‘Kimberly Akimbo’ a unique musical with heart

The 2023 Tony Award-winning Best Musical, now playing through June 22 at Chicago’s CIBC Theatre, defies easy explanation, but let me try: Mix together an unlikely heroine, a dysfunctional family, love, crime and a rare illness. The impressive recipe results in “Kimberly Akimbo.”

If that sounds like a lot for a single show to include, it is, but it may help to remember the meaning of “akimbo,” which isn’t the last name of the title character, by the way. According to dictionary.com, one of the definitions is “splayed out in an awkward or ungainly manner,” and that’s a perfect description of Kimberly’s life in this musical.

As played by three-time Tony nominee Carolee Carmello, Kimberly Lovaco is a 15-year-old in high school in 1999, who has a challenging home life and an uncertain future. Her father (Jim Hogan) has a drinking problem and doesn’t keep promises (like leaving his daughter waiting outside a skating rink in the cold long after he was supposed to pick her up). Her mother (Laura Woyasz) is pregnant and has had carpal tunnel operations on both wrists, limiting her ability to truly help her daughter and husband.

There’s also some kind of trouble in another city that led the family to flee their prior home. And escaping that past becomes more difficult when Kimberly’s aunt, Debra (Emily Koch), shows up at Kimberly’s school just as she’s getting to know – and like – Seth (Miguel Gil), a boy who wants to partner with her on a school project in which they need to do a presentation on a disease.

Seth has a unique skill: he can anagram virtually anyone’s name – quickly arriving at “Cleverly Akimbo” as a complete anagram of Kimberly’s first and last names. Kimberly likes the way Seth looks at things a bit differently, especially compared to the more typical teenagers played by the four other actors in the show (Grace Capeless, Skye Alyssa Friedman, Darron Hayes and Pierce Wheeler).

The only problem Seth may present is that he thinks the best disease to research for the school project is one that Kimberly knows too well since she is battling it. While the fictional illness is never named in David Lindsay-Abaire’s script or lyrics, it causes Kimberly to age at four to five times the normal rate. She also tells Seth that the average life expectancy of a sufferer is only 16 years. With her 16th birthday just around the corner, time is of the essence for Kimberly to have a less stifling life and perhaps a “great adventure.”

The past few paragraphs may make it seem like “Kimberly Akimbo” is a totally serious musical that has no humor or upbeat moments. Far from it. Debra, for example, is always looking for a new get-rich-quick scheme. The four other students each have feelings for a different member of their group, leading to several amusingly awkward social interactions. The carpal tunnel bandages mean that Kimberly’s mom almost must be fed like a baby bird. And Kimberly, with Seth’s help, has a very positive outlook most of the time.

Carmello’s performance, under the direction of Jessica Stone, is a tour de force. The actress is 62, so she’s older than the actors playing her parents, but every audience member sees her as that teenager. We know Kimberly’s life will eventually have an ending, but we all hope she can achieve some kind of happy ending before that.

When Kimberly writes a letter to New Jersey’s Make-A-Wish Foundation, as detailed in an early Act I song, “Make a Wish,” she tries to come up with three amazing options, even though the least expensive of the choices may be what she’s given … if her letter is successful, that is.

Due to the subject matter and some profanity, this show is probably the equivalent of a PG-13 movie, so keep that in mind when looking at whether to bring younger family members. But if you want to see well-developed/unique characters, laugh occasionally and feel splayed out emotions, “Kimberly Akimbo” is well worth seeing.

• Paul Lockwood is a communications consultant at Health Care Service Corporation in Chicago, as well as a local theater actor (Woodstock Opera House, McHenry County College, The Murder Mystery Co.), singer, Grace Lutheran Church (Woodstock) and Toastmasters member, columnist, former podcaster and past president of TownSquare Players. He’s lived in Woodstock for more than 24 years.

IF YOU GO

• WHAT: “Kimberly Akimbo” musical

• WHERE: CIBC Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St., Chicago

• WHEN: Through June 22

• INFORMATION: www.BroadwayInChicago.com