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Everybody say yeah! The Tony and Grammy Award-winning Broadway musical Kinky Boots will dance its way over to Hell’s Kitchen to play a summer engagement at Stage 42 on Theater Row.
The newly revived Off-Broadway production begins preview performances at the 499-seat Shubert theater on July 26, with an opening date set for August 25. Originally directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, the Cyndi Lauper-Harvey Fierstein project will once again be helmed by the Tony Award-winning choreographer and Tony Award-nominated director (also known for his work on Hairspray and Legally Blonde). Casting will be announced at a later date.
A gargantuan hit, the heartwarming tale of a down-and-out shoe factory owner and an unflappable drag queen who form an unexpected friendship opened on Broadway in 2013, where it grossed $297 million and ran for 2,505 regular performances. Before closing in 2019, the production had won six Tony Awards (including for sound, choreography, score, orchestrations, Best Actor [for Billy Porter], and Best Musical) and had expanded to include touring companies across the country as well as stagings in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Poland and Spain.
As one of Off-Broadway’s largest venues, Stage 42 is well-primed to house the elaborate musical. Previous productions include the 60s-themed Trip of Love in 2015, a Smokey Joe’s Cafe revival in 2018, the much-acclaimed all-Yiddish production of Fiddler on the Roof in 2019, and brand-new coming-of-age and coming-out musical Trevor in 2021.
The team at Kinky Boots expressed their delight at a chance to bring the lighthearted, celebratory show back to New York. Said producers Daryl Roth and Hal Luftig: “We are over the moon to be bringing this beloved show back to New York for audiences to feel the joy once again. Kinky Boots has so much heart, and reminds us to be unashamedly ourselves and raise each other up, which is exactly what we need at this moment in time. We can’t wait to see fans old and new dancing, singing, and leaving the theater with full hearts and open minds.”
“Kinky Boots has been a full out joy in my life and around the world.” said Jerry Mitchell. “I am so excited to have the Price and Son Factory back in NYC, sharing that joy and reminding everyone that we can change the world when we change our minds.”
Added librettist and theatrical mainstay Harvery Firestein (whose other revival, Funny Girl, is set to open shortly at the August Wilson): “The joy that is Kinky Boots is headed back to NYC! Beyond the laughs and applause, what I’ve missed most is seeing the audience shed tears of happiness at every performance. Kinky Boots is more than a musical. It’s a life experience.”