J. Harrison Ghee, aka Lola in ‘Kinky Boots’

There are any number of theatrical virtues in “Kinky Boots,” the musical which ends its sparkling run at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House June 10.

Take your pick: the smart, funny book by Harvey Fierstein of “Torch Song Trilogy” fame, 1980s pop star Cyndi Lauper’s accessible pop music and tunes, an appealing youngish cast, the spectacular costumes by Gregg Barnes, the familial and familiar plot and, of course, them thar thigh-high red boots.

But it’s a fellow by the name of J. Harrison Ghee as the drag queen Lola, the embodiment of the show’s theme of acceptance, who often lifts the proceedings right up and into the light and hearts of the audience, often at moments when it seems to be tottering a little. The show may be about a young son of a shoe factory owner who tries to make things right, but it’s really about whatever Lola wants and, more important, who Lola is.

“It’s about acceptance, about tolerance, about being proud of who you are,” says Ghee, the North Carolina native who got the part after understudying it. “For me, it was just a wonderful opportunity. I mean, it’s therapy for me. I saw a lot of myself in it.”

Ghee makes quite an impression. At 6-foot-4, strutting and marching on stage, he’s a hypnotically beautiful female presence, dominating every scene.

Famously, Ghee is the son of a Fayetteville, North Carolina, missionary Baptist pastor, a situation that was a strain for a long time. He had come out to his family, which was difficult for the father-son relationship, and moved on to a show-business career, but until recently his father had not known that his son had performed in drag shows for six years prior to landing the starring role in “Kinky Boots.”

“He said, ‘Oh, that’s fine, you’re pretending to be a drag queen and you’re getting paid for it,’” Ghee said. “Well, I finally told him that that’s what I had been doing for a while. But he came to see the show, and he liked and understood it. And now, well, I think it’s actually helped our relationship a lot.”

“You know, you perform in different towns, in different cities, and the reaction can be different,” he said. “But I think, most of the time, it’s very, I don’t know, affirming. The audiences are with you. Because it’s about overcoming. Prejudices, clichés, all of that. Even if they’re not used to a really tall black man transforming into a beautiful woman.”

There’s a time when Ghee — after promising to help the young factory owner to design new kinds of boots — shows up in a clean, really spiffy, three-piece suit, where you have to remember that this is Lola as well.

“Kinky Boots” arrived in town shortly after the horrific mass shootings with 49 dead — most of them members of the LGBT community — in Orlando, about the same time that “La Cage aux Follies” had begun its run at Signature Theatre.

“My God, that first night here, it was electric,” Ghee said. “We played there, in Orlando, you know, and some of us had been at the club. It was such a jolt when that happened. I mean, you think, how awful, and how easily that could have been you.”

On stage, J. Harrison Ghee makes Lola real. “She is real, she’s a real person and character,” Ghee says. On stage, Ghee makes sure you won’t forget Lola. Ever.