Theater News

Wayne Brady to Step Into Kinky Boots on Broadway

The Emmy-winning comedian will replace Tony winner Billy Porter in the Broadway cast.

Wayne Brady will star as Lola in Broadway's Tony Award-winning musical Kinky Boots.
Wayne Brady will star as Lola in Broadway's Tony Award-winning musical Kinky Boots.

Broadway's Tony-winning musical Kinky Boots announced today that Wayne Brady will take over the role of Lola at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre beginning November 21. Brady steps in for Tony Award winner Billy Porter, who originated the role and will play his final performance on November 20.

Best known for his role on the improv comedy series Whose Line Is It Anyway?, the show marks Brady's first return to Broadway in over a decade since making his debut as Billy Flynn in the cast of Chicago. Brady also played Collins in the 2010 Neil Patrick Harris-directed Rent at the Hollywood Bowl and last year starred in the Pasadena Playhouse production of Kiss Me Kate.

"I'm thrilled to join the Kinky Boots family and unleash my inner Lola," says Brady. "It's the role of a lifetime! Billy and his prodigious talent have left some pretty big red boots for me to fill. Starring in a Broadway show of this caliber has been my dream since I started performing at age 16. I'm ready to jump in with both feet!"

"Wayne Brady is a wonderful triple threat. I first had the pleasure of working with Wayne on a Disney film and have been a fan ever since," adds Kinky Boots director Jerry Mitchell said. "Like Lola, he has the sass, the voice and the heart and we cannot wait to see him strut his stuff when he joins the Kinky Boots family!"

Inspired by the 2005 British film of the same title, Kinky Boots features a Tony-winning score by Cyndi Lauper and a book by Harvey Fierstein. The musical tells the story of Charlie Price, the owner of a failing shoe factory, who realizes that a sassy drag queen named Lola has the key to the business' success.

The current Broadway cast of Kinky Boots features Andy Kelso (Charlie Price), Billy Porter (Lola), Haven Burton (Lauren), Daniel Stewart Sherman (Don), and Cortney Wolfson (Nicola), with an ensemble that includes Marcus Neville, Nick Rashad Burroughs, Paul Canaan, Sean Patrick Doyle, Kevin Smith Kirkwood, Kyle Post, Joey Taranto, Adinah Alexander, Douglas Baldeo, Eugene Barry-Hill, Stephen Berger, Alfred DalPino, Anna Eilinsfeld, Mia Gentile, Gaelen Gilliland, Natalie Joy Johnson, Jake Katzman, Eric Leviton, Ellyn Marie Marsh, John Jeffrey Martin, Graham Montgomery, Jake Odmark, Nathan Peck, Robert Pendilla, Jennifer Perry, Stephen Tewksbury, Jeremy T. Villas, and Timothy Ware.

For tickets and more information, click here.

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Kinky Boots

Closed: April 7, 2019