Billy Porter Extends Run in Broadway’s Kinky Boots; Stark Sands and Annaleigh Ashford to Depart Cast

2013 Tony Award winner Billy Porter has extended his contract in Broadway’s Kinky Boots through July 2014, producers have announced. Stark Sands and Annaleigh Ashford, his costars in this year’s Tony-winning Best Musical, will depart the production early next year.

Sands is set to play his final performance at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on January 26, while Ashford will leave in March to film the second season of the Showtime series Masters of Sex, on which she will become a regular cast member. Replacements for their roles, shoe-factory owner Charlie Price and his scrappy worker Lauren, will be announced in the coming weeks.

Additionally, the production will welcome Natalie Joy Johnson and Abby Mueller on December 23, taking over for cast members Tory Ross and Lucia Spina, respectively. The ensemble also features Lena Hall, Daniel Stewart Sherman, Marcus Neville, Paul Canaan, Kevin Smith Kirkwood, Kyle Taylor Parker, Kyle Post, Charlie Sutton, Joey Taranto, Andy Kelso, Adinah Alexander, Douglas Baldeo, Eugene Barry-Hill, Stephen Berger, Sandra DeNise, Jonah Halperin, Jaden Jordan, Eric Leviton, Ellyn Marsh, John Jeffrey Martin, Nathan Peck, Robert Pendilla, Jennifer Perry, Sebastian Hedges Thomas, Stephen Tewksbury, Timothy Ware, and Cortney Wolfson.

With a Tony-winning score by Cyndi Lauper and a book by Harvey Fierstein, Kinky Boots, directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, tells the story of Charlie Price (Sands), the owner of a failing shoe factory, who realizes that a sassy drag queen named Lola (Porter) has the key to the business’ success.

Click here for more information and tickets to Kinky Boots.