“Kimberly Akimbo” at the Atlantic Theater on 20th Street

A musical by David Lindsey-Abaire and Jeanine Tesori

 

Let’s start with the fact that Victoria Clark is playing a teenager on her 16th birthday.  No, this is not a sad case of an aging musical comedy star trying to convince an audience that she still has her stuff.  Ms. Clark, a veteran of Broadway, film, and television actor, is playing a teenage girl that suffers from Progeria Syndrome – a very rare but deadly DNA related-condition that causes children to age very quickly and usually leads to their death while still in their teens.  Even more remarkable, “Kimberly Akimbo,” playing at the Atlantic Theatre downtown is a delightful, charming, and, in the end, a moving experience.

 

This refreshing musical is based on a play of the same name by David Lindsey-Abaire, who has adapted the book from his 2003 play and provided lyrics to Jeanine Tesori’s winning upbeat score. While Ms. Clark’s Kimberly lets us know early in the proceedings that she does not have long to live, this is a funny, engaging, and, as it progresses, insightful look at mortality and what we do in the face of the inevitable. 

 

So far this season, new musicals have been disturbingly misguided.  “Trevor” took a compassionate short film about a pre-teen boy struggling with his sexual identity and made it into a ridiculous singing and dancing would-be take-off on “Grease.”  Then, there was “Mrs. Doubtfire,” a mildly entertaining 1950s style musical that made me wish the adapters had listened to the wisdom of its theatre’s namesake, Stephen Sondheim. 

 

Ms. Tesori and Mr. Lindsey-Abaire have learned from the master.  Their music and lyrics advance or reflect on the plot.  No, they do not have the wit and inventiveness of Mr. Sondheim’s works; but they are the perfect complement to Mr. Lindsey-Abaire’s witty and inventive treatment of young people growing up and adults who never have. As with many musicals, there are plenty of moments that stretch belief; but when a show works as well as this one, the audience goes with the flow. 

 

There is not a weak link in the cast.  Victoria Clark amazingly maintains the feeling that we are watching a teenager in the body of 72-year-old woman.  That careful, moment-by-moment coloring of her character is at the core of the charm as well as the underlying angst as this young woman faces mortality.  Ms. Clark is surrounded by a uniformly perfect cast.  Steve Boyer and Alli Mauzey play Kimberly’s parents – Steve, a friendly alcoholic dad; Pattie a miserably pregnant mom – with Bonnie Milligin as her “got a plan” aunt.  But, for me, the standout was newcomer, Justin Cooley, as Seth, Clark’s empathetic buddy and eventually a bit more.  This is a very talented young actor, and his jubilant performance should put him at the top of the list of casting directors. 

 

Then there are the four other teenage song-and-dancers that share lockers and classrooms with Kimberly and Seth, each with a well-defined personality.  Olivia Elease Hardy, Michael Iskander, Nina White, and Fernell Hogan II added musical richness in background numbers and brought excitement to their production numbers.  

 

David Zinn provides an inventive unit set with lots of moving parts to change environments.  Sarah Laux’s costumes are unnoticeably appropriate.  All of these elements are brought together by Jessica Stone, an experienced actor who has turned to directing.  If you don’t notice the direction, that is usually a good sign of the effectiveness of the director.  Ms. Laux’s work was wonderfully invisible. 

 

This is the type of small musical that deserves to find a home in an off-Broadway theatre after its Atlantic run.  That type of transfer (versus a Broadway production offer) is quite rare these days.  “Kimberly Akimbo” is a small musical that deserves a level of intimacy.  For now, it has a home in a theatre that makes the musical’s humor and its portrait of our common destiny readily accessible and, more significantly, totally enjoyable. It even has a happy ending that points to the universality of the show’s message about something we share with Kimberly Akimbo – mortality.

 

Rating: A





No comments:

Post a Comment

Flying Over Sunset

  “Flying Over Sunset” by James Lapine, Tom Kitt, and Michael Korie At the Vivian Beaumont Lincoln Center Theater   In my recent review of a...