“Kimberly Akimbo” and the power of now
GREAT ADVENTURE: Carolee Carmello is Kimberly in the National Tour of the Tony Award-winning musical Kimberly Akimbo. Photo by Joan Marcus
One of the functions of art, it seems, is the constant reminder that we are all going to die. Despite our denials or attempts to obscure this eventuality with money, power, substances, meditation or the stress and frenzy of everyday life, the end will come for each of us. In plays and stories like Our Town or A Christmas Carol, authors smack us upside the head as if to say, “Wake up, idiots. Now is the only thing that has ever really mattered.”
The future has been weighing heavily on me in this tumultuous week of elections and change, so seeing Kimberly Akimbo, another piece of art trying to knock us back into the present, was especially powerful.
The show is at the Curran Theatre as part of the BroadwaySF season, and its subject is mortality and how we might choose to deal with it. Rather than being grim or depressing, it’s a remarkably upbeat musical full of New Jersey nerds, family dysfunction and ice skating. Based on David Lindsay-Abaire’s 2001 play of the same name, this multi-Tony Award-winning show has the sheen of a sitcom, the angst of a teenage rom-com and the heart of a compassionate warrior.
GOOD KID: Miguel Gil is Seth in the National Tour of Kimberly Akimbo. Photo by Joan Marcus
Lindsay-Abaire asks us to consider Kimberly Levaco, a 16-year-old who has a one-in-15 million disease that makes her age 4 to 5 times faster than everyone else. So at 16, her body appears to be that of a 60-year-old woman. And here’s the kicker: those with this affliction rarely live past 16.
Naturally, Lindsay-Abaire, who has adapted his play and provided lyrics for Jeanine Tesori’s poppy but substantial score, sets the action on Kimberly’s 16th birthday and smack in the middle of family drama and a significant boy crush. The pathos dial is turned up full blast, but this story is hardly a sappy tearjerker.
There’s always an edge, whether it’s Kimberly’s miserable home life – an alcoholic father; a narcissistic, pregnant mother; and an aunt fresh out of jail and hatching another illegal moneymaking scheme in the basement – or her valiant attempts to defy that misery by grabbing onto any shards of hope or light that she can.
Even as the person with the fatal disease, Kimberly wants to be an optimist. It’s 1999, and she craves normalcy, even as she feels the stares and the distance from the other kids at her high school. That’s why the emergence of Seth Weetis, an Elvish-speaking, tuba-playing, anagram-loving dweeb who seems to approach life differently from the other kids, is such an exciting moment. He has recently lost his mom, and with his dad never around and his brother in rehab, he’s kind of on his own. But like Kimberly, he has a natural vivacity that makes him the opposite of an angsty teenager. That’s what draws them together – that and they’re both adorable in their misfit ways.
WASHING CHECKS: The national touring cast of Kimberly Akimbo includes (from left) Skye Alyssa Friedman as Teresa, Emily Koch as Debra, Darron Hayes (front) as Martin, Pierce Wheeler as Aaron and Grace Capeless as Delia. Photo by Joan Marcus
It’s an astonishing thing to watch the 62-year-old, three-time Tony Award nominee Carolee Carmello disappear into the role of 16-year-old Kimberly. She’s utterly believable, her voice is sterling and the more we fall in love with and root for her, the more we realize we’re barreling headlong into heartbreak. Though she’s well grounded in reality, the people around her are larger-than-life characters enlivened by a terrifically appealing cast.
Kimberly’s dad (Jim Hogan) is lovable in a way, but also shows up drunk three hours late to pick up his daughter from the ice rink as she sits in the snow alone. Her mom (Dana Steingold) is about to give birth to a second child, has both arms in casts (carpal tunnel surgery) and makes her daughter feed her cereal like a baby. At school, Seth (Miguel Gil) is really the only bright light, and then Aunt Debra (Emily Koch) shows up and recruits Kimberly, Seth and the school’s show choir into her latest check fraud scheme with a promise of money and sparkly costumes for a Dreamgirls medley.
Amid a lot of frenzied activity – criminal, teenage and otherwise – there’s also a fair amount of cruelty toward Kimberly, most of it unintentional. People are so wrapped up in their own dramas that they forget she is most likely entering her final days.
Of course Kimberly can’t forget, and this is where we find the particular magic and power of Kimberly Akimbo. Lindsay-Abaire, Tesori and director Jessica Stone take us right to the edge of grief and loss and then make a sharp turn. It’s not that there’s a happy ending exactly – no miracle cure or treatment – but there is life. In the moment. Acceptance that we can’t know what will happen next. There’s confrontation, acceptance, adventure and then, amid tears, genuine laughter.
Death/life, heartbreak/joy, all of it is mixed together in the silly/profound story of a young/old girl who just wants to be seen, loved and taken to Disney World. It’s a glorious and incredibly moving experience.
Kimberly and Seth are both wise beyond their years when they sing:
Maybe it's time to throw caution to the wind
And do something we may regret
At least we'll be living
At least in that moment
We'll have a moment
We'll never forget…
And if not
Well
There's now, now, now, now, now
There's now, now, now, now, now
There's now
Not exactly subtle, but that’s exactly it. There’s now.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
David Lindsay Abaire and Jeanine Tesori’s Kimberly Akimbo continues through Dec. 1 as part of the BroadwaySF season at the Curran Theatre, 445 Geary St., San Francisco. Running time: 2 hours and 25 minutes (including intermission) . Tickets are $60-$163 (subject to change). Call 888-746-1799 or visit broadwaysf.com.
RUSH TICKETS
In-Person: A limited number of $40 Rush tickets is available for every performance beginning 2 hours prior to curtain at the Curran Theatre Box Office. Tickets are subject to availability. Cash or credit. 2 per person. Mobile: Download TodayTix in the iOS App Store or Google Play Store to unlock the Rush ticketing feature by sharing a post on social through the app. Check back in the app at 9am for access to exclusive day-of $40 Rush tickets for every performance.
