This year, at the Tony Awards, a delightfully quirk little musical called “Maybe Happy Ending”, beat out other big competitors to win the top prize. The small, unusual musical “Kimberly Akimbo” won the best musical award in 2023. It’s not about robotic romance but rather family dynamics. The touring version of Jessica Stone’s original production, directed by Jeanine Tesori, has finally arrived in downtown Chicago nearly three years after it made its Broadway debut. Carolee Carmello has been a star on this city’s stages for many years, performing in Stephen Sondheim shows and other musicals. She is now touring in the title role, originally played by Victoria Clark. The rest of the nine-person ensemble includes at least two romantic couples who have been together for a long time, which could explain why the cast is so close.
The musical “Kimberly Akimbo” is based on the play of the same title by David Lindsay-Abaire. I reviewed it at A Red Orchid Theater in 2005 with Roslyn Alexandre as the lead. Broadway fans know that the musical is about a teen with progeria. This rare medical condition causes the body to age four times faster than normal. Kimberly looks like a woman in their 60s when she is 16, just as she does in the show. Kimberly’s life is also accelerated, as logic would suggest.
Since most of us don’t know if we will die early, the play and musical, with lyrics and book by the original author, allow us to see the world through the eyes someone who is more aware than others of life’s unavoidable shortness and the importance of living the moment, rather than in the past or future.
Kimberly’s classmates (played respectively by Grace Capeless and Skye Alyssa Friedman) are transformed into a Greek chorus of show choir nerds in the musical. They try to reconcile the angst they felt as teenagers with the problems that Kimberly faces. Kimberly also has more problems to deal with. Her family is made up of narcissists. Pattie, her mostly clueless mother (Laura Woyasz), Buddy, her alcoholic father (Jim Hogan), and Debra, a whack-adoodle aunt (Emily Koch) all play a part in the criminal caper plot that unfolds around Kimberly’s Sweet 16th birthday.
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(Joan Marcus)
Carolee Carmello in the national tour “Kimberly Akimbo” of 3
Carolee Carmello with company at CIBC Theatre. (Joan Marcus).
Carolee and company in the National Tour of “Kimberly Akimbo” 3.
Carolee. (Joan Marcus).
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“Kimberly Akimbo”, which I saw on Broadway, was excellent. This first national tour looks just as good. Comparing performances is not always helpful, but I would say that Carmello’s portrayal of the character leans more on her sense of mortality. Clark, on the other hand, focused on the inner life and spirit a teenager. Both take on the character are legitimate, even though they are very different. Carmello’s Kimberly, while a little more sad and careworn, is also able to make the final carpe-diem number work beautifully. Miguel Gil, who plays her boyfriend Seth, is a true delight.
I’m a big Tesori fan. Lyric Opera audiences have heard her powerful music in the opera “Blue,” which featured the stirring Tazewell Thomson libretto. Tesori’s score for “Kimberly Akimbo”, despite the fact that she remembers what it was like to be young and to have fun, makes no easy decisions. It focuses on the show’s emotional landscape, as Kimberly tries to teach those older than her and wishes to have one last great adventure before she goes.
Chris Jones, Tribune critic.
cjones5@chicagotribune.com
Review: “Kimberly Akimbo” (3.5 stars)
When: Through June 22
Where: CIBC Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St.
Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Tickets: $35-$125 at
www.broadwayinchicago.com
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