Im gonna die, Kim. 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. Buying tickets to see Kimberly Akimbo is easy, fast, and . I wrote a part for her because she and now Vicki [Victoria Clark] have such an amazing young spirit about them, even though theyre actresses of a certain 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. 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. LINDSAY-ABAIRE Its a teaching song. Delia, Martin, Aaron, and Teresa: Kims fellow students, who get drawn into Debras moneymaking grift. That was already the case in the play by David Lindsay-Abaire on which it is based, a play that begins, as the musical does, with a visual joke: a grown-looking woman, outside a skating rink, dressed like a teenager and nibbling a candy necklace. Leaving the ironies to us, she refuses to condescend to the character. 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. The sweetest love scene on a New York stage right now involves neither Left Bank bohemians, Orpheus and Eurydice nor even that freak with the mask. Kimberly is her favorite person in the world, because shes the only person who frankly likes being around her and does more than tolerate her. Its exhilarating.. Clark, better known for playing grandiose characters who arent teenagers in plaid shirts, radiates compassion in the part. Because I think sometimes because musicals have artifice, they can seem artificial. They also thought it was really moving. Nothing better., Isnt that enough? Tesori responded. Whats apparent in Kimberly Akimbo is that she can also write inerrantly for any kind of show. In a household filled with impulsive, appetitive childishness, Kimberly, who has to feed Pattie her morning cereal because both her arms are in casts, is the adult by default. The playwright David Lindsay-Abaire, the composer Jeanine Tesori and the director Jessica Stone discuss their quirky Broadway musical, which was first a play. The oldest and first dedicated online New York Theater Guide Read news on over 150 Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. Book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, based on his play. Lindsay-Abaires lyrics are frequently very funny, if too often resorting to a broadness that sacrifices pathos for cheap laughs. Kimberly Akimbo runs through October 20. And so I wanted to write an amazing part for a great actor. And in the basement, Aunt Debra (Bonnie Milligan), a grifter with big attitude and little conscience, is concocting a check-forging scheme. As its star demands, too. We are gone (but lets hope the show isnt) before we know it. I had to hope and pray that it would come back, she recalled, because something about this material felt like it was mine.. Review: Kimberly Akimbo, Both Great and Small, Seizes the Day, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/10/theater/kimberly-akimbo-review.html. And that enables so much in terms of imagination and promise. We were just so used to it? What makes Kimberly not cloying, as adults pretending to be kids usually is, is that she is an old soul because of her hard life. LINDSAY-ABAIRE Nothing has made me happier than seeing gaggles of teenagers really love the show. She was reeling from the premature closing of Head Over Heels when she first learned of Kimberly Akimbo, ahead of its premiere staging off-Broadway, in early 2020. The staging shares the same DNA as The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Ride the Cyclone. David Zinns house-and-school set, however, does feel a little slight for even the intimate Booth. Below are the characters of the Kimberly Akimbo musical. Under the too strenuous direction of Jessica Stone, the talented cast filled does their best to bring humanity to the proceedings. Kimberly Akimbo - Monologue (Pattie) A monologue from the play by David Lindsay-Abaire PATTIE (mid-thirties) Pattie is convinced she's going to die soon, and is here breaking the news to her sister, Debra, and her teenaged daughter, Kimberly, who has a disease that causes premature aging. I do see a shift. Anyways, he gets so desperate he snorts some of the bath salts in the bathroom. Victoria Clark, left, as Kimberly and Justin Cooley as Seth in David Lindsay-Abaire and Jeanine Tesoris musical Kimberly Akimbo at the Booth Theater in Manhattan. Full cast album coming soon! . Thank you Nicolosi! But theres also this sense, like, weve been through some [expletive]. At the center of David Lindsay-Abaire's Kimberly Akimbo is Kimberly Levaco, a 16-year-old girl whose body thinks she's 72. Monologue from "Kimberly Akimbo" 978 views May 31, 2011 2 Dislike Share thechocolatechipcookie 19 subscribers Comments Add a comment. Bonnie Milligan, center, as Kimberlys scheming aunt, with, from left: Olivia Elease Hardy (foreground), Michael Iskander, Clark, Cooley and Nina White. Here are all the major productions of the Kimberly Akimbo play and musical. Bonnie Milligan, a beloved fixture of New Yorks cabaret circuit for years, is finally getting a chance to establish herself as a full-on theatrical powerhouse by way of Broadways Kimberly Akimbo, this seasons most unconventional new musical. 