SCISSOR SISTERS’ JAKE SHEARS & PENTATONIX’S KIRSTIN MALDONADO JOIN CAST OF KINKY BOOTS ON BROADWAY THIS WINTER
THE LAND OF LOLA HEATS UP THIS WINTER WITH NEW LEADS
SCISSOR SISTERS’
JAKE SHEARS
AND
PENTATONIX’S
KIRSTIN MALDONADO
TO MAKE THEIR BROADWAY DEBUTS IN
“KINKY BOOTS”
SHEARS TO DEBUT AS “CHARLIE PRICE”
BEGINNING MONDAY, JANUARY 8, 2018
MALDONADO TO DEBUT AS “LAUREN”
BEGINNING FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2018
J. HARRISON GHEE RETURNS AS “LOLA”
BEGINNING MONDAY, JANUARY 8, 2018
New York, NY (November 9, 2017) – Kinky Boots producers Daryl Roth and Hal Luftig announced today that Jake Shears, lead singer of the glam pop group Scissor Sisters, will make his Broadway debut as “Charlie Price”, succeeding Stark Sands beginning Monday, January 8, 2018. He will play for a limited run through Sunday, April 1, 2018. That same day, January 8, returning to the cast as “Lola” is J. Harrison Ghee, who succeeds Billy Porter.
The producers also announced that Grammy Award-winner Kirstin Maldonado, of the hit acapella group Pentatonix, will make her Broadway debut as “Lauren” beginning, Friday, February 2, 2018 for a limited run through Sunday, April 8, 2018. She succeeds Delaney Westfall.
Tony Award-winner Billy Porter and Tony Award-nominee Stark Sands are currently performing in the show in the original roles they created as “Lola” and “Charlie”, respectively. They will play their final performance on Sunday, January 7, 2018.
“I have been dreaming of doing Broadway, and my wish got answered tenfold,” Shears said. “I couldn’t be more excited about doing Kinky Boots on Broadway; it’s going to be a delicious challenge! Believe it or not, they’re going to be the first stilettos I’ll ever have worn. My feet are so big, I’ve never seen a pair that would actually fit me.”
“Being on Broadway has been my ultimate bucket list goal since I was eight years old so I’m so excited to join such an incredible cast to share this special story!!,” Maldonado said.
The winner of six 2013 Tony® Awards, including Best Musical, Kinky Boots features a Tony® Award-winning score by Cyndi Lauper, a book by Tony® Award-winner Harvey Fierstein and direction and choreography by Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell. Kinky Boots tells the uplifting and heartwarming tale of Charlie Price, a young man reluctantly taking over his family’s struggling shoe factory and looking for a fresh idea. Charlie meets and finds inspiration in Lola and together, they discover that it takes a good friend to make a great pair.
Kinky Boots has won every major Best Musical Award and is represented around the world with the Tony Award-winning Broadway company now in its fifth year, a London production in its third year (where it won the 2016 Olivier Award for Best Musical) with a recently announced UK & Ireland Tour commencing next summer, a North American First National Tour in its fourth year, an upcoming production in Germany beginning performances later this month, a Korean production returning to Seoul for a third season this coming Spring and a Japanese production returning for a second season to Tokyo and Osaka in 2019. Other previous productions include an extended run in Toronto (winner of the Dora Award for Musical) and an award-winning Australian production which concluded in October 2017. The Grammy Award-winning Original Broadway Cast Recording of Kinky Boots is available on Sony Masterworks Broadway.
The current Broadway cast of Kinky Boots includes Billy Porter (as Lola), Stark Sands (as Charlie Price), Delaney Westfall (as Lauren), Daniel Stewart Sherman, Shannon O’Boyle, Marcus Neville, Adinah Alexander, Eugene Barry-Hill, Stephen Berger, Joseph Anthony Byrd, Devin Trey Campbell, Justin Colombo, Christopher Convery, Holly Davis, Stephane Duret, Christy Faber, Mia Gentle, Blair Goldberg, Natalie Joy Johnson, Jake Katzman, Kevin Smith Kirkwood, Jeff Kuhr, Eric Leviton, Ellyn Marie Marsh, John Joffrey Martin, Michael Milkanin, Fred Odgaard, Jake Odmark, Jesus Del Orden, Nathan Peck, Jennifer Perry, Kyle Post, Charlie Sutton, Joey Taranto, Stephen Tewksbury.
