KIMBERLY AKIMBO Reviews — Page 9

And she’s worth it. Master class performance in how to act a song. This is a show I’d see a few more times. The score is good but you won’t really leaving humming songs but they peaked my interest enough to want to hear them again.


Also, for what it’s worth: I checked Tuesday for the Saturday matinee and there were a tons of seats available. Then day of, I rushed around 11 and I got box seats thinking I’ll move down and it was pretty much sold out.

Saw this a couple nights ago, and now have gone back and read these spoiler comments.

I'm sensing a sort of Dear Evan Hansen-esque Rorschach test here.

I (and the two people I attended with) fall squarely on the side of those who say that the humor didn't counterbalance the darkness -- just temporarily distracted from it. And that the parents in particular were incredibly unsympathetic. They're characters I'm not even sure I care to listen to again on the cast recording.

My wife put it well when she said she could've handled a show where someone comes from a terrible home situation and emerges triumphant, OR a show about someone with a fatal disease who accomplishes something great, cheered on by a supportive family. But instead, it was a show where the whole family was terrible for 16 years, pretty much right up to the end, they never seem to feel all that bad about it, they are cool moving on with a new kid, and then I'm supposed to feel happy that she went to a theme park.

I still liked many aspects of it. It was funny. The cast was terrific. There was just inadequate catharsis, and it left all of us feeling sadder than it should have.

I don't want to re-litigate it too much, and I appreciated the civilized discussion by bear88 and the show's fans!

Updated On: 4/20/23 at 09:57 AM

I caught this again this afternoon (second time entering the digital lottery and second time winning the digital lottery - great seat second row orchestra dead center), and I think I fell in love with the show even more than I did the first time. This is definitely the best new musical of the season. It is wildly charming and quirky with a stellar cast giving knockout performances.

If you haven't seen this yet, or want to go again, I recommend playing the digital lottery this upcoming week. I anticipate it will be harder to win after nominations and the Tony awards.

I have one ticket available for tonight’s 7pm performance - Orch R, Row H Seat 6. Asking $45.

Hi Rachel,

Please accept my condolences on all the trauma you have been through recently. I am deeply sorry for your losses. I'm glad you enjoyed the songs and the performances, those actors are phenomenal in my eyes, even when their characters really suck. Ha.

Take care,

Sutton

After all the gushing on here about this show I was expecting more, I guess. Like "Fun Home," I didn't find the music or lyrics memorable and found the book more interesting. The cast is insanely talented, so I wanted to care and have empathy for the characters, which I did in Act One. But by the end of Act Two even the hero and heroine have lost their moral compass, and I didn't understand what perception the director, composer, lyricist, or author wanted audiences to take away from that extremely dramatic change... at all.

And it's presented, without irony, as a happy ending.

So Act One I enjoyed. Act Two, frustrated me

Updated On: 4/30/23 at 12:12 AM

ChorusKitty said: "After all the gushing on here about this show I was expecting more, I guess. Like "Fun Home," I didn't find the music or lyrics memorable and found the book more interesting. The cast is insanely talented, so I wanted to care and have empathy for the characters, which I did in Act One. But by the end of Act Two even the hero and heroine have lost their moral compass, and I didn't understand what perception the director, composer, lyricist, or author wanted audiences to take away from that extremely dramatic change... at all.

And it's presented, without irony, as a happy ending.

So Act One I enjoyed. Act Two, frustrated me"





Well, I can understand the frustration, but I think it's more so meant to be a little tongue-in-cheek / fantastical. Basically, Kimberly took the best of a bad situation.

"Well, I can understand the frustration, but I think it's more so meant to be a little tongue-in-cheek / fantastical. Basically, Kimberly took the best of a bad situation."

I agree. I absolutely love the ending, especially when we see

ChorusKitty said: "RippedMan said:"
Well, I can understand the frustration, but I think it's more so meant to be a little tongue-in-cheek / fantastical. Basically, Kimberly took the best of a bad situation."

A child who grows up in a psychologically abusive household which has criminal elements and who then goes on to be a felon is... "fantastical?"

In the end, Kimberly and Seth are no better than the rest of her family. I'm not sure how that isn't obvious to audiences or the creatives involved. Yes, her wish comes true... via ill gotten gains. Is that, honestly, something celebratory? Has anyone here had something stolen from them and found that laudable?

So, sorry.... I guess I hoped for better from characters I wasted two hours of time having empathy for. I understand other people's perspective, who celebrate the fact that Kimberly gets her moments of joy in the end. But, for me, the actions taken to reach the happy ending made it tainted.



Just my opinion, but I feel you took everything too literally and mised the whole point of the story. (And a lot of it has do do with why she went through with the plan) There is more to it than what happened surrounding the money.







"

I genuinely can’t imagine seeing this show and thinking “That would have been a touching story, but all the CRIME. Distasteful.”

It’s fiction. It’s also mildly absurd. Get a grip.

ChorusKitty said: "Yes, her wish comes true... via ill gotten gains. Is that, honestly, something celebratory?"

Personally, I don't think it's any harder to swallow than the goings-on in other crime-centered musicals like Oliver! or Guys and Dolls. Like the former, the kids are being manipulated by an adult, and like the latter, the action seems to take place in a slightly stylized universe.

I'd also point out that Kimberly insists that reparations be made to the victims. Given that we see Debra in a Costco uniform and the kids in their chorus garb in the final montage - rather than prison clothes - I assume that this eventually happens.

No, I'm not saying that these actions would be acceptable in the real world. Neither would people breaking out in song as I'm trying to ice skate.

Updated On: 5/2/23 at 12:30 PM

No, I don't need to "get a grip;" like everyone else on this platform, I can give my view on the show and how I perceived its strengths and weaknesses. I truly enjoyed the first act, I was disappointed in the second act. C'est la vie. I don't begrudge anyone for feeling it's their favorite musical of the season. I realize many people love it, and it's the front runner for Best Musical. That doesn't change *my* disappointment in the character arc of the second act.

I'm very happy for the cast who received Tony nominations today. They were all great.

The revival of "Sweeney Todd" remains my favorite crime musical of the season though: better score, better crimes. Distasteful BUT... touching in the end. How sad Dame Edna passed, she would have been the ultimate Mrs. Lovett and given the absurdity of the plot the gravitas it deserved. Lol