And Vivid Seats will help get you there. Too often, though, Kimberly seems merely a peripheral figure in the overly farcical proceedings, which are admittedly very funny at times (theres a priceless sight gag involving Mulligan and a mailbox) but too often reduce the show to a sitcom level. The performance is a pleasant blend of optimistic and worldly. Kimberly Akimbo runs through October 20. The craziness doesnt stop in the classroom. (For further proof, see Caroline, or Change, now on Broadway.) Get Kimberly Akimbo tickets now on New York Theatre Guide. . Kimberly Akimbo runs 2 hours and 20 minutes, including one intermission. How They Assembled the Kimberly Akimbo Puzzle, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/26/theater/kimberly-akimbo-broadway.html. Some, like Fun Home, Dear Evan Hansen and The Bands Visit, win top Tony Awards; A Strange Loop even won the Pulitzer Prize. 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. Also funny is Milligans Debra, a Strangers With Candy-like, foul-mouthed clown who speaks of committing felonies as a cute little hobby, like knitting or pottery. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Rabbit Hole, a drama about a grief-stricken family that opened on Broadway in 2006. I wish Clark had a bigger solo in the penultimate scene; we have by that time earned the right to a major statement from a performer capable of delivering it. I often missed the grounded power of the writers excellent play, Good People.. Victoria Clark as Kimberly in Broadway's "Kimberly Akimbo." (Joan Marcus) Article. Atlantic Theater Company at the Linda Gross Theater, 336 W. 20 St., NYC. Kimberly Akimbo has become one of the top acts in the 2023 Musical world, delighting fans with a one-of-a-kind show. . Tesori is a composer who won a 2015 Tony Award for the musical Fun Home, a family drama based on Alison Bechdel's memoir. Jeff is the unlikely hero of David Lindsay-Abaire's 2001 play: a social outcast whose disregard for the superficial and interest in the heart of the matter offer an alternative to suffering and . Lindsay-Abaire is also an avid anagram creator and solver in real life. Speaking of teenagers, theres a duality to the show. And if Milligan has her way, an onscreen romance could very well be in her future, along with other film, television and theater projects. Knowing she will not live much. Kim boldly decides to live every day like its her last. The upside is that it draws her to the ber-nerd, Seth, played in a terrific New York debut by the 18-year-old Justin Cooley. Directed by Jessica Stone. 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. She makes friends with the Gleeky show choir, who all have secret crushes on each other. It is like dumping a bunch of puzzle pieces onto the table, he said. Discover a full timeline of the show's history below. Those four kids in the show choir were not in the play. But I also wanted to explore mortality and what it means to truly live in the moment. It will be one of the hottest tickets in town. A old woman sit sie 'ring. Music by Jeanine Tesori. Yes, composer Jeanine Tesori and book-writer David Lindsay-Abaires musical at the Booth Theatre is a smidge too wacky for its own good. This is a typical Broadway musical length, though musicals can run anywhere from 90 minutes to 3 hours. Its exhilarating.. It cant have been easy to find the right moments and tone for songs in a double-sided story like this, where each joke is also a memento mori, and vice versa. That relationship isnt between Kimberly and any of her dysfunctional family members, vividly portrayed by Steven Boyer, Alli Mauzey and a scene-stealing Bonnie Milligan as the larcenous aunt respectively, but rather with her nerdy classmate Seth. These are edited excerpts from the discussion. And so I wanted to write an amazing part for a great actor. Below are the characters of the Kimberly Akimbo musical. Debra: Kims aunt, a street-smart schemer who is always on the lookout for another illicit scheme and pawns to use to her advantage. At a reading of the play in connection with the 2001 Kesselring Award ceremonies, Edie Falco, John Bedford Loyd and Jan Leslie Harding proved excellent collaborators for Burke and Gallagher. Kimberly AkimboAt the Booth Theater, Manhattan; kimberlyakimbothemusical.com. Kimberly Akimbo Unisex Perspective Raglan. and her teenaged daughter, Kimberly, who has a disease that causes premature aging. That the musical in essence does the same for the rest of the characters is one of its most unusual qualities. Rather, its between a tuba-playing, Elvish-speaking high school ber-nerd and a girl who looks like his grandmother. To see an old hand like Clark make sparks with a newcomer like Cooley is to feel how quickly the world spins forward. Because I think sometimes because musicals have artifice, they can seem artificial. Delia, Martin, Aaron, and Teresa: Kims fellow students, who get drawn into Debras moneymaking grift. Indeed, in her Kimberly I thought I sensed an inversion of her Margaret in The Light in the Piazza, a woman whose daughter, because of a physical condition, would never be much more than a child. They are the greatest art form. You get so used to someone being there, it takes your body a long time to adjust. It's good. