KIMBERLY AKIMBO Reviews — Page 8

Saw this yesterday. I went in having listened to the recording a couple times, and not loving it. I thought the songs worked better in the show than standing alone, but I think this is far from Tesori's best work. The score to Fun Home is so incredibly superior.

This show almost feels like a twisted carnival mirror reflection of Fun Home.

SPOILERS below







The family here is just as messed up, but not because anyone has any secrets. Here terrible people doing terrible things openly is played for laughs. No one loves anyone except themselves. Even the four teenagers, experiencing their first crushes, brutally learn that their love has all been in their own minds.

The whole show has such sarcastic & warped humour, and I am at a loss as to why the creative chose this path instead of dealing with what is a very real illness in a more earnest & empathetic manner?

The family are straight out of an episode of Jerry Springer or Maury Povich. Does anyone believe those people are real? It is pretty well documented that those television programs would completely fabricate the situations in their episodes. Since everything here is equally fabricated, how can an audience react with authentic emotion?

I felt like someone being fed a pill of fentanyl: a synthetic opiod, meant to mimic the effects of of the natural substance - but which usually kills those who take it. This show killed any real emotions I might feel.

In Fun Home people can heal & recover from trauma & loss. Here there will be no recovery. At the end the children flee. They leave on a "great adventure, " which a thinking audience knows only postpones the inevitable: DEATH. And it is played for laughs.

What has happened to tragedy? For centuries audiences were very happy to leave the theatre drenched in their own tears. Hamlet dies. Both Mimi & Violetta die surrounded by those that love them.

Kimberly will die. But, since the clumsily constructed cartoon family created here are satisfied to let her die on her own, off in the hospital, while they get on with their own lives, the creative seemed to decide that would be too bitter & clumsily constructed a pleasant ending.

Ultimately, I don’t think it works. It is like they are feeding the audience fentanyl to anesthetize their emotions. They forgot though that when you are drugged like that you not only don't feel sorrow, you also can't feel joy. So for myself I left the theatre feeling nothing.

The set was nicely constructed, and staging effective.

I didn't belive for one minute that Victoria Clark was a 16 year old with a debilitating illness. If she gets the Tony over Annaleigh Ashford it will be a crime of historic proportions.

All the haters coming out of the woodwork, lol

Where have you all been for the last 5 months?

jkcohen626 said: "All the haters coming out of the woodwork, lol

Where have you all been for the last 5 months?"

Lolz. Who cares what they think? Critics and most people really enjoyed it so they can bitch into the void all day with their over dramatic statements, nobodies listening.

Hmm. So I didn't like a critically-praised musical that I paid to see and I get labeled a "hater" who is "bitch[ing] into the void" because my opinion - and those of anyone else who didn't agree with the consensus view - is irrelevant.

This is true. I'm just a random tourist from California who saw Kimberly Akimbo on Thursday night. The full cast was in, and the actors are very talented. I understand that people are protective of the shows they love, especially smaller musicals like this one. But given its status as an award-winning critical darling and likely favorite for the Tony Award as Best Musical, Kimberly Akimbo can certainly survive a little scrutiny from me. Nobody's listening anyway, and this is a message board devoted to discussing theater. So let's dive in (SOME SPOILERS INCLUDED):

-- The subject of the musical is inherently tragic. Kimberly Levaco is a 15-year-old girl with a rare disease, apparently something like progeria, which is causing her to age at four and a half times the normal rate. She's about to turn 16, and Kimberly explains early that most people don't live beyond that age. She's a teenager in the body of an old woman, and her new friend Seth must assist her when she gets up.

-- Playwright David Lindsay-Abaire, who adapted his own play and wrote the lyrics, is determined not to treat the story as a tragedy. The plot includes Kimberly's irresponsible parents who are having another baby and her aunt Debra, who arrives and immediately plans a criminal check-washing grift with Kimberly's friend and some other high school kids who want money for show choir costumes. None of Kimberly's family members seems to care about her. The father, Buddy, has an alcohol problem and keeps making promises to her that he can't keep. Her mother, Pattie, is preoccupied with making videos for the unborn baby and treats Kimberly as a bit of a servant due to medical problems that may or may not exist. Debra seems to like Kimberly well enough, but she mostly wants to use her as part of the fraud scheme.

