After three years and 1000 performances, Billy Porter took his final bow as Lola in the Tony Award winning Kinky Boots . His final performance Friday night, November 20 at the Hirschfeld Theatre in New York City, where it will continue to run. Porter’s role as Lola will be taken over by actor, singer and TV personality Wayne Brady (Whose Line is it Anyway?)
The show took home six 2013 Tony® Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score (Cyndi Lauper), Best Choreography (Jerry Mitchell), Best Orchestrations (Stephen Oremus), and Best Sound Design (John Shivers). The show also received the Drama League, Outer Critics Circle, and Broadway.com Awards for Best Musical, along with many other accolades.
Porter has played ‘Lola’ since Kinky Boots’ pre-Broadway run in Chicago in 2012, and departs the show after more than 1000 performances in the role. He won the 2013 Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award, along with a 2014 Grammy Award for the role.
A huge crowd waited outside for autographs and a chance to meet Porter and the cast.
Theater Pizzazz’s JK Clarke and Louis Deacy were on the scene at curtain call and a champagne-toast after-party (attended by Cyndi Lauper and Leslie Uggams, among others), to capture the moment.
Photos: JK Clarke and Louis Deacy
