Hickory – KINKY BOOTS, the smash Broadway musical based on the 2005 British film of the same title is coming to the Hickory Community Theatre, June 2-17. The musical centers around a young man named Charlie Price. Charlie has just inherited is family’s struggling shoe factory and is faced with a choice, whether to end his family legacy and close it forever, or find a way to save it. There are two women in his life each pulling him in different directions. His fiancée Nicola wants him to sell off the property so they can live the high life, while a factory worker named Lauren is trying to inspire him to save it by finding a new market. In the Hickory production, Nicola is played by Summer Reich and Elizabeth Edwards plays Lauren.
Edwards made her HCT debut last season, as Portia in SOMETHING ROTTEN, for which she received the HCT Kay Award for Supporting Female. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre Performance from Appalachian State University, where she played Love in EVERYBODY. Earlier in her college career she was cast as Martha in SPRING AWAKENING in spring 2020 but the production had to be cancelled. Originally from Catawba, she is commuting from West Jefferson to do theatre, while also completing graduate school and tending bar at The Speckled Trout in Blowing Rock. She says she chose to audition for this show, “To prove to my community that drag is not the problem.”
Reich is a senior at Lenoir-Rhyne University, pursuing a dual Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music and Theatre. KINKY BOOTS is her HCT debut. During her studies at LRU she has played Ada Lovelace in ADA AND THE ENGINE, Natalie in NEXT TO NORMAL, Rona Lisa Peretti in THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE and Cecily in THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. She is a member of the Lenoir-Rhyne Playmakers and the LR College singers. Originally from Winston-Salem she relocated to Hickory to attend college. When asked about coming to HCT, Reich replied, “I have loved watching shows here and making friends from HCT.”
Performances of KINKY BOOTS are Fridays and Saturdays, June 2-17, at 7:30pm; Sundays, June 4 and 11, at 2:30pm; and, Thursday, June 15, at 7:30pm.
Tickets for all performances are $16 for adults and $10 for youth and students. For tickets visit hickorytheatre.org or call the box office at 828-328-2283. The production is rated PG-13.
PHOTO: Elizabeth Edwards (left) plays Lauren and Summer Reich plays Nicola in KINKY BOOTS. Photo by Eric Seale.
