You might think the stage is the last place technology would find an outpost. Really, doesn’t it seem like sacrilege to condense Shakespeare into a bunch of tweets? But theaters around the world are thinking up new ways to connect with audiences all the time and technology is making so many more productions available to more people.

Back in the late 90s, “web circles” and personal fan sites connected fans of the musical Rent. And more recently, the National Theatre in London launched a series of live events, including broadcasting the U.K. production of A Streetcar Named Desire to movie theaters worldwide. So when Randi Zuckerberg sat down to talk about the Broadway smash hit Kinky Boots with the show’s creators — 80s rock icon Cyndi Lauper and Broadway vet Harvey Fierstein — she of course got their take on how tech is changing theater and how it affected their experience of creating the show.

When Lauper was writing the score for Kinky Boots, she would use her iPhone to dictate the songs into the phone and then play them back later, so she could be writing music wherever she traveled.

Lauper and Fierstein were tweeting up a storm backstage before heading out for the interview. Harvey showed off his new iPad, but Randi didn’t have the heart to tell him Apple was coming out with a whole new suite of products the following day 🙂

They didn’t take too kindly to the idea of phones in the audience, though. Randi asked what they thought about “tweet seats” in some theaters and Harvey said, “don’t you dare!”

Kinky Boots, based on the 2005 film of the same name, tells the story of Charlie, the heir to a shoe factory in the English Midlands, and Lola, a drag queen who becomes Charlie’s shoe muse and reinvigorates a dying company town with new life. Ben Brantley wrote in the New York Times that the show has a “love- and heat-seeking score that performs like a pop star on Ecstasy.” Kinky Boots won six Tony awards in 2013 including Best Musical and Best Score.

The touring production opened earlier in September in Las Vegas and will open in San Francisco on Dec. 2.  One of San Francisco’s best-kept secrets is that it is a great theater town and SHN theaters, which owns the Orpheum Theatre where Kinky Boots will play, has brought dozens of great shows to the Bay Area in recent years.

Here are a few more highlights from Randi’s chat with Lauper and Fierstein on her Sirius show last week live from the Orpheum in S.F.:

On trailblazing:

Lauper was the first woman to win alone in the best score Tony category – a huge honor. She talked about the climate for women working behind the scenes on Broadway today.

They both gushed about actor Kyle Taylor Parker’s performance as Lola in the touring cast. It’s a tall order to fill the shoes – er… boots — that Billy Porter, who originated the role, struts in on the Broadway stage.

They both gushed about actor Kyle Taylor Parker’s performance as Lola in the touring cast. It’s a tall order to fill the shoes – er… boots — that Billy Porter, who originated the role, struts in on the Broadway stage.

On friendship:

Harvey got teary when Randi asked him about working with Robin Williams. The two starred together in 1993’s Mrs. Doubtfire.

We hope to share a full stream of the interview with you soon. In the meantime, get your tickets to Kinky Boots in S.F. here.

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