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. And our friends have been through some [expletive], and weve lost people. In its quieter moments, Kimberly Akimbo displays a poignancy and tenderness that will seep into your heart. Performances will now run on extension through January 15, 2022, instead of the previously announced January 2. 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 . Stone, Tesori and Lindsay-Abaire gathered to discuss their process on the first day of previews. The mounting insanity almost becomes too much. Lindsay-Abaire is an award-winning writer whose work includes plays and musicals and subject matters both serious and comic. And Vivid Seats will help get you there. Those classmates (charmingly played by Olivia Elease Hardy, Fernell Hogan II, Nina White and Michael Iskander) are the most obvious addition to the musical, having been invented to provide social context, a singing ensemble and broader humor. including intermission. Katrina Lenk as Bobbie and Claybourne Elder as Andy in Company. [4] The production received the LA Drama Critics Circle Award for Writing in 2001. This Week, Including a Solo Show About Polka. Pure enjoyability. Youll miss me, too. 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 were really intrigued by the relationship between Kim and Seth, not because its a traditional love story. 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). 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. and her teenaged daughter, Kimberly, who has a disease that causes premature aging. A bit unorthodox., And when students present science projects on ailments of their choosing in a hilarious ensemble number called Our Disease, Kimberly veers from the script she and Seth wrote about hers. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . Though acute in its emotional detail, Jessica Stones staging, on a vague set by David Zinn and with choreography by Danny Mefford, is physically underpowered. Now Kimberly Akimbo is in previews, and scheduled to open on Nov. 10. By turns, it can be profoundly funny or deeply moving. As experienced artists, how do you keep that youthful tone intact? Jeff wants to do his science paper on Kimberly's disease. 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 . Kimberly Akimbo runs 2 hours and 20 minutes, including one intermission. Almost. The focus and intimacy of that partnership, he said, made the musical the easiest thing Ive ever written., He compares writing a musical to working on a puzzle. Buy Kimberly Akimbo Tickets & View the Schedule at Box Office Ticket Sales! If you can have a gaggle of teenagers skipping out of the show, and then this grumpy old man with tears in his eyes thats victory. The Off-Broadway and Broadway stagings of Kimberly Akimbo are the major productions thus far, but the play has had additional major productions. At New York's Atlantic Theater Company through January 15. The earnest young quartet played by Fernell Hogan, Michael Iskandar, Nina White and Olivia Elease Hardy are an exuberant highlight and happily bring to mind the scrappy cast of Stranger Things.. Jessica, how did you direct Victoria Clark, who is 63, and Justin Cooley, who plays her boyfriend, Seth, whos now 19? She lives in New Jersey with her dad (who's always drunk), her pregnant mom . I did my grandmother's and she got Arabian Beard., I'm fine., Where have you been? That adds a little bit to the glaze of authenticity, and a little understanding of the behavior, needs and pitfalls. Enter Kims Aunt Debra (Milligan), a street-smart grifter who, much like the Artful Dodger of Oliver Twist, recruits her niece into an illicit, moneymaking scheme that could help her and her classmates fulfill their dreams that is, if no one gets caught. Recognizing that trait in each other, Seth and Kimberly bond over their parallel irregularities: his obsession with anagrams and her genetically scrambled codons. (Possibly this one: sublime cast = best musical.) That may well be the fate of Kimberly Akimbo, the profoundly funny and heartbreaking new nerdical that opened on Thursday at the Booth Theater. Prepare to Fall in Love! I wasnt convinced by them Off Broadway. Pattie is convinced shes going to die soon, and is here breaking the news to her sister, Debra. Tony winner Victoria Clark stars as a teenager with a rare rapid-aging disease in 'Kimberly Akimbo,' David Lindsay-Abaire and Jeanine Tesori's poignant comedy about adolescent outsiders grasping life. It warms up the zaniness of the original without overshooting and making it normal. Instead of cowering as if embarrassed by the dimension music can bring to drama, it embraces the ability of song, even in tragicomedy, to extend emotion into bigger realms. She steers the second act into a Catch Me If You Can if that movie was set at a Hackensack Dunkin Donuts. 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. Before you step back into the '90s with Kimberly and the gang, learn more about the show's cast, history, and production information. Anyone can read what you share. Suddenly theyre gone forever. The performance is a pleasant blend of optimistic and worldly. We share the same sensibility of humor. She has ie shat, tied atthe lace slag over her 'holder. This light but mildly provocative comedy has interesting three-dimensional characters and witty dialogue. So the fact that shes in his orbit, this beautiful, innocent, youthful presence also washes over her. It opens with a woman waiting on a bench, shivering from cold. Cooley and Clark reveal a surprisingly meaningful and lively connection that makes us root for them, even though their future is impossible. