“Hand me feathers, glitter, and a hot glue gun – and I can make the world a beautiful place.”

These words could essentially be the motto of all Broadway musicals, but they are at the heart of “Kinky Boots,” the 2013 Tony Award winner for Best Musical, now playing at the Hollywood Pantages.

The musical follows Charlie Price (Steven Booth), who struggles to save the shoe factory he inherited from his father from bankruptcy. He finds inspiration in the unlikely figure of drag queen Lola (Kyle Taylor Parker), the speaker of the fabulous words above. Inspired by Lola, Charlie sets out to work with her designs to create stiletto boots strong enough to support the weight of cross-dressing men. Along the way, they not only discover how to make a kinky boot, but truths about what they want from their lives and the power of acceptance.

The musical, with a book by renowned Broadway writer and actor Harvey Fierstein and a score from rock goddess Cyndi Lauper, is one heck of a good time. It is bursting with flashy costumes and production numbers, feel-good themes, and a solid mix of humor and heartfelt moments. 

The show’s messages about accepting others for who they are echo those of Harvey Fierstein’s other long-running Broadway hit 1983’s “La Cage Aux Folles.” The chorus of the musical’s finale and signature anthem “Raise You Up/Just Be” assert the same sentiments at “La Cage’s” memorable showstopper “I Am What I Am.” While “Boots” Lola proclaims, “Just Be/Who You Wanna Be/Never let them tell you who you ought to be,” she could just as easily share Albin from “La Cage’s” assertion that “Your life is a sham ‘til you can shout out loud/I am what I am/I am what I am/And what I am needs no excuses.”

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At a time, where many people, especially those from the transgender community, still struggle with acceptance, the show’s themes about self-love and learning to approach others with an open mind are especially pertinent.  However, though the show speaks to questions of gender and sexuality most particularly, it will resonate with anyone who has ever felt like an outsider or misunderstood.

While Fierstein was already a proven Broadway entity, Grammy-winning 80s icon Cyndi Lauper embarked on a new form of songwriting with “Kinky Boots” and deservedly won the Tony Award for Best Score. Her powers as a musical storyteller are on full display throughout. She excels not only in her wheelhouse of emotional power ballads, but also manages to craft a wide variety of emotionally affective songs from traditional Broadway production numbers like “Everybody Say Yeah” to quieter, reflective duets such as “Not My Father’s Son.” Her music imbues the show with a sense of effervescent fun from start to finish.

The production numbers, featuring choreography by Jerry Mitchell, are high-energy, eye-popping entertainment. “Everybody Say Yeah” which closes the first act, features a dance sequence on top of a conveyer belt. Cast members run, jump, dance, and slide their way across the moving set pieces, weaving the number into the shoe factory environment while simultaneously pulling off an impressive and playful stunt. It’s like watching someone perform a musical finale on a treadmill – a jaw-dropping feat that pulses with excitement both from the ensemble’s energy and the inherent risk in their performance. All the while, pair of knee-high, red boots with a sparkle factor to rival the ruby slippers, sit at the center of the action – a sensational prop to cap the production number.

“Raise You Up/Just Be” which concludes the entire show is also electrifying, but for entirely different reasons – it too is rousing in its energy and melody line, but it also benefits from spectacular costumes by Gregg Barnes that extend beyond the glimpse of the red boots at the end of Act One. Here, the drag queens show off the completed titular kinky boots in outfits ranging from cheetah-licious to a Union Jack ensemble that would make the Queen of England feel lacking in patriotism. Stellar costumes dot the production throughout, but this concluding fashion show is a reminder of the outlandish sartorial delights only possible in the zany world of musical theater.

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This production marks the first national tour of “Kinky Boots,” and they’ve assembled a strong cast to travel around the country. Though the entire ensemble is tightly knit and moves as a strong unit, the cast has two stellar standouts – Kyle Taylor Parker as Lola and Lindsay Nicole Chambers as Lauren.

Parker dominates the stage every time he struts on to it—he’s so magnetic almost everyone else on stage becomes irrelevant. The show is built around Lola’s ability to wow audiences, as she is a performer herself, and songs like “Land of Lola” and “Sex Is in the Heel” are production numbers that are primarily star vehicles for the actor filling Lola’s shoes. Parker is more than up to the task, and he not only excels as a larger-than-life drag queen, but also captures the audience with emotional nuance in quieter moments as Lola struggles to be accepted by her family and coworkers. He combines this flash with emotional subtlety in Lola’s penultimate number “Hold Me in Your Heart,” a performance that rivals Jennifer Holliday’s “And I Am Telling You” from “Dreamgirls.”

Lindsay Nicole Chambers is irresistible as Lauren, a charming, spunky factory worker and potential love interest for Charlie. Her wacky facial expressions and double takes are hilarious and inject an extra jolt of humor into every scene in which she appears. She shines both vocally and as a comedienne on her solo number “The History of Wrong Guys,” the song that is arguably closest to Cyndi Lauper’s signature female rock anthems. Chambers acts and sings her heart out on the song – leaving audiences cheering in sympathy as they relate to her history of dating mishaps, but also laughing at her physical antics. In one particularly hilarious moment, she uses a factory air gun to create a pop diva hair-blowing effect as she sings.

Though the cast is solid, there is one minor complaint – the show is set in the United Kingdom and the casts’ dialects often leave a lot to be desired. From Lola’s utterly flawless phrasing to Charlie’s middling Midlands dialect to Nicola’s (Grace Stockdale) ghastly attempt to sound remotely British, the accents vary widely in quality and believability. The production could’ve done with more dialect coaching before hitting the road.

Still, that complaint aside, this tour is a wonderful production of a delightful confection of a musical. Like a favorite, well-worn shoe, it’s a feel-good experience. So often, contemporary storytelling gets caught up in anti-heroes and deeply probing, contemplative material – “Kinky Boots” is a refreshing antidote to that trend. It carries a message with it, but ultimately, it’s really just a fun night out.

"Kinky Boots" is playing through November 30 at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre (6233 Hollywood Blvd.). For tickets and more information visit www.HollywoodPantages.com

Contact Staff Writer Maureen Lee Lenker here or follow her on Twitter @maureenlee89

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