Nothing better., Isnt that enough? Tesori responded. The setting is a working-class New Jersey suburb. Kimberly Akimbo Unisex Distressed Logo Tee. Less convincingly, Lindsay-Abaire ties them into the story as accomplices in Aunt Debras check-forging scheme; they hope to raise enough cash to buy spangly costumes for a show choir competition. What I probably didnt know at the time was that I was also writing about my family in many ways, and things that I was afraid of and angry about. / Getting older is your cure.. [Tesori pats Lindsay-Abaires arm, remarking, Wow.] I dont feel messed up by them. They include Tony Award winner Victoria Clark as Kimberly, Justin Cooley as Seth, Steven Boyer as Buddy, Alli Mauzey as Pattie, and Bonnie Milligan as Debra. . Kimberly: An outcast 16-year-old grappling with an aging disease that makes her look like shes in her 70s. This website uses cookies. Cooley, by the way, is a gifted comedic actor who nails every punchline. We are gone (but lets hope the show isnt) before we know it. November 10, 2022 at 10:00 p.m. EST. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. Its about youthfulness, but its also about mortality. MONOLOGUE BANK From: The Good Times Are Killing Me by Lynda Barry EDNA: The hills are alive with the sound of music was the first best movie I ever saw and the first best music I ever heard. Almost yours: 2 weeks, on. As portrayed by Milligan, however, the scene-stealing character becomes the kind of brassy antihero Bette Midler might have played in her prime. They come across as being the same age. Tesori is a composer who won a 2015 Tony Award for the musical Fun Home, a family drama based on Alison Bechdel's memoir. Book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, based on his play. And if youre lucky, youre able to bring both of those things to an audience so they can recognize it. Kimberly is burdened not only by a disease for which the average life expectancy is 16 (Its just an average though, she says brightly) but also by a family that has not handled it nearly as well as she has. NEW YORK Like butterscotch sauce and the 1967 Mustang, "Kimberly . Later on, Kimberly calls Seth and agrees to meet at the library later for the interview, as he is learning about progeria. Clark, center, with Alli Mauzey, left, and Steven Boyer, who play Kimberlys self-involved parents. Hovering midway between parody and homage, this modernist rendering of a justifiable classic proves neither illuminating nor much fun. Stu is a cocaine addict at the party, and he replaced the face powder in the bathroom with cocaine during the party, however, someone else uses it, causing some hilarity. (New York, NY, February 25, 2022) - The critically-lauded and wildly popular new musical, Kimberly Akimbo, will transfer to Broadway this fall, beginning previews on October 12th and officially opening on November 10th at a Shubert Theater to be announced. (To Debra who passes from basement to exit house.) Upcoming film: A Different Man (A24). Meet the artists HERE. Because Im a fixture in your life. Kimberly's last name isn't really "akimbo." But her stance is increasingly headed that way. Remember when Mr. Hicks dropped dead, Debra? The hodgepodge of elements is a lot for director Jessica Stone to fuse together, but she succeeds by latching onto a show-choir vibe. Ana Gasteyer. Clark, better known for playing grandiose characters who arent teenagers in plaid shirts, radiates compassion in the part. Jessica, how did you direct Victoria Clark, who is 63, and Justin Cooley, who plays her boyfriend, Seth, whos now 19? Good luck with that. and her teenaged daughter, Kimberly, who has a disease that causes premature aging. Get Kimberly Akimbo tickets now on New York Theatre Guide. And that, to me, is David and Jeanine, and their work and their sensibility, said Stone, 52, who has been attached to the musical since 2019. The show tells the story of a lonely teenage girl, Kimberly Levaco, who suffers from a condition similar to progeria that causes her to age rapidly, thereby giving her the appearance of an elderly woman, and how, according to . Each of these subjects produces a wonderfully unexpected song that forwards the plot while deepening the characterizations. The play didnt have monologues for Kimberly, but it did have monologues for her parents. He was previously the editor of Stages Magazine, the chief theater critic for the Christian Science Monitor, and a theater critic and culture writer for the New York Post. Review: Kimberly Akimbo, Both Great and Small, Seizes the Day, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/10/theater/kimberly-akimbo-review.html. And so I wanted to write an amazing part for a great actor. A little odd. Victoria Clark stars in a playful yet powerful musical about a girl who is aging too fast among adults who behave like children. By turns, it can be profoundly funny or deeply moving. We've received your submission. Unlike most new musicals based on previous material, the title. Running time: 2 hours 25 minutes. And