The new musical on Broadway, "Kimberly Akimbo"(KA) won more Tony Awards than any other show this year including the Tony for Best Musical and Best Leading Actress; Victoria Clark in the starring role. Kimberly, Kim for short, is your typical teenage girl living in NJ except except for the fact sheis a 72 year old woman trapped inside an 17 year old body. Kim has the rare genetic disease, progeria. Progeria is a progressive disorder causing children to age rapidly. The disease leads to premature death, causes crippling arthritis, disfiguring of the face and body and fatal degeneration to the heart. Our irrepressible and immensely likable main character, Kim, appears on stage as herself, a 63 year old woman without the aid of prosthetics or makeup to portray a person with progeria. The contrast between herself and the young actors on stage playing high school classmates makes the age disparity apparent without arousing sympathy. Kim is accepted by likable nerdy outcasts as her school aware of their substellar social standings. The classmates all terrific performers with amazing voices and dancing skills. I was dismayed when I learned the understudies for Seven Boyer (Tony winner for "Hand to God" and Justin Cooley (Tony nominee for KA) would be performing. However, both understudies were exceptional in their roles while marking their Broadway debuts.). The play is set in 1999 and noted in the program, a time before kids had cell phones. The play and lyrics are by David Lindsay-Abaire; Tony winner for KA and Pulitzer Prize winner for Drama in 2007 for "Rabbit Hole". Lindsay-Abaire is a gifted playwright, screenwriter and lyricist, adroit in both comedy and drama. This comedic play is very entertaining and covers the underlying pain of a young woman dealing with her debilitating, disfiguring disease while surviving in a highly dysfunctional family. The mom's a chronic hypochondriac, father a flailing entrepreneur and an Aunt (a deliciously devious Bonnie Milligan) a shady grifter who enlists Kim and her friends as cohorts in a lucrative plot involving activities of felonious fraud. Milligan received this years Tony for Best Actress in a Musical for her role. The show's music is by composer Jeanine Tesori who received a nomination for her work on KA and received the Tony Award for Best musical for "Fun Home" (2006). All the fabulous talent that went into making KA combine for a an unforgettable show. The students are assigned to report on a disease of their choosing in pairs. Kim agrees to pair with Seth who thinks choosing progeria is a great choice, The messaging that comes through clearly without being didactic is to see each other for who we truly are and to enjoy each moment we're given. I would choose this warm hearted show that takes us on a total joy through laughter and pathos in high gear.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Don't be shy, let me know what you think