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Inspired by one of the great passions of the modern age, Shoes explores the gamut of footwear, from the highs of the Louboutin to the lows of the Croc. Composed by Richard Thomas, in his first large-scale production since the legendary West End and Broadway hit Jerry Springer - The Opera, Shoes features 32 toe-tappingly catchy, footwear-inspired song and dance numbers – and sees life told from street-level perspective with wit, irreverence and affection.

Shoes features choreography and direction by multi-award winning Stephen Mear (Sweet Charity, Mary Poppins, Hello Dolly!), acclaimed as “the best showbiz choreographer we have” (The Guardian). Alongside Mear, Sadler’s Wells has invited leading choreographers Aletta Collins (Bloom, The Tempest, Jesus Christ Superstar), Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (zero degrees, Sutra), Kate Prince (Into the Hoods) and Mark Smith (Deaf Men Dance) to create dance numbers inspired by Thomas’s songs.

Performing in over 250 pairs of shoes, the cast of 12 dancers includes So You Think You Can Dance’s Chloe Campbell, Mandy Montanez and Drew McOnie, plus Zoonation’s Teneisha Bonner, and Aaron Sillis, winner of the South Bank Show Breakthrough award for his role in Matthew Bourne’s Dorian Gray.

Shoes also features a live band and four singers including Olivier award-nominated Alison Jiear (Jerry Springer - The Opera, On the Town) and bestselling artist Kate Miller-Heidke, whose latest album went platinum in her native Australia in 2009.

Director Stephen Mear says “Some of the greatest choreographers; Balanchine, Robbins and Petit were drawn outside their balletic domain to create work for musicals and the glamorous Parisian dance revue scene. For this subject matter, and Richard Thomas’'s unique yet wide variety of songs and music, the other ingredient had to be dance. Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Aletta Collins, Kate Prince and myself, all have totally different variations of style, enabling us to bring to the show as much diversity through the dancers as Richard will bring through his wonderful music.”