Kinky Boots

Here we go again. Into the very same theatre and once more adapted from a big-screen version, Kinky Boots follows fast in the footsteps of Made In Dagenham and high-kicks its way into the Adelphi.

This is the story, if you need reminding, of the Midlands shoe factory that’s on its uppers until the latest family scion runs into a drag queen whose heel has snapped off her thigh-length boots. Continue to make boring lace-up shoes for Middle England? Forget it! The new dawn will be brightened by manufacturing two-foot creations in all manner of sparkle and glitter for men who earn their living dressed as women.

That’s it in a nutshell. And nor are we treated to any surprises as the evening unfolds. That said, there are plenty of treats along the way in a production that looks good in designer David Rockwell’s convincing evocation of the Northamptonshire shoe factory run by Charlie Price.

In truth, Charlie’s a bit of a drip, but Killian Donnelly – good in The Commitments, good in Memphis – steps up to the plate here and his is a reliably strong, unforced singing voice. He’s matched by Matt Henry’s Lola, as over-the-top as Charlie is understated. Mr Henry, a finalist on the second series of the BBC talent show The Voice, certainly extracts every last ounce of juice from the role. Subtle he’s not, but then subtlety isn’t in the job description.

Charlie is engaged to Nicola (perky Amy Ross) but his attention is increasingly drawn to one of the shop-floor girls, lippy Lauren. Amy Lennox in the role is the evening’s revelation. She is that rare creature: a good-looking blonde who’s not afraid to be funny, as witnessed by her one solo number, The History Of Wrong Guys, out of which she extracts almost non-stop laughs.

With a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper, this is a musical that will have you tapping your feet as you chuckle along – and at no point more so than the sight of Lola and her ‘girls’ strutting their stuff. My wife assured me that each one was played by a man (in which case, Heaven alone knows how they so convincingly squeezed into their itsy-bitsy costumes). Either way, they all deserve a glittery gold star for their eye-watering dance routines in those vertiginous kinky boots.

So, if you’re a couple of G&T's to the good and you’re accompanied by a jolly crew, you could do a lot worse than this fun night out.

Booking until 6 February 2016 at the Adelphi Theatre, Strand, London WC2: 020-3725 7068, www.kinkybootsthemusical.co.uk