In these risky economic days most producers strive to gain audience recognition by taking a famous movie, play, or book and turning it into a musical. Sometimes it’s a revival of a well-known success from the past, other times they use recognizable names from film and TV to attract that needed audience. So, it is quite a refreshing surprise when a musical like “KIMBERLY AKIMBO” comes along. It has no famous names in its cast nor are the composer and lyricist household names. What’s more, it is based on a little-known 2000 play of the same name by Lindsay-Abaire, Still, this small (only 9 in the cast) ‘musical that could’ managed to win five Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Score (music by Jeanine Tesori and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire), Best Book of a Musical ( David Lindsay-Abaire and two Acting Awards (Victoria Clark and Bonnie Milligan).
The musical centers on Kimberly Levaco, a 16-year-old girl with a disease that makes her age 4 or 5 years for every one calendar year. But otherwise, she is a normal teenager with dreams and hopes for as long as she can stay alive. Newly transplanted from Lodi, N.J. to another town in Bergan County, she is now the ‘new’ kid at school. But her spirit, humor and native intelligence quickly attracts 4 students, Delia (Grace Capeless), Martin (Darron Hayes), Teresa (Skye Alyssa Friedman) and Aaron (Pierce Wheeler), who are members of the glee club’s Acapella group. They all have some serious issues to deal with such as unrequited affections (2 are gay/2 are not), social awkwardness and staying afloat in a school whose students have labeled them ‘geeks.’ Also in the mix are Jeff (a totally winning Miguel Gil), who develops quite a crush on Kimberly and is the Tuba player in the school band, Kimberly’s totally dysfunctional parents, Buddy (Jim Hogan) and Pattie (Dana Steingold), and Kimberly’s even more dysfunctional aunt, Debra (Emily Koch – hilarious). You would think that these elements would lead to a maudlin evening in the theatre, but under Jessica Stone’s direction, whenever you think it might go that way she sends the play sailing off in another direction frequently one of comedy. Describing the events of the show would be one large spoiler, so I am not going to go there. But keep an eye out for the scene with Kimberly’s dad driving her and her boyfriend to school. It’s brilliant acting by all 3 and terrific comedy. Plot-wise, let’s just say that Kimberly and crew learn that every moment of life is a gift, and one must learn to appreciate it as just that.
The entire show is perfectly cast with not one weak link in the chain. At the performance I attended, I did not see Carolle Carmello perform the role of Kimberly but rather her standby, Valerie Wright, who gave a brilliant performance. As Kimberly is 16 years of age, her disease makes her look somewhere around 60 (or more). So, the role is played by an adult that if not that age can solidly appear to be in that age range. But Ms. Wright’s performance was so strong, that you quickly started to view her as a young adult. Her every body movement, attitude and the tone of every spoken word was that of a teenager; Truly a masterclass in acting.
The set by David Zinn is minimalistic and is more suggestive than anything but it allows a totally seamless flow between scenes and still gives clarity to each scene’s location.
If you’re tired of another production of something you’ve seen several times before, treat yourself to something shiny and new and go see “KIMBERLY AKIMBO” now at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood through November 3, 2024 (www.BroadwayinHollywood.com) and then in Orange County at the Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts (www.scfta.org) from Jan 21,2025 – Feb 2, 2025). Visit their websites for more information or to order tickets.