“You all do realize you’re talking about shoes?”

With this line, Charlie Price (Steven Booth) cutely undercuts “The Most Beautiful Thing in the World," the lavish opening number of Kinky Boots that claims the most beautiful thing is a shoe. And while the quip is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, he has a point. The 5th Avenue Theatre’s presentation of the first national touring production of the 2013 Tony winner for Best musical has enough glitz and Broadway wonder to enchant viewers that are ready to be fully swept away, but there are enough small and nagging problems undercutting the show and preventing it from being enthralling.

The plot centers on Charlie Price, the heir to the small town British shoe company Price and Sons. Charlie has no intention of carrying on the family business, but when his father unexpectedly passes, he’s thrust into the position of trying to keep the struggling factory afloat. His problem is that no one wants the traditional old shoes Price and Sons makes anymore. When Charlie attempts to stand up for a lady being harassed on the street at night, his world collides with Lola (Kyle Taylor Parker), a boisterous drag queen. Lola’s complaints about the cheap nature of the high heel boots the drag queens wear sparks Charlie to try and save the factory by switching production to make quality stiletto boots. When he brings Lola on as a designer, there's a culture clash between the blue collar workers and the drag queen in their midst. They must confront their issues while attempting get the kinky boots ready for display at Milan Fashion Week.

With a booming voice and magnetic stage presence, Parker carries the show with his portrayal of Lola, making her a brash typhoon of charisma that almost overpowers the rest of the cast entirely. He excels both playing up the flamboyant side of Lola the performer (like her introduction, “Land of Lola”) and by bringing intelligence during the quieter moments that give the character a personable sense of grounding (as is the case with “Hold Me in Your Heart” near the show’s end). As Lola’s counterbalance, Booth is able to capture Charlie’s simultaneous optimism and timidity. Lindsay Nicole Chamber delivers a needed dose of sweetness as Lauren, Charlie’s love interest and super supportive employee.

The most impressive part of Kinky Boots is the stage choreography; not the dance moves (which only impress when the drag queens are front and center), but the way the cast shifts aspects of the stage throughout the production. The central stairway scaffold moves and gets spun around by the cast throughout the show becoming the office of Price and Sons, a bathroom, and a drag club entryway. The highlight of the stage movement comes during the first act finale “Everybody Say Yeah,” where pieces of the factory rapidly shift to become platforms for acrobatic treadmill dancing that was clearly inspired by OK Go’s “Here It Goes Again” music video. There are also simple touches, like how a moving screen seamlessly transitions the boy playing young Charlie to the adult version during the opening number. It’s oddly captivating waiting to see how the stage choreography will transform the world of Kinky Boots next.

The major shortcoming of Kinky Boots arises from its humor. The show quite simply doesn’t pack much of a comedic punch. The script tries for plenty of fish out of water gags with the drag queens, but there are few laughs for a show striving for comedy. It also suffers in the comparison game when stacked up against the previous Tony winners for Best Musical that have recently graced the Seattle stage. The Book of Mormon (2011 Tony winner) is obviously in another stratosphere of humor, but Kinky Boots isn't even nearly as funny as the Once (2012 Tony winner). There’s also a much, much funnier drag-based theatrical production currently playing a mile and a half away in the form of Seattle Rep’s The Vaudevillians. The one real comedic highlight comes from Luaren’s lone solo number, “The History of Wrong Guys.” It’s by far the best number in the show, as Lauren expresses her growing crush on Charlie in a spastic pop blast with sugary quirk that showcases the very best of Kinky Boots composer Cyndi Lauper.

The story strangely moves along way too quickly at some points and dwells on trivialities at other moments, leading to uneven and rushed character development. The plot shifts from everything going good to bad back to good with almost no time for an emotional impact to be felt. Most troublingly, some of Charlie’s decisions late in the show seem to be totally incongruous with everything that led up to them. There’s no adequate explanation why a character so totally open and willing to risk the wellbeing of the factory and its employee’s future on a wild idea like drag queen boots would suddenly and inexplicably have borderline bigoted outbursts. It’s illogical, flawed writing.

When it comes to the spectacle of the musical, Kinky Boots succeeds. It’s got the visual energy and Lola’s pep to carry it through. It’s just a shame that the whole production can’t reach the same high-kicking level.

Kinky Boots
Thru Oct 26, 5th Avenue Theatre, $50–$145