‘Kinky Boots’ a good fit for Cyndi Lauper, Harvey Fierstein

Girls just wanna have fun. So do boys. And so do boys dressed as girls.

The Tony-winning Broadway musical “Kinky Boots,” about fetish footwear for drag queens, kicked off in Las Vegas this week, the launch of a national tour that will come to the Hollywood Pantages on Nov. 11 for a three-week run.

Co-written by Harvey Fierstein (book) and Cyndi Lauper (music and lyrics), “Kinky Boots” racked up more Tonys in 2013 than any other production that year — six in all, including awards for musical and score. Lauper was the first woman to win solo in that latter category.

“I kept fighting for authenticity,” Lauper said of the score during a recent interview at San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre. Her songs in the show are noticeably varied, incorporating pop, soul, new wave, even tango. “There’s a song for everyone in there — they all have different styles — and there’s a character for everyone too, because it’s inclusive.”

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Based on the 2005 British film “Kinky Boots,” which was in turn based on a BBC2 documentary series episode from 1999, the musical is about a struggling shoe factory owner who joins forces with a drag queen to revive the family business with stilettos for men.

It was Fierstein’s idea to have Lauper write the score for “Kinky Boots” in the first place; the two are longtime fans of each other’s work and have been friends since 2003, when Lauper performed her “True Colors” for the AIDS research foundation amfAR, which was honoring Fierstein that night. Fierstein felt Lauper, in particular, would connect with the material.

“‘Kinky Boots’ is about two guys who had fathers that wanted their sons to turn out a certain way — and neither son wanted to take that path,” Fierstein said at the Orpheum. “It was such a natural for Cyndi because she understands having to reinvent yourself and having to make a place in the world.”

The touring production, directed and choreographed by Tony winner Jerry Mitchell, stars Kyle Taylor Parker (“In the Heights” national tour) as Lola and Steven Booth (“Avenue Q”) as Charlie Price.

The production’s themes of community, family and tolerance have resonated with audiences: During its 2013 Broadway run at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, “Kinky Boots” broke sales records for the venue — and is still playing there.

“And so far they love it in Vegas,” Lauper said.

“As long as they’re human beings,” Fierstein said, “they’ll get something out of it.”

It seems “Kinky Boots” has legs.