now, with the addition of songs (music by Jeanine Tesori; lyrics by Lindsay-Abaire) that turn the carpe diem dial to maximum, the director Jessica Stone has turned up the hilarity dial as well, to keep all that emotion in balance. If it still doesnt, well, this is a nerdical, after all. The Booth Theatre opened in 1913 and was named for Edwin Booth, the notorious brother of John Wilkes Booth. Buying tickets to see Kimberly Akimbo is easy, fast, and . Her best song the shows best, actually is Anagram in which she starts to fall for Seth as he rearranges the letters of her name into a new phrase. One thing Aunt Debra in Kimberly Akimbo shares with Milligans characters in Head Over Heels and other shows is an unapologetic sense of self. So naturally Kimberly Akimbo is a musical comedy. Her aunt Debra (Bonnie Milligan) is a cheerful, amoral tornado of bad ideas who squats in the Levaco basement to further a check-forging scheme. I said to Jeanine, he said, trying to keep a straight face as another toilet flushed, I wish we could write a musical the way that I write a play, where theres not a team of other people involved.. To me, that says love., Kimberly Akimbo marks Milligans first Broadway outing since her impressive debut in the 2018 Go-Gos musical Head Over Heels, which received positive reviews but struggled to find an audience. Some, like Fun Home, Dear Evan Hansen and The Bands Visit, win top Tony Awards; A Strange Loop even won the Pulitzer Prize. She steers the second act into a Catch Me If You Can if that movie was set at a Hackensack Dunkin Donuts. That adds a little bit to the glaze of authenticity, and a little understanding of the behavior, needs and pitfalls. But what has become even richer since Kimberly Akimbo premiered at the Atlantic Theater Company last year is her profound and uncritical immersion in youthfulness. Frank Scheck has been covering film, theater and music for more than 30 years. They love Debra [Kimberlys aunt, played by Bonnie Milligan], because they love a rule breaker. Life is short, and for a girl whos growing older around 4.5 times faster than the normal rate, every day is a reminder of that hard reality. Rarely, we learn, do people with Kimberlys disease live past age 16. But I also wanted to explore mortality and what it means to truly live in the moment. Below are the characters of the Kimberly Akimbo musical. Music by Jeanine Tesori. It's good enough, in fact, that you wish it had been just a little bit better. [1] [2] Its title character is a lonely teenage girl suffering from a disease similar to progeria, that causes her to age four and a half times as fast as normal, thus trapping her inside the frail physical body of an elderly woman. Thats because the girl, Kimberly Levaco, born with a genetic aging disorder akin to progeria, appears to be in her 60s even though shes just turning 16. Kim boldly decides to live every day like its her last. As is often the case, Tesoris music is technically very proficient but not quite memorable, with none of the songs, at least upon a first hearing, quite managing to stick in ones memory. He connects with Kim on a school science project and, eventually, they grow close on a more personal level. [My sons] think its hilarious. The average life expectancy for a child with progeria is about 13 years. CUSTOMER SERVICE. This light but mildly provocative comedy has interesting three-dimensional characters and witty dialogue. It's a bit of youthful happiness unlike any other." Associated Press. Kimberlys schoolyard love interest Seth (Justin Cooley) speaks fluent Elvish from J.R.R. Victoria Clark. The craziness doesnt stop in the classroom. In role after role particularly as an anxious mother in The Light in the Piazza, for which she won a Tony Award in 2005 she makes music not an afterthought to character, but the thought itself. Kimberly AkimboAt the Booth Theater, Manhattan; kimberlyakimbothemusical.com. Victoria Clark plays a teenager afflicted with an illness that makes her grow old prematurely in the new musical by David Lindsay-Abaire and Jeanine Tesori. Here are the major awards the Kimberly Akimbo musical and play have won. And yet her aging condition may be the. Adapted by writer David Lindsay-Abaire and composer Jeanine Tesori from the 2001 play of the same name, Kimberly Akimbo follows a lonely 15-year-old named Kimberly Levaco (played by Victoria Clark) who has grown up with a premature aging condition similar to progeria, thus making her appear to be well into her 70s. TAGS Actors +. So remote is she from the bellowing divadom of those tourist-bait extravaganzas that Im tempted to call what she does not singing at all, but acting on pitch. A high-school student, Kimberly, crushes on the tuba-playing, Elvish-speaking Seth, and the two nerdy adolescents express their affection by making word scrambles. Intermissions are usually either 15 or 20 minutes long. Almost. Kim is a bright and funny Jersey teen, who happens to look like a 72-year-old lady. 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