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. LINDSAY-ABAIRE The first time in, I was really accessing my teenage years and stuff about my parents and my family, but really homing in on the Seth character who is very close to me in very many ways. 8 p.m., Sun. 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. 2 p.m. Dec. 3-24. Was creating the musical a way to create more interiority for her? . And if youre lucky, youre able to bring both of those things to an audience so they can recognize it. He starts to sort of mimic that work ethic and he starts to explore and basically copy that approach. 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. In the opening moment of Kimberly Akimbo, a misfit New Jersey teenager waiting for a ride home stretches her candy choker into her mouth and chomps down on it. . 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. This musical adaptation of the same-named David Lindsay-Abaire play, with music by Jeanine Tesori, premiered off Broadway in 2021 and has made the move to Broadway. Your culture and entertainment cheat-sheet. Kimberly Akimbo is now playing at New Yorks Booth Theatre. CUSTOMER SERVICE. Kimberly Levaco becomes. She received two acting awards nominations, and, 2008: Lindsay-Abaire and Tesori collaborate for the first time, on. Born with a fatal aging disorder akin to progeria, Kimberly Levaco (Victoria Clark) is a 15-year-old girl whose body resembles that of a woman well into her 70s. Photo credit: Kimberly Akimbo (Photos by Joan Marcus). Copyright [2023] Mighty Actor, DRAMATIC MONOLOGUES FOR TEENS/KIDS (BOYS), DRAMATIC MONOLOGUES FOR TEENS/KIDS (GIRLS). When the show premiered Off Broadway last winter at Atlantic Theater Company, Jesse Green, the chief theater critic for The New York Times, called it a funny and moving new musical. Led by the producer David Stone (no relation to the director), the show sold out its run, and a Broadway transfer was quickly announced. On top of having to face down mortality way too soon, Kim is dealing with a dad who drinks too much booze; a neurotic, pregnant mom whos harboring a deep family secret; and a con-artist aunt. What's the matter? If it still doesnt, well, this is a nerdical, after all. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. What has it gotten me?) In another, a duet with Kimberly, he cranks out possible anagrams of her name in real time. Skater Planet Aaron, Delia, Martin, Teresa, Seth, Kim), Skater Planet (Reprise) Aaron, Delia, Martin, Teresa, Anagram Kimberly, Seth, Aaron, Delia, Martin, Teresa, Better Debra, Aaron, Delia, Martin, Teresa, Hello, Darling (Reprise)/Father Time Pattie, How to Wash a Check Debra, Kim, Seth, Aaron, Delia, Martin, Teresa, Skater Planet (Reprise) Aaron, Delia, Martin, Teresa, Seth, Our Disease Kimberly, Seth, Aaron, Delia, Martin, Teresa, The Inevitable Turn Pattie, Buddy, Debra, Aaron, Delia, Martin, Teresa, How To Wash a Check (Reprise) Debra, Aaron, Delia, Martin, Teresa. Adapted by David Lindsay-Abaire from his acclaimed 2000 play (first seen here at Manhattan Theatre Club in 2003), the show featuring music by Jeanine Tesori and lyrics by the playwright proves too quirky for its own good, suffering from jarring tonal and narrative shifts that dont do the problematic subject matter any favors. Kimber issn, but se played by a are 'ents or seen. Regular price $70.00. They are the greatest art form. Which is not to say she or it is a downer. Kimberly Akimbo Unisex Distressed Logo Tee. His writing has appeared in such publications as the New York Daily News, Playbill, Backstage, and various national and international newspapers. Running nearly two-and-a-half hours, the musical feels padded with extraneous material, including lengthy interludes devoted to anagrams and ice skating and a song devoted to a school project about scurvy (dont ask). Its about youthfulness, but its also about mortality. While never rapturous, Akimbo is always enjoyable and ultimately touching. 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. That Tesori can write any kind of music is old news. (Kimberly continues to clear the table.) He died about five weeks after her arrival. The two of them give each other really beautiful gifts, the shows director said of the actors. So the two of them give each other really beautiful gifts. Aside from providing B-story contrast, they underline a theme I hadnt really noticed before: the gumption of outcasts. [3] Lindsay-Abaire received the Kesselring Prize in November 2001 for this production. Jeanine, how did you write a catchy song about white collar crime? KIMBERLY AKIMBO is at once a shrewd satire, a black comedy and a heartbreaking study of how time wounds everyone." NY Times. Please try again. The Tony Awards Administration Committee met for the first time during the 2022-2023 Broadway season on January 31 to discuss eligibility of 20 productions for the 76th Annual Tony Awards in Here's how. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Rabbit Hole, a drama about a grief-stricken family that opened on Broadway in 2006. Getting older is my affliction. Those four kids in the show choir were not in the play. At 16, she looks 72. Im older than these two. . 