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. He is a bit akimbo too, a teenager who works hard, is a proud nerd, drily comic, anddespite his youthkeen to help Kim achieve her dreams to go on a road trip. And what intelligent acting it is, drawing on everything she knows. Something different has happened to David Lindsay-Abaire's play "Kimberly Akimbo" on its way to becoming a new musical, which opened Wednesday at the Atlantic Theater Company. Recognizing that trait in each other, Seth and Kimberly bond over their parallel irregularities: his obsession with anagrams and her genetically scrambled codons. So, she appears to be a woman in her mid-sixties and also deals with the health issues of one. 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 . As long as were picking at excellence, Ill add that Kimberly Akimbo isnt yet all it might be. Buddy says no way is anybody going to do that to his little girl, but Kimberly likes the attention she sure doesn't get much at . Before that, she honed her craft in off-Broadway shows like Ryan Scott Oliver and Hunter Fosters Jasper in Deadland, as well as on the concert stage, where shes affectionately known to fans as Belting Bonnie.. The oldest and first dedicated online New York Theater Guide Read news on over 150 Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. The New Jersey setting is clearly and wickedly characterized but the era, supposedly 1999, is not; the fathers arc is not sharply inscribed; and the use of the high school students to fill out songs they dont otherwise belong in feels unmotivated. Its about youthfulness, but its also about mortality. Learn more about this heartfelt show about living life to the fullest. The extreme hypochondria of Kimberlys mother (Alli Mauzey) allows for a can-you-top-this arc as she acquires additional ailments: funny until you clock that with both arms in casts, she cant eat. The scene changes to Pattie, Kimberly's mom, talking to a sound recorder to her unborn child about her life and how she believes she's a 'good mother'. The show's title comes from an anagram Seth creates of Kim's name, which is "cleverly akimbo.". LINDSAY-ABAIRE Nothing has made me happier than seeing gaggles of teenagers really love the show. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. The dark absurdist . Disclaimer: Some of the articles on Mighty Actor include affiliate links to sites like Amazon, Skillshare, and others. Parker Posey heads the cast of Thomas Bradshaw's cheaply vulgar modern-day adaptation of Chekhov's classic. Cooley and Clark reveal a surprisingly meaningful and lively connection that makes us root for them, even though their future is impossible. Nor, though Stones work with the actors was exceptional, did the physical production (scenic design by David Zinn, lighting design by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew) impress me much. The good son, he sings. I understand much more acutely the fear of losing a child. LINDSAY-ABAIRE Its a teaching song. Lindsay-Abaires lyrics are frequently very funny, if too often resorting to a broadness that sacrifices pathos for cheap laughs. The boy scout. His complete honesty, tabula rasa, complete truthful, youthful, wide-eyed innocence and sweetness its really hard to create that once youve lived, you know, 35 more years. On paper, Aunt Debra is a criminal. 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. But among many smart adjustments made to the show for Broadway, the four schoolmates (Olivia Elease Hardy, Fernell Hogan, Michael Iskander, Nina White) have been incorporated more clearly and fully as a kind of Geek Chorus. Good People, about a blue-collar single mother in South Boston, premiered on Broadway in 2011. This light but mildly provocative comedy has interesting three-dimensional characters and witty dialogue. What has it gotten me?) In another, a duet with Kimberly, he cranks out possible anagrams of her name in real time. Kimber issn, but se played by a are 'ents or seen. Quick View. Wed.-Sat. It is on theme, Lindsay-Abaire said. If you continue to use the site, your agreement will result in cookies being set. This is done without undue violence to the ingenious original premise, which makes comedy, as we all must, of tragedy. Victoria Clark as Kimberly, who appears to be in her 60s though. November 10, 2022 at 10:00 p.m. EST. .more Get A Copy Amazon Stores Libraries Paperback, 120 pages The two previously took on the same creative roles on Shrek the Musical, which began performances on Broadway in 2008. Everything you need to know about 'Kimberly Akimbo' on Broadway, Do not sell or share my personal information (for California residents only), 2003: The play debuts off Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club in February, also with Burke. Kimberly Akimbo 634 subscribers Subscribe 626 47K views 3 months ago All we wanna do is make your life "Better", so we made a music video! But Milligans road back to