-- These are all terrible people, but they're not terrible in ways that give the audience an understanding and appreciation for how difficult it would be for her parents - blue-collar people without resources who had Kimberly as teenagers - to have a child with such a horrible disease. Instead, they say awful things to Kimberly, neglect her, or make things worse. And except for the fact that the audience is meant to feel sorry for her, it's mostly played for laughs. The show is "Married... With Children," but with a body count and less actual humor.

-- Kimberly, dressed in a jumper as if she's 5 instead of 15, is portrayed as an old soul with the patience of a saint, aside from a few outbursts and a penchant for sarcasm. Her friend Seth is even more of a saint, and gets a solo in which he asks what being good has ever got him.

- We eventually learn other unpleasant and increasingly implausible things about Kimberly's family, with a last straw that seemed so cruel as to be unbelievable even given the low opinion I already had of them. She decides to run while she has any time left to have a "great adventure," even if that means involving her only friend Seth - who is Black - in federal crimes. Does anyone consider what's going to happen after the musical ends? The possibilities are grim.

It's art, and everyone will react to it their own way. For me, the musical isn't nearly funny or smart enough to work as a really dark comedy. And it certainly isn't serious enough to work as the tragedy that it's determined not to be. I couldn't get past the stupid caper plot, the story of what happened in their old town, or the unforgivable things that Kimberly's parents did to take any of it seriously. It's a great musical for people who hate parents who repeatedly let them down, though.

Updated On: 3/20/23 at 02:26 AM

I have to admit, I didn't care for the sister's storyline much....and yes, these are not good people. They are people struggling dealing with things with limited resources and little common sense or support. I don't think they lack love, they have just never grown up - can you imagine the lives THEY have come from? Do I mind the humor in it? No, it makes one think later. Kimberly WILL die, but she will also experience joy and love and true friendship before she does.

That being said - sorry to anyone that disliked the show after I've recommended it so strongly here. Different strokes, after all.

bear88 said: "

--. None of Kimberly's family members seems to care about her..
--. Instead, they say awful things to Kimberly, neglect her, or make things worse. And except for the fact that the audience is meant to feel sorry for her, it's mostly played for laughs.
--- We eventually learn other unpleasant and increasingly implausible things about Kimberly's family, with a last straw that seemed so cruel as to be unbelievable even given the low opinion I already had of them. She decides to run while she has any time left to have a "great adventure,"

As much as these “implausible” plot points are hard for you to swallow/believe, you are preaching to the choir. I know many MANY people that were disowned, neglected, kicked out, and forced to “run” from their own family because their own mothers and fathers disapprove of their child’s identity in the queer community. It’s v tragic but it happens!

Ok, a couple things.

First, I'm sorry I upset you with the label of "hater." I honestly didn't mean it in a way to be mean to the posters. It's not really a serious label to me, I was just using it to denote people who didn't like the show. I also 100% respect your opinion to dislike any show you want, my older comment was just me expressing surprise at what seemed like a sudden pile-up on the show.

Second, I think maybe the reason you didn't like the show while so many did is suspension of disbelief. I view the show as something inherently absurdist and cartoonish and that that makes it better. When viewing this show, I throw out any real-world morality of things like check fraud or the Lodi affair. If you go in expecting something a lot more grounded and are shocked by the true nature of the show, I can totally understand not liking it.

I don’t think viewing it as a tragedy is correct either. Sure, she will die. There will be sad songs. But there’s comedy in death and circumstances.

Updated On: 3/20/23 at 07:41 PM

Finally got around to seeing this since it's been on TDF and after all the raves on here. Did I think it's the "one to beat" for the Tony like I read when it first opened? No.

It was ok.

While I think that Victoria will win the Tony, probably, but I couldn't get beyond seeing her as an old woman playing a young girl, maybe that's what they were going for?

At intermission my husband mentioned to me about expecting a "Jason's Bar Mitzvah" in the second act and sure enough, we have a hospital scene.

It's a fine show, kooky, well acted, song are a bit basic and this musical will be a BIG hit in community theaters around the country where they have that one older woman that's due to play a lead in a production.

yellibean2 said: "Ceej - I just sat front row when I won the lottery and you do have to look up the whole time (I'm 5'7 but it seemed like other people taller than me were also looking up), but you don't miss anything. If I could choose a seat I would probably go a few rows back, but it's an intimate story that does benefit from being up close."

Thank you so much!

Is Victoria Clark scheduled to do all 8 shows?