Bringing it home

Dance captain Stephen Carrasco was raised just minutes away from the Wharton Center stage. An Okemos native, the New York-based dancer graduated from Okemos High School in 2002.

While Carrasco, 30, has been in four Broadway shows (including the Broadway run of “Kinky Boots”) and a few national touring shows, this musical is a special achievement for him.

“’Kinky Boots,’ for me, marks a whole bunch of dreams I had and never fully accomplished,” he said. “I performed on the Tony awards with ‘Kinky Boots.’ I was on the cover of the New York Times’ arts section with ‘Kinky Boots.’ So to be able to bring that piece back to my hometown — I’ve never been so proud of something in my whole life. And I’m thrilled I get to share it with the people I grew up with.”

The story of “Kinky Boots” centers around Charlie Price, heir to a failing shoe factory. The straight-laced Charlie forms an unlikely partnership with Lola, a drag queen, and the two of them hatch a plan to save the flagging business. In the process, they discover that they have more in common than either first suspected. The transformative power of this message, said Carrasco, is what makes this show so special to him.

“There’s always that one man in the front row, who has clearly been taken to the show by his wife. And that man, the second all of the drag queens come out, he’s terrified. He’s absolutely petrified to be in the audience,” said Carrasco. “But by the end of the show, that same man has a huge smile on his face. He’s leaping to his feet, clapping along. That’s the coolest thing ever.”

While Carrasco has enjoyed a great run on Broadway, pursuing this career wasn’t a given for the dancer. When he graduated from high school, he faced a tough decision. He was accepted into the musical theater program at Syracuse University, but he was also accepted at the University of Michigan where he could pursue a more traditional career.

“Am I going to go, spend all of this money, to major in something that makes me happy, or am I going to spend maybe less money, and major in something that I don’t really care about? And, thank goodness, at the age of 18, I was wise enough to follow my heart,” Carrasco said. “And I’m really grateful that I did that. Your job is not who you are, certainly, but it is what you do and that’s such a huge part of your life. And I’m very proud to say that I don’t feel like I’ve worked a day in my life.”

A dance captain is a crucial part of touring shows, overseeing the dancers and making sure the show stays true to the original choreography. In addition to being dance captain for this production, Carrasco is also what known in Broadway as a “swing.” He doesn’t have an assigned role each night, but he understudies the male dance ensemble and a few of the featured male roles. That way, he is able to step in quickly to fill one of the dancer’s roles, or tracks, in case of injury or illness.

“I don’t have to do the same thing every night, which is very fun for me,” he said. “I think I’ve done 11 of the 12 male tracks in our show. I love the variety in that.”

Despite performing the same show eight times a week for months at a time, Carrasco doesn’t find it hard to stay focused.

“It’s easy to do over and over again because, no matter how many times I’ve done it, there’s a person watching it for the first time,” he said. “As long as you can remember that, it’s very easy.”

Carrasco also finds motivation in the transformative power of the musical´s message.

“This is a musical that tells a story that relates to every single person’s life. All of us, no matter how open-minded we are, have looked at something or someone in our lives and judged them. Without knowing them and without understanding them,” he said. “’Kinky Boots’ can really take you on a journey, and show you that you can change the world when you change your mind. And there’s nothing more powerful than that.”