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Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Kinky Boots’ Stops in Chicago Before Broadway

“Kinky Boots,” the new Broadway musical with music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper, will get a tryout run in Chicago later this year, producers recently announced.

Producers Daryl Roth and Hal Luftig announced that the Chicago run will be held at the Bank of America Theatre this October in preparation for a Broadway run. Though no Broadway dates have been set, Roth said she is hoping to open during the 2012-2013 season, reports the New York Times.

The musical is an adaptation of a 2005 British film of the same name, and concerns a drag queen named Lola who works to save a shoe factory after its founder dies. The production would mark Lauper’s Broadway debut.

The book for the musical is by Tony winner Harvey Fierstein, known for his work on “La Cage Aux Folles” and “Newsies.” The writer spoke very highly of his co-writer’s theatrical debut.

“She has one of those big-fat-all-over-the-place-you-can’t-hide-it-hearts,” he said about Lauper to the Associated Press. “There are just some people that you can’t hide it with at all, and she’s one of those people. There was a lot of chasing her around because that woman works. Her musical vocabulary is wonderful. Each character has their own sound.”

He continued to say that the new musical highlights the foundation of the story.

“It really amplified what, for me, the story was about,” he said. “Here are two people who couldn’t be more different who realize that, in their minds, they’re complete failures to their fathers. They find each other and heal each other.

The two characters Fierstein is speaking of are Lola and Charlie, the new head of the shoe factory. At recent readings, Billy Porter has been playing Lola, while Stark Sands has played Charlie.

Cyndi Lauper is best known for her 1980’s hits “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and “True Colors.”