Broadway was marked with setbacks that could have discouraged a less tenacious artist. [6], Kimberly Akimbo ran from January 21, 2005 through March 6, 2005 at TheaterWorks in Hartford, Connecticut, directed by Rob Ruggiero. We long to get to know Kimberly better, especially since Clark delivers such a beautifully sung, poignant turn as the winsome teenage girl trapped in an elderly womans body. Kim is a bright and funny Jersey teen, who happens to look like a 72-year-old lady. Yet watching the show again, I focused as much on Lindsay-Abaires lyrics, which retain the natural shape of expert dialogue quirky, characterful and sometimes even leggy without distorting the song forms or turning everything into operetta. She received two acting awards nominations, and, 2008: Lindsay-Abaire and Tesori collaborate for the first time, on. NEW YORK Like butterscotch sauce and the 1967 Mustang, "Kimberly . 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 is played by Lindsay-Abaire's unlikely but adorable muse, Marylouise Burke, 62, whose face does indeed look surprisingly girlish, despite the natural signs of age, when placed underneath. 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. We were just so used to it? Audiences from 4 to 104 will be moved by Kim's story of finding one's people and making the most of life while one has it. Kimberly Akimbo officially opened on Broadway on November 10, 2022. Critics have called it "The Best Musical of the Year - by far" (The Wall Street Journal); "Profoundly funny and heartbreaking; the season's most moving new musical" (The New York Times); and "A howlingly funny heartbreaker of a show" (The New Yorker). At the center of David Lindsay-Abaire's Kimberly Akimbo is Kimberly Levaco, a 16-year-old girl whose body thinks she's 72. Youll have to actually remind yourself Im gone. As the past and the present interpenetrate in Clarks performance, you may feel, as I did, the themes of Kimberly Akimbo recombining to achieve an even sharper focus. [5], Kimberly Akimbo premiered Off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club New York City Center Stage 1 on February 4, 2003 and closed on April 6, 2003. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. If it still doesnt, well, this is a nerdical, after all. Buy Kimberly Akimbo Tickets & View the Schedule at Box Office Ticket Sales! The whole dynamics between parents and teenagers that I was sort of making up 20 years ago, now I know it deeply and personally. Before you step back into the '90s with Kimberly and the gang, learn more about the show's cast, history, and production information. Kimberly Akimbo is the rare example of a good play that has become an even better musical. 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. To my family and dearest loved ones, this is for you from the bottom of my heart! Or do you remember when Cinnamon died, and we still kept going to put the table scraps into his dog bowl? 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. Im older than these two. Kimberly the musical and the character have a strong underdog appeal and a warmth that keeps the audience firmly on its side. Regular price $20.00. She lives in New Jersey with her dad (who's always drunk), her pregnant mom . Meet the artists HERE. Kimberly Akimbo Faux Candy Logo Necklace. Adolescent years are always a challenge, and that goes double, actually quadruple, for 16-year-old Kimberly in the hit musical Kimberly Akimbo. A musical dramedy set in New Jersey, "Kimberly Akimbo" tells the story of a teenager named Kimberly (played by Victoria Clark) who has a disease akin to progeria, which causes her to age at a. Justin Cooley, center left, as Seth with Clark, center right, in the show at the Linda Gross Theater. Quick View. Body diversity isnt something that weve always talked about, but I think [Broadway producers] are realizing the importance of audiences seeing themselves on the stage in a pleasant light as opposed to someone who is seen as unattractive. Both actors are good sports, but not for a single second do we sympathize with their flat characters. David Lindsay-Abaire, Jeanine Tesori and Jessica Stone on the Kimberly Akimbo set.CreditVictor Llorente for The New York Times. a genetic aging disorder akin to progeria, as an anxious mother in The Light in the Piazza,, It will be one of the hottest tickets in town. Its not about a disease at all, unless its the one we all have: We grow up too slowly and then suddenly too fast. Kimberly Akimbo Unisex Distressed Logo Tee. [Tesori pats Lindsay-Abaires arm, remarking, Wow.] I dont feel messed up by them. And seldom does that happen with a musical.. The cast of the Broadway premiere of the Kimberly Akimbo musical includes the same actors who were in the Off-Broadway presentation. Their classmates may have chosen scurvy and fasciolosis, but what they really suffer from is a bad case of adolescence, she sings. Katrina Lenk as Bobbie and Claybourne Elder as Andy in Company. It's a bit of youthful happiness unlike any other." Associated Press. CUSTOMER SERVICE. 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