The design team for Kinky Boots includes Tony® Award nominee David Rockwell (Scenic Design), Tony® Award-winner Gregg Barnes (Costume Design), Tony Award-winner Kenneth Posner (Lighting Design), Tony® Award-winner John Shivers (Sound Design), Josh Marquette (Hair Design), Randy Houston Mercer (Make-up Design), Telsey + Company, Justin Huff, CSA (Casting), Brian Usifer (Musical Direction), with Musical Supervision, Arrangements and Orchestrations by Tony and Grammy Award-winner Stephen Oremus.
Tickets for Kinky Boots ($55 – $152) are available for purchase in person at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre box office (Monday – Saturday, 10am – 8pm; Sunday, 12pm – 6 pm), online at www.ticketmaster.com. For information on group sales, contact Group Sales Box Office/Broadway.com at groups@broadway.com or 1-800-BROADWAY, ext 2.
The performance schedule for Kinky Boots is as follows: Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday at 2pm and 8pm, Thursday at 7pm, Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm and 8pm, and Sunday at 3pm (see KinkyBootsTheMusical.com for variations). There is a general ticket lottery each day; lottery entries will be accepted online (lottery.kinkybootsthemusical.com) beginning at the curtain time of the previous performance up to 3.5 hours prior to curtain of the desired performance, and names will be chosen at random, for a limited number of $37 tickets. See KinkyBootsTheMusical.com for details and restrictions.
Kinky Boots is produced on Broadway by Daryl Roth and Hal Luftig, James L. Nederlander, Terry Allen Kramer, Independent Presenters Network, CJ E&M, Jayne Baron Sherman, Just for Laughs Theatricals/Judith Ann Abrams, Yasuhiro Kawana, Jane Bergere, Allan S. Gordon & Adam S. Gordon, Ken Davenport, Hunter Arnold, Lucy and Phil Suarez, Bryan Bantry, Ron Fierstein and Dorsey Regal, Jim Kierstead/Gregory Rae, BB Group/Christina Papagjika, Michael DeSantis/Patrick Baugh, Brian Smith/Tom and Connie Walsh, Warren Trepp, and Jujamcyn Theaters.
Jake Shears
Jake Shears is the lead singer and primary songwriter for the multiplatinum-selling glam rock band Scissor Sisters. Born in Arizona, he grew up in the Seattle area before moving to New York City, where he studied fiction writing at The New School. He wrote the music for Tales of the City, a 2011 stage musical based on Armistead Maupin’s best-selling book series of the same name. He divides his time between Los Angeles and New Orleans. Jake Shears recently finished his debut solo album, which will be released in 2018.
Kirstin Maldonado
Show-stopping vocals, charismatic confidence, and fighting spirit on full display, GRAMMY® Award-winning multiplatinum singer, songwriter, and one-fifth of Pentatonix Kirstin Maldonado emerges as a solo powerhouse on her debut L O V E EP [RCA Records]. Embracing a variety of electronic influences ranging from James Blake to Alina Baraz, she expresses a different side of herself, illuminating dancefloor-ready soundscapes with her seismic and stunning delivery. Kirstin started honing the voice millions know and love as a child in Arlington, TX. At 7-years-old, she went from singing Disney classics in front of the TV to flawlessly belting out a Shania Twain anthem during her mom’s wedding. Growing up, she devoted every minute to singing, remaining active in musical theater through college. On a whim, she and some friends auditioned for NBC’s The Sing-Off in 2011, and Pentatonix was born. Since then, the group has won three GRAMMY® Awards, received a Daytime Emmy® nomination, had seven albums reach top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart, sold out shows across the globe and starred in their own network Christmas Special. Their RIAA certified gold self-titled album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart while That’s Christmas To Me has been certified double platinum and A Pentatonix Christmas certified platinum. 2017 sees her grow and evolve inside of the group and out.
Harrison Ghee
A North Carolina native, J. has appeared in the International Tour of Kinky Boots. And regionally in The Color Purple. Industrial credits include: Tokyo Disney Resort, Norwegian Cruise Line.
PHOTOS
To download a photo of Jake Shears: (Photo credit by Nathan Johnson)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xh6qbwczmbqujec/Jake%20Shears%20by%20Nathan%20J ohnson.jpg?dl=0
To download a photo of Kirstin Maldonado: (Photo credit by Embry Lopez)
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