‘Kimberly Akimbo’ Kindles Kudos at PNC Broadway

Welcome to Skater Planet, an ice rink in suburban Bergen County, New Jersey, where the more innocent and nerdy teens of the local high school hang out on Saturday nights. Enter Kimberly Levaco, a fifteen year old new student, who meets these new classmates as well as the manager of the ice rink, Seth, also a classmate. No one seems alarmed that this new girl looks as if she might be a seventy year old woman. Turns out, Kimberly carries a genetic defect that has accelerated her aging four times the normal. But she’s really just a teen. Lonely and shy, she departs the rink to wait outside for her father, Buddy, to pick her up. He is two hours late because he’s been drinking with friends. When they get home, Mom is not surprised at the late hour. She’s got issues, too. Her arms are in plaster casts from recent surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome. And she’s pregnant. The Levaco family is not ordinary—everyone has a flaw—but no one seems to care much, and least of all about each other. The family’s focus is decidedly on the expectant arrival of a new baby.

Were it not for the title of the show, this five-time Tony Award winning musical which premiered on Broadway in 2022, could just as well be a grand celebration of the complacency of the American family, struggling with very modest expectations of steady work, good health, and loading up the car, if just once a year, for a road trip to Disney World, Six Flags, a Florida beach, or Graceland. It really matters not where. But Kimberly is the central character. Seth, who likes to make anagrams, jumbles the letters of her name to “Cleverly Akimbo.” (Okay.) Yet, if that seems humorous, it tells us little about who this “teen woman” really is. The audience must await the actions of a plot to unfold.

And that comes on the heels of Aunt Debra who seeks out her ageing niece in the high school library. Debra’s a schemer, troublemaker, and con artist. She needs Kimberly and her friends to pull off a get-rich-quick scam in the basement of the Levaco home. So, maybe, we’re starting to get somewhere because Kimberly, without much debate, goes along for the ride. 

Most every successful musical begins with the central character delivering a “this is who I am” song. In the world of young teen musicals, think of “Maybe” from Annie. Or “Where is Love?” from Oliver. By this long-accepted conceit, we quickly get to understand and maybe sympathize with the character’s hopes and dreams, his or her identity, and what it is that drives this person to achieve or, perhaps, fail at his or her goal. Kimberly, given the prospect that she is about to outlive her life expectancy at just 16 years of age (we celebrate her birthday at Skater Planet,) lets us know that she would welcome a road trip to Six Flags, but that she’ll settle for a tree house. The Levacos, in their newly settled ranch home, have no trees in their yard. And if they did? Well, it would be of little consequence. Is the audience wrong to expect that a sixteen year old who will likely die soon might want something more? But this little world in New Jersey (about which there are many jabs and jokes) is morally impoverished, so maybe we need not expect too much.

Yet, talking about expectations, Kimberly Akimbo won five Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score. Perhaps three songs stand out from the others. The first is “Better” wherein Aunt Debra assures her teen accomplices that their lives will improve. The second is “This Time” sung by the full company in arrangements that melodically overlap to share that things are about to… get better. The final song is, indeed, the show finale, also delivered by the full company, but by which song title (were I to share it here) would spoil the story’s denouement.

This national tour of Kimberly Akimbo stars Carolee Carmello, a three-time Tony nominee whose cast bio proves her claim of worthy success on the stage. As Kimberly, the woman who plays a teen, Carmello carries the show with a rich and powerful voice adulating both childish innocence as well as aging optimism. If she is upstaged in her spotlight, Emily Koch, as Aunt Debra, does the dirty deed. She delivers her alarming character with great aplomb, and she offers the best voice of the ensemble. Laura Woyasz and Jim Hogan, who are partners in real life, play Mom Pattie and Dad Buddy, respectively. They each get a crack at the same song in different scenes which greatly helps to explain their dysfunctional characters. Neither performance is a showstopper, but each is delivered with a tenderness that is compelling. As Seth, the ice rink manager, fan of anagrams and erstwhile tuba player, Justin Cooley has the most fun on stage. And, yes, he plays his tuba, while also delivering a fine duet with Kimberly. 

The teen classmates are performed by Grace Capeless, Skye Alyssa Friedman, Darron Hayes, and Pierce Wheeler. They’re having fun, too, but unfortunately, neither their songs nor the show’s book offers much to help delineate their characters. At one point, Aunt Debra saves them the angst of discovering their sexual identities by claiming that two of them are gay and two are straight. That might be the funniest line of the show. And perhaps the most amazing scene in the show happens at Skater Planet where they skate on stage. Yes, ice skate! That’s a bit of a showstopper.  But like this bizarre story set somewhere in New Jersey, what does it prove and why?

The musical Kimberly Akimbo was written by David Lindsay-Abaire who originally crafted this story as a play. He is the Pullitzer-winning playwright of Rabbit Hole, a tragedy about a family who has lost a son. But he also wrote the book for the stage musical Shrek and for which, like Kimberly Akimbo, Jeanine Tesori wrote the music. Tesori also wrote the music for Fun Home, a more poignant story about a young cartoonist whose family accepts her coming-out. Jessica Stone directed the show and was nominated for a Tony, as she was the following year for Water for Elephants. Danny Mefford choreographed Dear Evan Hansen, Fun Home, and Kimberly Akimbo, winning a Tony for each. Scenic designer David Zinn and costume designer Sarah Laux deserve applause for their accomplishments here, as do Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew, Kai Harada, and J. Jared Janas for lighting, sound and hair & make-up designs, respectively. 

Kimberly Akimbo is part of the PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh season at Benedum Center and runs through March 9. Yes, the show is more than bizarre, but it represents a slice of Broadway that’s always welcome in the ‘Burgh.

Photos: Joan Marcus

C. Prentiss Orr is a Pittsburgh-based writer who covers theater and other topics for Entertainment Central. He is the author of the books The Surveyor and the Silversmith and Pittsburgh Born, Pittsburgh Bred.

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