Often found at theaters and museums, Kwon Mee-yoo has covered a wide range of cultural fields from K-pop and dramas to theater and fine art for over a decade. Now as K-Culture Desk editor, she tries to connect Korean culture with global readers through fresh perspectives.
Park Eun-tae breaks frame in 'Kinky Boots'
Park Eun-tae, center, as Lola in the musical "Kinky Boots" / Courtesy of CJ ENM
By Kwon Mee-yoo
By Kwon Mee-yoo
The musical "Kinky Boots" has returned to Korea, this time with a new Lola in Park Eun-tae, who breathes new life into the show which conveys the message of “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.”
The musical tells the story of an unexpected friendship between Charlie, the inheritor of a four generation shoe manufacturing family business, and Lola, a drag queen whose father was a boxer who disowned him for cross dressing.
CJ ENM took part in the production of Kinky Boots on Broadway and subsequently earned the rights to stage the show in Asia. It premiered in Korea in 2014, soon after its Broadway debut in 2013, and was staged again in 2016 and 2018.
This year, three actors play the role of the flamboyant yet serious drag queen, Lola ― Choi Jae-rim and Kang Hong-seok returned to reprise their previous roles, while Park takes his first step into the transvestite role.
Park was an unlikely choice to play Lola when the cast was announced. A business major from Hanyang University, Park has slowly yet earnestly built his career in musical theater since 2006. He has a wide range of characters under his belt, from Jesus in "Jesus Christ Superstar" to the split personalities of Jekyll and Hyde in "Jekyll and Hyde," the anarchist and assassin Lucheni in "Elisabeth," and romantic photographer Robert in "The Bridges of Madison County."
Before wearing Lola's high heels, Park was brandishing his murderous blade as the lead in the Stephen Sondheim musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" earlier this year.
Park Eun-tae as Lola in the musical "Kinky Boots" / Courtesy of CJ ENM
For the first time in red high heeled boots and glittering drag queen costume, Park explores an uncharted path. He proves that he is the right person to play Lola, who portrays masculinity through heavy makeup, fancy attire, alongside delicateness and consideration.
With his clear voice, Park brings new ambience to the show as well to Cyndi Lauper's soulful music. However, Park does not miss a chance to show his strength in more slow, dramatic numbers. In ""Not My Father's Son," Park's Lola tells how he was trained to be a boxer, but his father abandoned him after he appeared for a match in drag, sharing his agony towards his father, similar to Charlie's.
Lola also belts out "Hold Me in Your Heart" at a nursing home in his home town of Clacton, in front of his dying father, reaching reconciliation after years.
Lee Seok-hoon of SG Wannabe and Sunggyue of Infinite play Charlie opposite Lola.
“Kinky Boots” runs through Nov. 1 at Blue Square in Seoul.