Kinky Boots' dynamic stage duo talks high heels, quick changes, and being who you want to be
Stewart Adam McKensy and Sayer Roberts form a close bond as the drag queen and shoe-maker at the centre of celebratory musical at the Arts Club
Kinky Boots centres around the unexpected friendship between the shoe-maker Charlie (Sayer Roberts) and
The Arts Club Theatre presents Kinky Boots at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Theatre until July 31
IMAGINE HAVING TO run a marathon in heels. That metaphor makes sense when you consider the physical challenges of the massive musical Kinky Boots, which the Arts Club is finally staging in Vancouver.
True to its title, the Tony Award-winning Broadway show by Harvey Fierstein and Cyndi Lauper features a dizzying array of stratospheric stiletto boots. (As one of the songs says, “The sex is in the heel.”) The plot, based on a true story, is about an underdog named Charlie who’s struggling to save the men’s-shoe factory he inherited from his father. His only hope is working with drag queen Lola to start making glam men’s-sized women’s boots.
On one hand, it’s a highlight strapping on the titular gravity-defying heels, reports star Stewart Adam McKensy, who plays Lola. “It’s such an uplifting thing to be able to strut in heels,” he enthuses. “It’s just the power you get from it.”
On the other, with the show’s dazzling, nonstop disco-infused dance numbers, the footwear comes with pummelling physical demands.
“We’re wearing heels 24-7, and we have to do jumps and kicks,” shares McKensy. “So I started researching what injuries happen to women when they wear heels a lot. And I bought a massage gun for my calves.”
That conditioning just comes with the territory of bringing Kinky Boots to life—something both McKensy and costar Sayer Robert (who plays Charlie) have waited two years to do. Postponed amid the pandemic, the production is finally ready to hit the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage.
“What’s really special about this show at this time is it’s such a celebration,” Roberts says, sharing a conference call with his costar. “After so many people not being able to do theatre, and not being able to see theatre for so long, to come back to a show that is so much about acceptance and love and is fun and celebratory is what audiences need right now. Or at least it’s certainly what I need!”
Kinky Boots centres entirely on their unexpected relationship: down-on-his-luck shoe-maker and divine drag queen, and the pair has formed a special bond in rehearsals here. Neither had met each other before, though each brought different previous experiences performing the show elsewhere.
“Seeing how open he is allowed me to open up a lot more,” reports McKensy. “A lot of our personal experience jumped into the relationship of a drag queen and a shoemaker.”
“It’s been so easy to fall into this incredibly important and vulnerable relationship that Charlie and Lola have,” Roberts adds. “It is that relationship that drives everything.”
Both see echoes in their own journey to the production to their characters’ onstage, overcoming odds and learning to celebrate their identities.
On McKensy’s part, the Black queer artist first saw the production in New York City and immediately connected to it. “For my culture, we relate to it a lot,” he tells Stir. “And so the piece pulled a lot out of me emotionally and spiritually….A lot of people would always ask me, ‘What show do you want to do?’ And Kinky Boots was always on the top of my list of musicals.”
Cast of Kinky Boots, 2022 (et design by Pam Johnson; costume design by Barbara Clayden; lighting design by John Webber). Photo by Moonrider Productions
His friends encouraged him to audition, and in 2015 he was cast in the Toronto production, then as an understudy for the U.S. touring show—leading to him playing almost every role onstage, eventually putting his own signature on the role of Lola, whose alter ego is Simon.
As for Sayer, he first saw the Mirvish production in Toronto, where he had recently moved from the West Coast. He was invited to audition for the role of Charlie—but the material was challenging, he says; he was young, and he told himself “I don't know if I’ll ever get to do it.”
Years later, when the musical finally became available to other companies to produce, he prepared to audition again for the part of Charlie—and immediately felt trepidation.
“That was really hard,” he recalls. “I was saying to myself, ‘I don’t know if I can do it.’ I was almost wanting to save myself the heartache. Then I realized that’s exactly what Charlie goes through in the show. I didn't realize I was living with the experience Charlie was going through. He's tasked with doing this job where he doesn’t think that he has the capability, and through the support of the people around him, he’s able to rise to the occasion. That also plays into the idea in the show that we can grow and change.” (Roberts scored the role of Charlie for the production in Drayton, Ontario before the gig here.)
These days, Roberts finds himself especially inspired by the show’s messages about belonging—as he puts it, ”not in spite of who you are, but because of who you are.” Especially after two years of isolation, division, and forced introversion.
“As divided as people are right now, a lot of us, myself included, are coming out of the pandemic feeling like we don’t want to show a lot of ourselves,” he explains. “And this show says, ‘I can take up space.’”
“One of the lines in the show is ‘Be who you want to be,’” adds McKensy. “When we’re able to spread our energy, it’s infectious.”
Beyond forming that human connection, as well as singing and dancing, Lola has the added task of spectacular costume changes that go far beyond just changing her fabulous footwear. A small army of dressers, wig assistants, and makeup artists are on hand backstage to help McKensy transform into Lola.
“As people say, if you look backstage it's another choreography altogether,” McKensy says with a laugh. “For one change, I have, like, a minute to get into full drag.”
As much as the audience will be in awe of the quick changes, rest assured that McKensy’s costar is, too; the amazement you see on Charlie’s face is real. “Sometimes I will blink,” Roberts reveals, “and Stewart has exited the stage in no makeup and comes back in full drag.”
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