By SHARON EBERSON
Having seen Kimberly Akimbo once, what I missed the most the second time around was not knowing what comes next.
The Tony Award-winning musical that skated into the Benedum Center Tuesday is a boisterously fresh take on the tale of a doomed teen in a 1990s blue-collar New Jersey suburb, mixing bold doses of bonkers with the bittersweet.
Title character Kimberly is turning 16 and living with the knowledge she will die soon, from a rare condition that causes her to age four times faster than normal. She craves one last great adventure, which always seems to be just beyond her grasp.
If that seems too sad, or too “afterschool special,” be advised to anticipate the unexpected.
at the Benedum Center through March 9, 2025. (Image: Joan Marcus)
The circumstances that surround Kimberly go boldly into darkly comedic, wholly original territory, and what the characters lack in subtlety, they make up for in vivid, colorful strokes.
The cast is led by Carolee Carmello, last seen here as The Witch in Pittsburgh CLO’s Into the Woods. Carmello as Kim, her voice a tad high-pitched, in harmony with her teenage character, is the grounding force in the lives of a mother and father who seem to be guided by a bad-parenting how-to manual, and among the peers whose acceptance she craves.
The musical opens at a skating rink, in a scene that lets us know where and when we are, and introduces four of Kim’s classmates – played by Grace Capeless, Darron Hayes, Skye Alyssa Freidman and Pierce Wheeler. Always seen together, they act as a chorus, co-conspirators and a sort of Inside, Out charm bracelet of teen angst.
Kim is the new girl in town, and she finds a fast friend in Seth (Tony-nominated Justin Cooley, who originated the role on Broadway), a “brainiac” with no filters, who comes at Kim in waves of dialogue.
Seth displays an empathy toward Kim that warms her heart, yet even he cluelessly mentions her life expectancy, before asking, “Are you sensitive?”
His own back story – mother dead, father oblivious, brother in rehab – gives him an insight into Kim that no one else can muster.
With Carmello and Cooley at their most endearing, Seth uses his passion for anagrams to makeover her name; thus, Kimberly Levaco becomes “Cleverly Akimbo.”
They could be an adorable pair of high-schoolers, if not for Kim looking old enough to be Seth’s grandmother.
At home, Kim’s mother Pattie (Laura Woyasz) is hugely pregnant and has both hands in casts, the result, she says, of correcting carpal tunnel caused by a factory job. She is obsessed with her upcoming motherhood, while not so keen on the one at present. Alcoholic dad Buddy (Jim Hogan) tries but inevitably fails to do right by Kim – bar bets are more his thing.
In song and actions, with humor and hostility, Woyasz and Hogan sell the idea of two poorly equipped parents, in individual battles with regret and resentments.
On opening night, when they occasionally stung Kim with a careless comment, there were audible gasps in the audience.
And then along comes bull-in-a-china-shop Debra, and Kim’s topsy-turvy world goes into overdrive.
Carnegie Mellon alum Emily Koch plays the outrageous con artist with belting abandon. Her songs are high points of hilarity and really, really bad karma.
As an example, you may not want to judge the R-rated song Better by its title – she sings it to lure a group of high school kids into her latest scheme.
Sets by three-time Tony-winner David Zinn (Stereophonic among them) and costume design by Sarah Laux represent a shabby ’90s vibe without the chic.
That’s Kim’s world, the one she is determined to break out of, to have her eyes opened to adventure.
Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home, Caroline, or Change) and lyricist/librettist David Lindsay-Abarire (Shrek the Musical with Tesori, the plays Good People and Rabbit Hole) have a knack for creating worlds that showcase the lives of vulnerable outsiders, often with grief as an underlying theme.
Kimberly Akimbo is based on Lindsay-Abaire’s play of the same name. His own cleverly akimbo lyrics run the gamut from despair to hopefulness. He and Tesori, with direction by Jessica Stone, manage to have it a myriad of ways with a musical that is expectantly sweet, surprisingly dark and often hilarious.
Rarely has “you’ll laugh, you’ll cry” been so on target as it is with Kimberly Akimbo.
TICKETS AND DETAILS
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh present Kimberly Akimbo in the Benedum Center, Downtown, through March 9, 2025. Tickets: visit https://trustarts.org/production/94989/kimberly-akimbo or call 412-456-4800.
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