- There are 14 pairs of red boots, and 26 pairs of other colors and styles. In total, there are 122 pairs of shoes and boots in this production.
All photos in this story by Matt Gale Photography
- The highest heels are 6 inches tall, but they are not all that high. The average height is 4-5 inches – still quite the feat to walk in! (pun intended)
- To add to the heel height, some of the boots have platforms of up to 2 inches. On some boots, the platform is visible, while others have a hidden platform.
- With tall boots come long laces. The average lace length is 154 inches per boot. That’s almost 13 feet!
- There were many different materials used to create all of this fabulosity. Some boots were made of leather, while others were created with manmade materials. Then the fabulous was cranked up a notch by adding ribbon, rhinestones, paint, fabric, and even flowers.
- While the boots were not made completely from scratch, they were heavily altered and reinforced. Approximately 10-12 hours were spent on each pair of boots – that’s over 400 hours of booting!
Costume Designer Nicole Watts shared with us the process that went behind creating all these fabulous boots:
"We ordered boots from all over the place, and once we received them, we began to fit them with the actors. In the fitting process, we discussed the alterations we would make for each pair of boots.
These alterations can include, but are not limited to: paint, adding fabric and/or rhinestones, cutting down the boot to make a different shape, bracing the heel, changing laces out for a different color or elastic (for quick-change ease), and rubbering or sueding the bottom soles for dancing and safety purposes.
We then decide which alterations we will do in-house, and which alterations would be done by the cobbler. The functional alterations occurred as fast as possible so performers could use the boots in rehearsal, and the decor came after that in stages. The final product is what you see on the stage!"