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. www.ovationtix.com. (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. Its far from a tragedy, though, thanks in part to the quirky characters: Kimberlys pregnant mother is a hypochondriac; her best friend, Seth, loves anagrams and plays the tuba; and her aunt is trying to persuade her to commit some white-collar crimes. Kim is a bright and funny Jersey teen, who happens to look like a 72-year-old lady. LINDSAY-ABAIRE During Shrek, I said to Jeanine, I would love to write a musical the way that I write a play, where it would just be us figuring it out for as long as we needed to figure it out. And then Jeanine said, Well, how about one of your plays? For the creative team behind Kimberly Akimbo, the chaotic energy of this morning fit the musical itself, whose concept seems on the page, at least too off-kilter for a shiny Broadway marquee. 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.. Buddy strongly refuses and drives away. Buddy: Kims dad, whose drinking undermines his well-meaning efforts to do his best for his daughter. Frank Scheck has been covering film, theater and music for more than 30 years. Drama Desk Awards: The musical won Outstanding Musical and was nominated for eight additional awards for performance, writing, direction, and design. Do you imagine this as the kind of show that parents can take their teens to? The show's title comes from an anagram Seth creates of Kim's name, which is "cleverly akimbo.". Both actors are good sports, but not for a single second do we sympathize with their flat characters. The Kimberly Akimbo characters include various people in 1999 New Jersey. And I like how funny it is.. "Kimberly Akimbo," presented by Moxie Theatre at the Lyceum Space, Horton Plaza, 79 Broadway Circle, San Diego. As long as were picking at excellence, Ill add that Kimberly Akimbo isnt yet all it might be. The theatre most often houses plays. We've received your submission. He is currently a New York correspondent and arts writer for The Hollywood Reporter. Kimberly Akimbo takes place in 1999 in suburban New Jersey, where the title character is a 16-year-old high school student who looks like she's 72 because of a rare condition that's accelerated her aging. The Jessica Stone-helmed production began Off-Broadway November 6. And these characters, they reminded me of people I grew up with, they reminded me of people in my family and not always people who are center stage, especially in a musical. Her mother, Pattie (Alli Mauzey), is ludicrously hypochondriacal, as if atoning for the chromosomal accident that produced her quick-aging child. Kimberly is now an ordinary teenage trapped in a much older person's body, and only through song can she escape to be truly free. Olivia Elease Hardy, Fernell Hogan II, Nina White and Michael Iskander amusingly portray Kimberlys fellow high school students. It has a really deep, complicated inner life. Kimberly Akimbo plays eight performances a week at the Booth Theatre, with performances usually scheduled every day except Monday. 2021 Off-Broadway premiere (musical): The, 2022 Broadway premiere (musical): Clark and the entire Off-Broadway cast of the, Kimberly's last name isn't Akimbo; it's Levaco. The boy scout. . She moves to Bergen County, New Jersey, with her parents, Buddy (Steven Boyer) and Pattie (Alli Mauzey), who are negligent, cartoonishly cruel morons. Regular price $35.00. Kimberly Akimbo is a play written in 2000 by David Lindsay-Abaire. 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. Home | Kimberly Akimbo Monologue (Pattie), A monologue from the play by David Lindsay-Abaire. 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. What's an anagram for "hit musical"? The cast also included John Gallagher, Jr. and Ana Gasteyer. The Seagull: Not Your Great-Great-Great-Grandmothers Chekhov, The Seagull/Woodstock, NY: The Chekhov Updating You Didnt Need, Letters From Max, a ritual: A Playwright and Poet Open Their Hearts, Letters From Max, a ritual: Intimate Teacher-Student Work, The Sign in Sidney Brusteins Window: Lorraine Hansberrys Largely Forgotten Play Shows Signs of Life, A Bright New Boise:Hunters First Play in off-Broadway Premiere, Endgame: A Fine-Tuned Production of Becketts Favorite Play, Kimberly Akimbo: The Sweet Musical Treat We Need Right Now, Leopoldstadt: Stoppard Examines His Roots, in Extraordinary Fashion. Schedule varies. Learn more about this heartfelt show about living life to the fullest. We could crack open Kimberlys heart, and let her express all of those feelings and emotions and fears and desires and longings, that are only subtext in the play. / Getting older is your cure.. Regular price $20.00. So paired with Tesoris peppy, jingle-like, adequate score is a heap of sadness. You can win free tickets from Vivid Seats. 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. Copyright 2023 New York Stage Review All Rights Reserved. So at almost 16 (her birthday is coming up) she looks like a lady in her early 70's. Its an attribute the actor and singer has deliberately sought to highlight in her performances, perhaps in reaction to the challenges shes experienced as a plus-size woman in show business.