Kinky Boots, Opera House Manchester

There are no well known songs in it and no star names - it is the show itself that makes this one of the joyous and uplifting musicals I have seen this year. If you need a pick me up to banish any blues then this could be the antidote you need.

Based on the successful film, Kinky Boots the stage adaptation features songs written by Cyndi Lauper. Don't go expecting to hear retreads of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and Time After Time, these new songs have been written for the show and with their camp anthems and torch songs they fit in perfectly.

Everyone loves an underdog even better when they strive above the pessimism around them to come out on top. Charlie Price (Joel Harper-Jackson) takes over the running of his late father's shoe factory in Northampton. The factory is loosing out on business to cheap foreign imports so to survive they need to fund a niche market to tap into.

His girlfriend Nicola (Helen Ternent) has her eyes on a big wedding and an apartment in the housing development that could be built on the shoe factory if it closes.

After a pedestrian start things heat up when Charlie, after being mugged in London, meets up with female impersonator Lola (Callum Francis) who appears in a seedy London club. It turns out that Lola in real life is Simon from Clacton!

Charlie suggests that the boots Lola is wearing are cheap and the heels cannot sustain the weight of a man, so with the help of George (Adam Price) who is part of the fixtures at Price and Son, because he has been there so long, they design pairs of high heeled boots for Lola.

The choreography never misses a beat as the cast perform Sex Is In The Heel for a show stopping routine. Colourful and totally outrageous it was hard not to smile.

Former Coronation Street star Paula Lane (Lauren) is love struck on Charlie but does she get her man in the end? Now that would be telling.

Yes, it is very funny but underneath the humour there is the sexism, industrial struggles and stereotypical sexual prejudices that were prevalent during the time in which the musical is set. There is the typical male chauvinist shop steward Don (Demitri Lampra) who challenges Don to a boxing match but Lola lets Don win so as not to humiliate him in front of his friends.

The climax of the musical is when the action moves to Milan and the fashion show there where the new boots are to be premiered to all the main shoe buyers in Europe. Yes there is a twist in the tale which I don't want to spoil in the ending for you.

It's hard to take your eyes off Lola and her troupe of dancers - Lola's Angels with their colourful costumes and wigs. All the characters seem believable and you leave wishing that Lola was your best friend.

Raise You Up a disco tinged track (think the Vengaboys mixed with Village People) closes the show, the title of the song could not have been more apt. Well suited and defiantly well booted.

Runs until Saturday 1 December

Opera House, Manchester
www.atgtickets.com/Manchester
Telephone 0844 8713018