NYT Best Theater of 2022
Kimberly Akimbo’ by Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire
The year closed, as it opened, with an unlikely musical translation, in this case turning Lindsay-Abaire’s fine, sad yet whimsical play, first produced in 2001, into an even richer musical. With main characters including the 15-year-old Kimberly, whose genetic condition makes her look like a woman in her 60s, and Seth, a schoolmate so nerdy his best friend is his tuba, it was not an obvious candidate for song. Yet in Kimberly’s profound longings and Seth’s mania for wordplay, Tesori (music) and Lindsay-Abaire (lyrics) found the makings of one of the most beautiful, unexpected scores of the season, to which Jessica Stone’s Broadway staging, a transfer from the Atlantic Theater, gave lovely, low-key expression. And Victoria Clark’s performance as the hopeless yet hopeful Kimberly made us feel somehow that her song was ours. (Read our review of “Kimberly Akimbo” and our interview with the creative team.)

"Anything you do, let it it come from you--then it will be new."
Sunday in the Park with George