The pre-Broadway premiere of the high-profile new "Kinky Boots" musical begins its run Tuesday at Chicago's Bank of America Theatre.
The production, set to hit Broadway next spring, brings together an all-star trio at its helm including Tony-winning writer Harvey Fierstein, Tony-winning director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell and pop icon composer and Grammy-winning lyricist Cyndi Lauper.
Based on the 2005 British film of the same name, the musical tells the story of a drag queen who helps save the inheritor of family-owned shoe factory with the idea that he should craft high-heeled boots specifically catered to drag artists.
While in Chicago to promote the production, Lauper said, according to the RedEye, that she loves the story because "it's about real people who saved jobs--which is very relevant to what we're going through today--because they thought outside the box, because they cared enough to save the jobs."
Mitchell and Fierstein both pushed for the musical to have its pre-Broadway tryout at Chicago's Bank of America Theatre, because the theater feels similar to the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, where the production will take root in New York in April, the Daily Herald reports.
The cast includes Billy Porter, Annaleigh Ashford and the Tony-nominated Stark Sands.
"Kinky Boots" runs through Nov. 4.