Theatre
By Numbers
Kinky Boots By Numbers: Every song in the stage musical
Here’s your breakdown of every song on the soundtrack of Kinky Boots
Kinky Boots is strutting back into the West End on even higher heels. Taking the stage at the London Coliseum, the new production delivers an even bigger, bolder, brighter version of the Tony and Olivier-winning musical, starring Johannes Radebe and Matt Cardle as drag queen Lola and shoemaker Charlie – two people from different worlds who are about to discover how much they have in common.
Penned by chart topping singer-songwriter Cindy Lauper, the Kinky Boots soundtrack is a dazzling album of theatrical pop, packed full of uplifting, affirming numbers. If you’re curious about diving into it, here’s your guide to every song in Kinky Boots the musical.
‘Price & Son Theme/The Most Beautiful Thing’
In this establishing number, Charlie’s father tries to pass down his love of shoemaking to his son at their family factory in Northampton. Meanwhile, in London, another young boy is inspired by a pair of red high heels – inspiring anger in his father.
Time passes, and Charlie’s girlfriend Nicola falls in love with a pair of expensive shoes, deciding they fit perfectly into the new life she’s planning in London. The pair plan a move to the capital, but Charlie’s dad doesn’t share their excitement, believing that his son’s future is at Price & Son. Nonetheless, Charlie leaves for London.
Key lyric: “These shoes are symbols of our family’s history”
‘Take What You Got’
After the death of his father, Charlie reluctantly takes over the management of Price & Son to maintain his father’s legacy. Back in London, he meets his friend Harry at the pub, who encourages Charlie to embrace his destiny.
Key lyric: “You can’t move on if you’re still in the past”
‘Land Of Lola’
After intervening when a strange woman is attacked by two drunks, Charlie is knocked out and regains consciousness in a nightclub where the woman, Lola, is revealed as the club’s drag queen headliner. In this energetic number, she introduces herself and her act.
Key lyric: “So come and take my hand/And welcome to the land of Lola”
‘Charlie’s Soliloquy (One)’
After realising that supportive, comfortable heels for drag queens could be the product that keeps his father’s factory afloat, Charlie begins to find his feet. Still afraid of letting his father down, he gets to work nonetheless – and makes a shoe.
Key lyric: “Punching holes into this leather/This kinda feels like I’m back home”
‘Step One’
Excited by this new direction, Charlie tackles his role as factory director with a new energy, ready to take on the challenges before him. He’s determined to do whatever it takes not to have to lay off his staff and to keep his father’s company intact.
Key lyric: “I used to be a zero but now I clearly feel that/I may be the hero who reinvents the heel”
‘Sex Is In The Heel’
Lola and the angels stop by the factory to offer inspiration, and Lola is not impressed with Charlie’s first efforts. Even if it defies physics, she wants an extra high heel. Factory manager George begins to figure out a design that can give Lola and her angels the height they want whilst still making the shoes durable.
Key lyric: “The sex is in the heel even if you break it”
‘The History Of Wrong Guys’
Charlie thanks factory worker Lauren for inspiring him to move ahead with the line of boots and gives her a promotion. She immediately feels herself falling for him, to her dismay. Cycling through all the bad choices she’s made in her love life, she tries to talk herself out of her feelings.
Key lyric: “But I’ve been here before/Have I come back for more?/Another chapter in the history of wrong guys”
‘Not My Father’s Son’
Tired of harassment at the factory, Lola opens up to Charlie about her relationship with her father. Lola’s complex relationship with her father is not unfamiliar to Charlie – the two might be very different, but they have that in common. They connect over their fear of disappointing their fathers and their realisation that they are destined to be different people from the men who raised them.
Key lyric: “Still couldn’t be the one/To echo what he’d done/And mirror what was not in me”
‘Charlie’s Soliloquy (Two)’
Shocked to learn that his father was planning to sell and close the factory before he died, Charlie is disappointed in his father’s lack of faith in him – but asserts that he’s going to prove him wrong. He refuses to sell.
Key lyric: “This time I’m gonna seize my destiny”
‘Everybody Say Yeah’
As the first pair of ‘kinky boots’ is completed, Charlie and the factory workers celebrate and plan for a grand launch.
Key lyric: “I put the steel inside the heel/Now we go off like dynamite”
‘What A Woman Wants’
Tired of being made to feel unwelcome by some of the factory members, including the surly Don, Lola chooses the top of Act Two to put the men in their place. She asserts that she’s closer to most women’s fantasy than they are, embodying the sensitivity, vulnerability and emotional maturity that most women want. She taunts Don to challenge her to see who the real ‘man’ is.
Key lyric: “Look at me, devilishly debonair/Look at you, divinely dull, drab and dumpy”
‘In This Corner’
Don challenges Lola to a boxing match – Lola, who was a professional trained boxer in her youth, happily accepts. Charlie is concerned for Don, but although Lola doesn’t find Don any match for her, she lets him win so as not to embarrass him in front of his friends. Don in return is challenged to learn to accept people for who they really are.
Key lyric: “Hit him in his big mouth! Hit him in his insecurity!”
‘Charlie’s Soliloquy (Three)’
With pressures mounting before the factory takes their shoe to Milan, Charlie is taking the stress out on his workers. Upon discovering that Lola is planning to have her angels wear the shoes on the runway rather than hiring professional models, he lashes out, humiliating her in front of the rest of the factory. Guilt-ridden, he sings this lament – a precursor to his big solo.
Key lyric: “Who was I kidding?/This scheme was skidding/My fractured attempt at taking control”
‘Soul Of A Man’
Spiralling into self-pity, Charlie worries that he’ll never live up to his father’s legacy and become the man he wants to be.
Key lyric: “How can I be the soul of a man, noble and wise
Like the soul of a man who lifted me high?”
‘Hold Me In Your Heart’
Lola finally confronts her father as he lies dying, and is able to make peace with their fractured relationship, telling her father that he’s missing out on getting to know the best parts of her.
Key lyric: “With all your faults, I love you/Don’t give up, on me/I won’t give up, on you”
‘Raise You Up/Just Be’
Lola and her angels arrive in Milan, ready to forgive Charlie, who was prepared to walk the runway himself to save the factory. The show is a success, and Lola and Charlie proclaim how much the other has inspired them. Lauren and Charlie end up together, and Price & Son is saved.
Key lyrics: “Now I’m standing on high heels/If Dad could see me now!”
Kinky Boots is now playing at the London Coliseum until 11 July – find tickets here
