April 23, 2013 | Arts / Entertainment

Put on your 'Kinky Boots'

Broadway has a new hit on its hands, and it's all kinds of gay!

The show is called Kinky Boots, and follows young businessman Charlie Price who inherits his father’s shoe factory. The company is on the verge of bankruptcy and Price doesn't know how to turn things around. His saving grace comes in the form of the fabulous drag queen Lola, who suggests that Price consider making a new kind of boot for a very specific clientele: drag queens.

Kinky Boots is based on a 2005 British movie of the same name (which, in turn, is loosely based on a true story), though critics were less than kind when the original film was released. One even dismissed it for its "formulaic britcom plot." 

The Broadway version, updated by Harvey Fierstein - the man behind Torch Song Trilogy - is getting a much better reception. It even made over $1 million in ticket sales in its opening week.

Some of the credit, of course, goes to Cyndi Lauper, who scored the show. Many critics and fans have praised her work, and even the performers are impressed.

“I get to sing real true pop music written by one of the formidable songwriters of our time when it comes to really truly authentic sounding pop music,” Billy Porter, aka Lola, said. “When you hear something like ‘I’m Not My Father’s Son,’ it’s on par with ‘True Colors’ or ‘Time After Time.’ The imagery in that song, ‘With the strength of Sparta and the patience of Job’—who writes that in a pop song? Who references those things in a pop song? That’s what I love about it, and I’m glad people are receiving it that way, because it’s a pretty brilliant score.”

Here's hoping it tours soon, so the rest of us can check it out!

You can check out an extended intrview with Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein after the jump ...