Season 7 winner of the television reality talent competition American Idol, David Cook, will be the next Charlie Price in the Tony Award-winning musical Kinky Boots. Cook will take over the role beginning Tuesday, April 3, 2018. He will play a limited run through Saturday, May 5, 2018. Cook, who released his brand-new EP Chromance on Friday, February 16, 2018, succeeds Jake Shears. Cook will join the recently announced Wayne Brady who takes over as ‘Lola’ on Monday, March 5, 2018.
“I am so thrilled and honored that I am going to be part of this show and get to work with so many amazing people!” Cook said. “I love the collaborative aspect of theatre, the idea of being part of a creative team and working it out in front of an audience each night. I can’t wait to join this incredible cast in Kinky Boots including the very talented Wayne Brady and Kirstin Maldonado!”. Additionally, Kirstin Maldonado of the hit acapella group Pentatonix and currently starring as ‘Lauren’, has extended her run through Thursday, April 26, 2018. She was originally scheduled to play through Sunday, April 8, 2018.
Cook immediately launched to stardom following his Season 7 American Idol title. Cook broke several Billboard chart records when 14 of his songs debuted on the Hot Digital Songs chart and 11 of his songs debuted on the Hot 100 and went on to sell more than 1.5 million albums, including his certified platinum eponymous album. Collectively, David has sold over 5 million tracks worldwide including 2 singles that have been certified Platinum. In 2012, platforms now.
Kinky Boots won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Musical, taking home wins for Cyndi Lauper’s score, Jerry Mitchell’s choreography, John Shivers’ sound design, Stephen Oremus’s orchestrations. Billy Porter snagged a Tony for Best Actor playing the drag queen Lola. The musical features a book by Harvey Fierstein (La Cage aux Folles, Torch Song Trilogy) and is based on the British film of the same name. Jerry Mitchell directed the production which also included Tony nominees Stark Sands and Annaleigh Ashford. Kinky Boots tells the uplifting and heartwarming tale of Charlie Price, a young man reluctantly taking over his family’s struggling shoe factory and looking for a fresh idea. Charlie meets and finds inspiration in Lola and together, they discover that it takes a good friend to make a great pair.
The current Broadway cast of Kinky Boots includes J. Harrison Ghee (as Lola), Jake Shears (as Charlie Price), Kirstin Maldonado (as Lauren), Daniel Stewart Sherman, Caroline Bowman, Marcus Neville, Adinah Alexander, Eugene Barry-Hill, Stephen Berger, Holly Davis, Jesus Del Orden, Stephane Duret, Mia Gentile, Blair Goldberg, Natalie Joy Johnson, Jake Katzman, Kevin Smith Kirkwood, Blaine Alden Krauss, Eric Leviton, Jake Odmark, John Jeffrey Martin, Julia McLellan, Michael Milkanin, Connor Mills, Christian Mullins, Fred Odgaard, Robert Pendilla, Jennifer Perry, Kyle Post, Charlie Sutton, Joey Taranto, Stephen Tewksbury.
Mark Robinson is the author of the two-volume encyclopedia The World of Musicals and maintains a theater and entertainment blog at markrobinsonwrites.com.