Wolsey stages 'the most beautiful thing in the world' with Kinky Boots

Many may have seen the award winning show on the West End or even Broadway and wondered how such a spectacle would fit onto the New Wolsey Theatre stage, and for me, the intimate setting elevated the show.

Keanu Adolphus Johnson (Lola), in Kinky Boots. (Image: www.mikekwasniak.co.uk)

The cast of this production really pack the show with laughs, poignancy, stunning vocals and dance routines that were getting the audience I was in clapping along.

The bonus of a small cast such as this is how clear chemistry and friendship has built during rehersals and the performances.

Tim Parker (Mr Price) and Matt Corner (Charlie Price), in Kinky Boots. (Image: www.mikekwasniak.co.uk)

Say Yeah! The cast of Kinky Boots at the New Wolsey Theatre. (Image: www.mikekwasniak.co.uk)

The key relationship of Charlie Price (Matt Corner) and Lola (Keanu Adolphus Johnson) would not deliver the emotional punches it does in numbers such as Not My Father's Son and Soul of a Man if the audience were not invested in their growing friendship.

One of the many themes is feeling boxed in, especially for Charlie, who finds himself reluctantly back at the helm of his family's shoe factory and having to wrestle if what he wanted was maybe closer to home all along.

The cast of Kinky Boots (Image: www.mikekwasniak.co.uk)

Keanu Adolphus Johnson (Lola), in Kinky Boots. (Image: www.mikekwasniak.co.uk)

Lola serves to challenge him, a number of the characters and the audience to think beyond what they know and accept people for who they are.

While many of the numbers are standouts, for pure comedic delight there is The History of Wrong Guys.

It was among the small handful of songs I knew of the show before watching it for the first time.

Aruhan Galieva (Lauren), in Kinky Boots (Image: www.mikekwasniak.co.uk)

Aruhan Galieva as Lauren captures the awkwardness many people can relate to when wrestling with their feelings and had the audience in raucous laughter.

Anna Soden (Nicola) and Matt Corner (Charlie Price) in Kinky Boots (Image: www.mikekwasniak.co.uk)

Directed by Tim Jackson the show's high-octane nature when at its fullest is as high as the heels Lola and her Angels fabulously strut their stuff in.

Despite small in number, the group fill up the stage and were an absolute delight especially their angelic harmonies and jaw dropping jump splits.

The Angels and the cast of Kinky Boots. (Image: www.mikekwasniak.co.uk)

The Angels in Kinky Boots. (Image: www.mikekwasniak.co.uk)

Another area that must be mentioned is the way the staging was able to double up as a number of sets and as a band pit.

Not once do you as an audience member feel something is missing musically purely because the size of the orchestra is the talented actors themselves.

Will Aundell and cast in Kinky Boots. (Image: www.mikekwasniak.co.uk)

Keanu Adolphus Johnson (Lola), in Kinky Boots. (Image: www.mikekwasniak.co.uk)

Lucy Elizabeth Thorburn (Pat) and Matt Corner (Charlie Price), in Kinky Boots. (Image: www.mikekwasniak.co.uk)

It's fair to say note-taking went out of the window quite early into Act 2 as you become absorbed in the story and by the time the finale came around the audience was in full flow of clapping and reacting with the cast.

From the opening number introduced through Price and Son and then The Most Beautiful Thing in the World to the Raise You Up finale, you leave the theatre lifted.

You'll need to get your skates on if you want to grab a ticket before the show takes its final bow next Saturday (September 24) and heads to Hornchurch.