If you can’t see the Broadway original, a touring show is like the satisfying made-in-China knockoff of a famous designer brand. Thus the discount pleasure of Kinky Boots, which offers the style of a pair of (fake) Jimmy Choos coupled with the comfort of Uggs.

Winner of six Tony Awards, Kinky Boots only appears to be a subversive show. Based on the 2005 Brit-com (and some actual events), it follows the efforts of Charlie Price to save his struggling family shoe factory. He teams with drag queen Lola to revive the business by sating the neglected niche market for sturdy stilettos suitable for cross-dressers. Never mind the footwear or drag humor, this is an expertly crafted, mainstream show about accepting other people for who they are. No wonder it’s a Broadway smash, still propelled by the talents of director Jerry Mitchell, writer Harvey Fierstein, and songwriter Cyndi Lauper.

Lola is the flashy role here, yet Steven Booth’s depiction of demure Charlie demands as much attention as Kyle Taylor Parker’s pump-sporting Lola. And Joe Coots merits mention as the meat-headed bully Don, whose character undergoes a ponderous personal transformation.

This is a well-rehearsed ensemble—and also well-costumed, thanks to Gregg Barnes’ impeccably picked accessories—that delivers the big numbers with aplomb. The fashion-education production number “Sex Is in the Heel” amusingly argues why flats are utterly unacceptable. Closing Act 1, the kinetic and crowd-pleasing “Everybody Say Yeah” has the company celebrate the first Kinky Boot prototype by dancing on conveyor belts a la OK Go’s video for “Here It Goes Again.” And the show’s feel-good finale, “Raise You Up/Just Be,” supplies more sparkle than a Merv Griffin TV show, while reminding millennials that before Lady Gaga, there was Lauper.

My evening’s performance was not without a few forgivable technical foibles, namely some failed microphones and other sound flaws. Thus, after the number “What a Woman Wants,” I was left wondering exactly what the answer was.

For the same price as a nice new pair of shoes at Nordstrom, a better value is a ticket to Kinky Boots—a show as classic as Chanel and as fun as Betsey Johnson. 5th Avenue Theatre, 1308 Fifth Ave., 625-1900, 5thavenue.org. $45.25 and up. Runs Tues.–Sun. Ends Oct. 26.

stage@seattleweekly.com