Kimberly Akimbo, the Tony Award-winning best musical of 2023, started a limited engagement at Portland’s Keller Auditorium and plays through Sunday, January 19. It’s an original musical comedy about “growing up and growing old, in no particular order” that will both warm your heart and break it. While none of the songs are still running through my head, I loved the cleverness of the story and lyrics, and I found myself laughing out loud as well as tearing up.
Kimberly Levaco is a teenage girl in 1999 New Jersey who has a rare genetic disorder that makes her age four times faster than normal. People with her condition have an average life expectancy of 16 years, and Kim is about to celebrate her sixteenth birthday.
The fact that she’s facing death and looks like everyone’s grandmother doesn’t help with Kimberly’s typical teenage angst. But this is not her only problem. The adults in the Levaco family are, on the surface, horrible people. Dad is a drunk who doesn’t remember his own daughter’s birthday. Mom is a selfish, attention-seeking narcissist. And Aunt Debra is a crude ex-con who propositions a minor in the school library and coerces Kim and her friends to join her in a check fraud scheme. (This side plot is played for laughs and warrants its own song — “How to Wash a Check” — and a reprise.) The only person in the Levaco family who acts like a grown-up is still a child.
Despite all of this, Kimberly remains hopeful. She dreams big, wishing both for grand adventures and for her family to be a “normal” loving family. It is deeply moving to watch, especially because the cast, many hailing from the Broadway production, is so strong. Emily Koch as Debra steals the show, but my favorite was Kim’s nerdy teenage crush, Seth, played with depth and balance by Miguel Gil.
I feel like this show is aimed at an adult audience, but teenagers (and former teenagers) will relate to Kim and the five other actors all playing high school students. Younger audiences might not fully appreciate the overlying theme of mortality, but the main message to live life to the fullest is one everyone can understand. Pro tip: Kimberly Akimbo is officially recommended for audiences ages 13 and up due to strong language (and lots of it), crude humor and alcohol abuse. There’s also talk of teenage pregnancy, menopause and a hand job, but the only sexual act seen on stage is an innocent first kiss, and there’s no violence.
If You Go
- Kimberley Akimbo is officially recommended for audiences ages 13 and up due to strong language (and lots of it), crude humor and alcohol abuse.
- The show has a run time of 2 hours and 30 minutes with one 15-minute intermission.
- Pro tip: Arrive a little earlier than usual and be prepared to wait out in the cold before entering the theater. The ticket scanning process has slowed down a bit while patrons get used to scanning their own tickets.
- To purchase tickets, visit Broadway in Portland.
- Prices range from $29.75 to $129.75, plus fees.
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