Jerry Mitchell, story development by Harvey Fierstein - all of them legendary), and a pile of its own Tony Awards since it opened in New York.
Now, after stops all over the States and a few B.C. dates on their way north, Kinky Boots will kick up its heels here.
One of the most prominent actors in this rollicking play is Karis Gallant, who grew up in small-town Robbinsville, New Jersey about halfway between New York City (she now calls NYC home) and Philadelphia. For a kid who grew up singing around the house and dancing in the streets, it was a perfect place to find her way into musical theatre.
"There is a lot going on around there. I'm very fortunate to have been in such a great area growing up, which I love. There is a lot of stuff to audition for and be surrounded by, which is great," Gallant told The Citizen in a phone call from the tour bus somewhere near Albuquerque. "I was pretty young when I started and I haven't really looked back. I've been riding it since I was middle school when I did my first musical and then it just kinda kept going and going."
She has been at the top end of the marquee for several of those musicals she got cast in, like Sandy in Grease and Olive in Bullets Over Broadway, but she also earned rolls like Curly's Wife in Of Mice And Men and Miranda in The Tempest.
"Every now and then I enjoy the dramatic challenge, the experience of doing a straight play, I really do enjoy that," she said but musicals are her hands-down favourite, but she has to search for parts that really speak to her personal sensibilities as well as her raw creative side.
"It has been nice to get some roles in the last couple of years that are a little more funny and a little more well-rounded and have a little more backstory behind them other than singing about wanting boyfriends. I do enjoy the comedic aspect a lot, that's something I've been running with. But what I really do look for when I pick up a script, I really do like character depth the best, I'm really drawn to it."
Kinky Boots, for all is sass and sizzle, is exactly that kind of play. Broadway has a new wave of musical theatre striking out across the world's community stages these days, and Kinky Boots epitomizes the new movement, one that more fully realizes female characters and one that gives more volume to social undercurrents.
"She (Lauren, her Kinky Boots character) is deep and there is a real message in her," Gallant said. "That's something we try to get through to our audience, and I think we do a good job in the show. And the book and the music stand for themselves in that fact. They are pretty clear in what they are trying to deliver to an audience, so we just help do that, which is really something we are all grateful for."
The play hilariously tells the story of a young British man who is reluctantly taking over his family's struggling shoe factory. It needs a fresh idea in order to survive, since society's consumer habits have shifted to quickly disposable footwear, not the quality craftsmanship this factory provides. It also provides a lot of jobs and a big slice of a small town's local economy.
That innovative idea clickety-clicks through the door when a drag queen named Lola, or rather the man who portrays Lola, offers some input, in need of some strong stiletto heels himself.
Part of the research for the cast was learning about the inner workings of footwear factories, their importance to local towns where they were often based, and the changing tides of throwaway consumerism.
That makes Gallant appreciate all the more her own favourite pair of shoes.
"I'm super into Doc Martens. I think they are the most fashionable shoes that goes with all of my outfits and they're so comfy and sturdy and long lasting, which I love. I've had so many pairs of shoes that just break so easily, I had a lot of friends who recommended Doc Martens, I like the idea of investing in shoes and having them last so long, which brings up the shoes in the musical, too. They are built to last. So I wear these Doc Martens every day, which has been my tour lifesaver because it makes it look like I planned my outfit, but I didn't, really, I just put them on and they make everything look better, in my opinion. And they feel moulded to my feet; I love them."
Gallant is also striving for a quality touring experience to last the tests of her own life's time. The only other time she has participated in transportational theatre was as a cast member of Norwegian Cruise Lines shows that had some ports of call in Canada. She got into the habit of trying to find the local personality in each place they fleetingly visited.
Gallant said life on the bus is very much focused on "sleeping, eating, breathing," just to stay set for the rigors of the next performance but she does manage some road hobbies.
"I like reading, listening to podcasts, I like to listen to music, I really like working out but it's kinda hard on this schedule. And I'm definitely a big explorer, adventurer. I love to find cute little hole-in-the-wall places whether it's a coffee shop or restaurant or something. I love to take photos and document everything."
Her shutter will snap into Prince George view when she and the Kinky Boots production take their big steps on the CN Centre stage on March 22.
Tickets are on sale now at the CN Centre box office or online anytime at the TicketsNorth website.
