OK, Broadway producers, I get it. It takes a lot of money to create a new musical, so it stands to reason that you’d want your investment to be a fairly safe one. Hence, adaptations of popular movies or stories built around familiar songs have become the go-to source material for new Broadway musicals. But how I wish you’d be more willing to take risks on completely new musical theater works of originality and imagination. Shows like “Kimberly Akimbo.”
Carolee Carmello, left, and Miguel Gil in the North American touring production of “Kimberly Akimbo,” a musical about a girl who ages into an old woman over the course of her teenage years, which runs through Sunday, July 13, 2025, at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis. (Courtesy of Joan Marcus)
Clearly, Tony Award voters agree, for they gave this creation of playwright David Lindsay-Abaire and composer Jeanine Tesori the “Best Musical” award in 2023. And now its first touring production (featuring over half the Broadway cast and a three-time Tony nominee in the lead) has landed at Minneapolis’ Orpheum Theatre for a week.
And what a rare pleasure it is to experience a new stage musical that’s so unabashedly eccentric and unpredictable. What at first looks as if it’s going to take us down the well-trod path of life in an American high school veers off into one wild detour after another. And, thanks to Lindsay-Abaire’s well-sculpted, trope-defying characters, it’s a very funny and richly satisfying show.
Its story hints that the playwright consciously chose to defy cliches at every key juncture. What if the new girl at school had a rare genetic disorder that caused her to age at four to five times the normal pace, thus giving her a life expectancy of about 16? And what if her parents, instead of treasuring their limited time with her, were instead hopelessly self-absorbed? And what if the whole family seems to be on the lam from the law and our young protagonist’s aunt, a career criminal who never met a scam she didn’t like?
Yes, you’ll come upon such common high school conflicts as crushes, science presentations and show choir competitions, but they’re all just offbeat enough to be cringingly accurate in their awkwardness. Director Jessica Stone has helped shape a staging full of impeccable comic timing and a propulsive pace, the action flying to and fro on David Zinn’s simple yet effective set. And all nine cast members seem convincingly committed to this deliciously quirky musical.
At the center of this whirlwind is Carolee Carmello’s Kimberly, a shy teenager in a middle-aged woman’s body. It’s an extraordinary performance that invites you to observe her subtle alterations in voice and physicality, suggesting that we’re watching Kimberly age before our eyes and ears.
The unreliable adults in her life include Laura Woyasz as her tender but empathy-free mother, Jim Hogan as a perpetually apologetic alcoholic father, and, in the most scene-stealing role of all, Emily Koch as the brassy, filterless aunt who gradually helps transform the show into a caper comedy.
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Yet all the kids at school also impress, with Darron Hayes allowing us to watch a budding musical theater enthusiast come to full blossom. And Miguel Gil is excellent as the skating rink attendant who falls for Kimberly, even interjecting a tuba solo into one of his songs. And that’s just the kind of show this is. Lots of musicals set in high schools advocate for letting your freak flag fly, but “Kimberly Akimbo” shows how it’s done.
Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.
‘Kimberly Akimbo’
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: Orpheum Theatre, 910 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis
Tickets: $166-$40, available at hennepinarts.org
Capsule: A lovably eccentric musical.
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