Kinky Boots at Short North Stage

Chaz Wolcott’s choreography is key to that world-building, deployed like a scalpel and a glitter bomb in the correct measure. Jokes – going back to the movie – revolve around the physical lack of comfort strait-laced Charlie and the factory crowd have with the flashier shoes they’re switching to; that stumbling has to sell, has to draw a clear distinction between the ease and the stylized moves of the Angels (Cameron Edris, Louis Hansen, Miss Jaye, Mitchy Kallner, Hunter Minor, PJ Palmer – all delightful, with Miss Jaye also handing the production’s makeup) and the unease of the other characters without turning that stumbling into making the people a joke. It accomplishes that beautifully and helps make the final number, the pumping club anthem “Lift You Up,” with everyone in knee-high red boots and also dancing using the same vocabulary, adding to the emotional quality of the song and the sense of possibility that’s in the DNA of all great dance music.