Cyndi Lauper says ‘Kinky Boots’ offers hope for a new time

By MARK KENNEDY
AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Three years after it closed on Broadway, the musical “Kinky Boots” returns to New York City. The show may not have changed, but the country has. The Cyndi Lauper- and Harvey Fierstein-created musical landed on Broadway in 2013, with a big hug to acceptance, tolerance and love. It reappears off-Broadway now as same-sex gains and privacy rights seem under threat. The musical is about a staid British shoe factory on the brink of ruin that retrofits itself into a maker of footwear for drag queens. Lauper, whose hits include “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and “Time After Time,” says one thing special about it is that everyone evolves.