PicksInSix Review: Kimberly Akimbo - Broadway In Chicago
Achingly Touching Story Bursts With Joy!
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy
The national tour of “Kimberly Akimbo,” directed by Jessica Stone with choreography by Danny Mefford, opened at the CIBC Theater on Wednesday. The recipient of eight 2023 Tony nominations, that won five including Best Musical, Best Book and Lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire (who also wrote the original play), and Best Score for Jeanine Tesori (“Fun Home”), “Kimberly Akimbo” is the achingly touching story of a teenager navigating a rare disease that has been aging her five years to one since birth. The cast is steeped in talent—many connected with the Broadway production—and stars the luminous Broadway veteran Carolee Carmello in the tender role of Kimberly. It is a story with abundant heart, bursting with joy and the promise of a life well-lived, even as the end is so crucially near.
It’s 1999 and Kimberly is trying to fit in with classmates who are focused on other aspects of their lives (read that: normal teenagers). There is one exception in the group, Seth (a terrific national tour debut for Miquel Gil), who plays the tuba and works at the local skating rink. Like Kimberly, Seth is a bit of an outcast, too, but he is wired just tight enough to stand out in a crowd as the keenly analytical guy with a penchant for anagrams. Seth and Kimberly team up on a class project that defines her medical situation and, as the show unfolds, their friendship and support for each other blossoms. While the rest of the world is closing around her, they each become the others anchor.
The clock is ominously ticking for Kimberly, her life plotting to pass her by as she turns sixteen still dreaming of having enough time to do the things she wants to do. At home, her dysfunctional family is another story. Her hilarious mom, Patti (Laura Woyasz), who is pregnant and nearly incapacitated with dual carpal tunnel, and a broken leg; her irresponsible dad, Buddy (Jim Hogan) who’s drunken lapses constantly add pressure to Kimberly‘s life; and then there is the boisterous Aunt Debra (Emily Koch) who barges back into their lives unannounced with yet another hare brained scheme to bilk people out of money, needing only a small crew to pull it off.
That crew—Grace Capeless (Delia), Darron Hayes (Martin), Skye Alyssa Friedman (Teresa), and Pierce Wheeler (Aaron)—are Kimberly’s delightfully engaging classmates who have a chemistry all their own, join forces and fall under Debra’s charms. After a joyous celebration of her sixteenth birthday, and as Kimberly‘s condition progresses, an event triggers the real sensibilities of everyone around her. It is then that Kimberly realizes it’s time to take charge of her own destiny and set out on the adventure of a lifetime.
The relationship between Carmello and Gil feels very much in the moment from their first encounter at the skating rink. As she navigates this challenging role with the wide-eyed innocence of a teenager, Gil immediately connects with the young woman inside, forming a strong emotional bond that melts away the darker aspects of the story unfolding around them. Tapping into the uncertainty of simply trying to get through their teenage years, being accepted for who they are and finding some joy in life together.
Some of this on one level or another could have only happened in 1999 when the skating rink was the place to be, kids played UNO, sang harmonies, played instruments and did dance routines for fun instead of being transfixed on a cell phone. One of those modern devices went off during Act 2, but even that reminder of the world we live in could not dampen the uplifting elements of this truly memorable and remarkable show coming to a theater near you.
PHOTO|Joan Marcus
National Tour Premiere
Broadway in Chicago
presents
Kimberly Akimbo
CIBC Theatre
18 West Monroe
through June 22, 2025
WEBSITE
TOUR SCHEDULE
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