Weekender

‘Kinky Boots’ carries message of acceptance into Scranton Cultural Center

SCRANTON — Charlie is the heir to a — yawn — shoe factory in England, and he has little interest in it. Lola is a drag queen who needs a better boot.

These two main characters both seem to be nice people, so who’s the bad guy in the musical “Kinky Boots?”

Look no further than Don, the factory foreman.

“He’s the villain,” confirmed Adam du Plessis, who will portray the rough-around-the-edges foreman when the Broadway Theatre League brings the touring musical and its Cyndi Lauper music to the Scranton Cultural Center Friday through Sunday.

“He’s kind of your gruff, everyman bully, essentially,” du Plessis said. “He’s obviously one of the guys who used to be the tough kid at school, bigger and stronger than everybody else.”

“He is the villain, but more than that, he represents the villain,” the actor continued. “The true villain, for me, is bigotry and discrimination.”

That makes acceptance the hero of the show, and du Plessis said audiences will see a lot of that, as various characters learn to accept each other and themselves.

Along the way there’s a lot of singing and dancing and even a boxing match between Don and Lola.

“It’s enormous fun,” du Plessis said of the match, breaking into laughter at the thought of the fight, for which Lola is much more prepared than Don ever expected.

“The way they do it is very clever. The staging of it is genius. It’s this big match, not just between Lola and Don, but you get Don’s supporters and Lola’s supporters choosing sides. All of them are very vocal.”

When he was growing up in South Africa, du Plessis said, he wasn’t aware of any small, family-owned factories like the one Charlie inherits.

“My dad worked for a newspaper and my brother followed him into it,” the actor said. “I went down the theater route … the other passion in our family. My mom and dad met on stage, in a little amateur community show.”

Now the whole cast of ‘Kinky Boots’ is wearing a pair of funky, fashionable footwear.
https://www.theweekender.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_kinky.boots_.everyone.untoned.jpg.optimal.jpgNow the whole cast of ‘Kinky Boots’ is wearing a pair of funky, fashionable footwear. National Tour of Kinky Boots | Matthew Murphy
‘Kinky Boots’ brings music, dancing and a message of acceptance to the Scranton Cultural Center Friday through Sunday.
https://www.theweekender.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_kinky.boots_.jpg.optimal.jpg‘Kinky Boots’ brings music, dancing and a message of acceptance to the Scranton Cultural Center Friday through Sunday. National Tour of Kinky Boots | Matthew Murphy
Fashion mavens have strong opinions about the appeal of the heel.
https://www.theweekender.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_kinky.boots_.kicking.untoned.jpg.optimal.jpgFashion mavens have strong opinions about the appeal of the heel. National Tour of Kinky Boots | Matthew Murphy

By Mary Therese Biebel

mbiebel@timesleader.com

IF YOU GO

What: ‘Kinky Boots’

Who: Presented by Broadway Theatre League

Where: Scranton Cultural Center, 420 N. Washington Ave., Scranton

When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday

Info: 570-346-7369

Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT.