'Kinky Boots' Billy Porter to help kick off Winter's Eve celebration

NEW YORK (WABC) -- For this year's Winter's Eve celebration, co-sponsored by WABC-TV, we're going to be joined by one of the most talented rising stars on Broadway.

Billy Porter stars in the hit musical "Kinky Boots," and he's a singing, dancing life force.

Eyewitness News anchor Bill Ritter sat down with him for sneak peak of what to expect this Winter's Eve.

We don't usually do stories about men dressing up as women, but when Billy Porter does it, it carries a message that is especially poignant on Thanksgiving.

And especially poignant given the heap of distrust and lack of respect and acceptance we've seen recently in communities across the country.

And it's wrapped up nicely inside a Broadway musical.

Al the songs, all the repartee, all the dancing, all the shoes -- all of it -- embracing the man dressed as a woman. So get over it and accept it, that's the theme of "Kinky Boots."

And it turns out the bright star who has emerged as the central character, Lola, is Porter, who is a little like the woman he portrays. He has lived the message of the play.

"Accepting who you are, which is about accepting other people for who they are, you can change the world when you change a mind," he said. "All of themes of the show are things that I truly have always believed in and made choices and decisions early on in my life that support those kinds of beliefs."

On Broadway, Porter finds himself not so much a role model but a town crier, issuing a clarion call for our modern family times.

"I do have a voice, especially when I get to be a part of shows like 'Kinky Boots,' where the material sort of illuminates and helps to move ideas forward and change people," he said. "The arts has the potential to transform minds and souls and spirits, and so I hope I'm a part of that."

More than 800 performances so far for this Tony Award winner, and he says it's emotionally glorious and physical taxing.

"I sleep a lot," he said. "I train a lot. It's very, very much like an athlete. I have to train to make sure my stamina stays up...I really am inside of my bliss. And that makes the process, the work that seems so difficult much, much easier...I'm entertaining the people."

And as for those heels?

"It's very empowering," he said. "It does something to a calf, it does something to a thigh, it does something to a booty."

You can watch the kickoff to Winter's Eve Monday night starting on Eyewitness News First at Four.