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show called Kinky Boots might seem an unlikely source for life advice, but the 2013 Tony Award winner about a beleaguered shoe factory that retools and changes lives in the process has proven to be just that. The Broadway hit — with music by Pop star Cyndi Lauper and veteran writer and actor Harvey Fierstein (La Cage aux Folles, Hairspray) is now on tour, currently spending two weeks at the Aronoff Center.
Maybe you saw the 2005 film, the true story of a struggling, family-owned manufacturer of men’s shoes in Northern England. Charlie Price, the ambitious son of the company’s late owner, has unwillingly returned home to save a business he tried to escape. He finds unlikely inspiration from Lola, an employee who’s a drag performer needing boots that will support a manly frame in women’s clothes. Charlie and Lola become partners in solving the company’s dilemma — by producing “kinky boots” for drag queens.
Charlie has been challenged to live up to his father’s expectations. As was Lola, who’s given name was Simon. In fact, in “Not My Father’s Son,” Lola sings about living up to a parent’s image of success — “When I was just a kid/Everything I did/Was to be like him/Underneath my skin.” As it happens, that circumstance is also an element of the career of J. Harrison Ghee, who’s playing Lola/Simon on the national tour.
Ghee’s father is a pastor at a conservative African-American church in North Carolina. In New York City studying drama at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, Ghee also studied RuPaul’s Drag Race. That led him to create his own drag persona, “Crystal Demure.” He launched Crystal’s career in Japan beyond his job performing at the Tokyo Disney Resort. After returning to the States, he competed in drag competitions around New York, hosting shows, cabarets, special events and parties for several years.
In 2014 Ghee became aware of Kinky Boots, but his employment as a cruise-ship performer prevented him from seeing the show during its successful Broadway run. (Billy Porter won a 2013 Tony Award when he originated the role of Lola.) Late in 2014, Ghee joined the touring company as a “swing” (handling several roles) and as Lola’s understudy; when the actor playing Lola departed, he re-auditioned and took over the role.
Ghee’s family didn’t know much about his drag career and how it had contributed to his role as Lola. “Being that I was living in New York City or traveling the world,” Ghee says, “it was easy to never bring up the fact that I was involved in drag. Because of the close relationship I had with my mother, she was informed sooner than my father and had her own journey accepting it.
“I sent my father an interview I had done in Nashville that mentioned I had been doing drag for years after he joked about me ‘getting paid to imitate drag queens,’ ” he continues. “We sat down the night before he saw Kinky Boots, and I explained that drag is just a creative outlet and that there were no perverted attachments. He was shocked, of course, to find that I was so invested in it, but he understood it was a part of my life as an actor. He saw the show and assured me that he was proud of who and what I am.”
Ghee’s family saw him perform as Lola in March 2015. “My family members were proud of my work and the message we delivered,” he says. “My mother mentioned to my castmates that she couldn’t imagine me doing anything else and how much this show is very much my story. She expressed how this show really shined a light on things I’ve experienced in life, and she understood me better having seen the show.”
Ghee is grateful that Kinky Boots allowed him to be frank with his father. “Approaching potentially tense situations using honesty, respect and a committed heart, there is nothing you can’t overcome,” he says. “In life, it’s key to be true to yourself, first and foremost. But you also have to consider the other side of the matter and respect it. I’ve definitely used this in my personal experience, and I credit the show for helping.””
Playing Lola has helped Ghee expand people’s understanding of alternative lifestyles. “Lola definitely opens people’s eyes to drag performers,” he says. “She is a character who doesn’t hold back — her heart is on her sleeve, and the most sensitive matters in her life are not off limits. People can relate to her struggles. It makes her easier to understand and fall in love with.”
Kinky Boots has also affected the attitudes of audience members. “This show is changing the minds of Americans,” Ghee says, “and many people have expressed how they didn’t know what to expect when coming to see the show, but were glad they did and how much fun they had. We always enjoy seeing the married couple in the front row with the reluctant husband who, by the end of the show, is smiling and enjoying himself and really connecting to the story. We’ve also experienced people being inspired to come out to their family, and family members knowing someone is gay and being ready to accept them whenever they come out.” That’s an unexpected result for a highly entertaining show.
As for Kinky Boots’ industrial-strength stilettos, Ghee says, “The boots are amazingly empowering and fabulous. If it was possible to keep them (to perform as Crystal Demure) I would be more then ecstatic. But unfortunately that’s not an option.”
Nevertheless, that sturdy but sparkling footwear has had an impact on his life, and he’s standing on a foundation that’s stronger than ever. Don’t be misled by “kinky” — this hit musical has a straightforward message about being true to yourself.
KINKY BOOTS is onstage at the Aronoff Center through Jan. 17. Tickets/more info: cincinnatiarts.org. Broadway in Cincinnati is also collecting boots, high heels and other professional women’s shoes during the run for Dress for Success Cincinnati.
This article appears in Jan 6-13, 2016.
