Falling head over HEELS

JOINING THE KINKY BOOTS CAST HAS BEEN A DREAM COME TRUE FOR JOHANNES RADEBE

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STRICTLY Come Dancing favou tite Johannes Radebe is making his acting debut as drag queen Lola in the new UK tour of Kinky Boots.

“It’s daunting and nerve-wracking,” admits Johannes, who has toured his own shows Freedom and Freedom Unleashed, “but at the same time it’s really exciting.

“I think I have been an actor in some way or other across my career, because I’m a storyteller. Now I get to say and sing how I feel as well as expressing myself through movement and dance.”

The high heels are no problem. “I’d worn heels in my house without anybody witnessing it for many years until Strictly gave me the platform to be fabulous and kinky in front of the world,” Johannes grins.

The singing has proven to be a bigger challenge but one that he's risen to. “I was quite discouraged as a child with my singing,” Johannes laughs. “My friends and family would say, ‘Please shut up, you sound like a sheep! But when I heard that this show was a possibility I started taking lessons and it’s been a beautiful thing to do.”

With a score by Cyndi Lauper and a book by Harvey Fierstein, Kinky Boots is based on the 2005 film of the same name (which was inspired by a true story). The Tony, Olivier and Grammy-winning show opened on Broadway in 2013 and in the West End in 2015.

The story revolves around Charlie Price, whose life is proving hard and whose relationship is on the rocks after he inherits his family’s failing shoe factory in Northampton. Then he meets drag queen Lola, whose sparkle, sass and unsteady heels might just hold the answer for saving Charlie's struggling business.