Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department alums Isaiah Silvia-Chandley ’18 and Michael George ’16 won a rave review from the Chicago Reader for their choreography for the professional Chicago-area regional premiere of the Tony Award-winning musical Kinky Boots — the fun-filled story of a small-town shoemaker whose encounter with a drag queen unexpectedly changes his business and his life — at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora, Illinois. “Isaiah Silvia-Chandley and Michael George’s choreography [is] spectacular, to be sure, but also more importantly, like every other element of this wonder show, integral to the story,” wrote Reader critic Jack Helbig in the paper’s September 2, 2021 edition. “The drag queens dance differently than the factory workers, and Lola dances differently when she is in all her splendor than when she is out of drag (when she seems like a bit of a squashed cabbage).” Helbig called the show itself “a pleasing mixture of the old and new. The form of the show is pure Broadway, as perfected 70 years or more ago. But the feel of the show, and its swagger, is very 21st century.”

As previously reported in this blog, the Paramount’s production of Kinky Boots, which runs through October 17, marks the theatre’s return to live performances for the first time since the onset of the pandemic. For tickets, click here. Besides co-choreographers Silvia-Chandley, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BFA Program in Musical Theatre Performance, and George, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Acting, Columbia College Theatre Department alums involved in the show include performers Terrell Armstrong ’19 and De’Jah Jervai ’18, both graduates of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Musical Theatre, and Musical Theatre Performance BFA program graduate Dakota Hughes ’15; associate director Darren Patin ’17, a graduate of the Musical Theatre Performance BFA program; and COVID safety officer is Ben Barnes ’20, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Theatre with a Directing Concentration.