‘KIMBERLY AKIMBO’: Victoria Clark & Justin Cooley. Photo: Joan Marcus.

KIMBERLY AKIMBO
Book & lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire
Music by Jeanine Tesori
Directed by Jessica Stone
Booth Theatre
222 West 45th Street.
(212-239-6200), www.KimberlyAkimboTheMusical.com

By David NouNou

I had no idea that Kimberly Akimbo the musical was originally a 2001 play of the same name. I only knew the musical opened in 2021 Off-Broadway and was a huge success—and has now transferred to Broadway. As I was watching the show, I was mesmerized by David Lindsay-Abaire’s book and how compelling the storyline was, and thinking to myself of how the score was getting in the way of the script. When a book is so strong, the score becomes superfluous. I realize now that, in modern-day musicals, the score doesn’t propel the storyline forward as in yesteryear’s musicals, but the score now describes the characters and who and what they are. It’s the characters words with the music twisted around them that forms the score. This often makes most 21^st century scores unmemorable.

Back to the script, set in New Jersey in 1999.  It’s about a lonely 16-year-old high school girl, Kim (Victoria Clark) who suffers from a condition that causes her to age four times faster, which makes her look like 64. She is befriended by an anagram genius, Seth (Justin Cooley) who wants to work with Kimberly on the science project about her condition so that they can present to the class together.

There are also other teenagers that are fraught with their teenage angst and who wants to work with whom on various school projects. They are presented as real normal kids with their frailties but trying to figure things out for themselves. It’s the adults that are horrid with their repellent behaviors and attitudes.

Kim’s father, Buddy (Steven Boyer), is an alcoholic who is mostly repelled by her, and her mother, Patti (Alli Mauzey) is pregnant again, and hopes the second child doesn’t turn out like Kim, so she gets pregnant by a neighbor. Add to the mix, Patti’s sister, Aunt Debra (Bonnie Mulligan), who is a con artist and a convicted felon. Her aunt is ultimately Kimberly’s friend and helps Kim follow her dreams and her right to enjoy her life despite her handicap.

If you’ve seen Mr. Lindsay-Abaire’s Rabbit Hole and Good People, you have an idea of what a genius he is with words and setting up a play and Kimberly Akimbo is no exception. There are so many layers to this beautifully textured show, it has to be seen and relished. His handling of Kim and Seth is both beautiful and touching. It is nothing like the perverse Harold and Maude. That’s thanks in large part to Victoria Clark.

Although a veteran of many Broadway shows, with the part of Kim, this establishes Victoria Clark as a contender in the theatre. Her dazzling performance is sublime. You can see her as 16 when she is giddily happy and 64 when she is down. Don’t ever count her out because she makes Kimberly a winner all the way because she lives on hope.

Her counterpart, Seth (Justin Cooley), making an impressionable Broadway debut is so charming and uplifting; there is nothing creepy about their relationship but genuine love of two lost teenage souls who see each other’s beauty.

Just as she stole the show in the ill-fated, short-lived musical Head Over Heels, once you get to know Debra, you’ve got to love Bonnie Milligan. Her quirkiness makes her lovable and you forgive her inequities.

The tough pills to swallow are Buddy and Patti—not the fault of Steven Boyer and Alli Mauzey, both of whom give their all. As characters, they are just vile.

Director Jessica Stone brings sensibility to all the proceedings, especially when dealing with the teenagers, but her main focus always centers around Kim and Seth and Aunt Debra. From a personal observation, at our performance there were a lot of older teenagers who were really into the show, and it is always a thrill to see younger audiences being absorbed by what’s going on stage and not what’s on their smartphones. Kudos to all the teenagers who will discover Kimberly Akimbo when they come and see the show.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published November 16, 2022
Reviewed at November 15, 2022 press performance.

‘KIMBERLY AKIMBO’ (left to right): Michael Iskander, Justin Cooley, Victoria Clark, Nina White, Olivia Hardy & Fernell Hogan. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘KIMBERLY AKIMBO’ (left to right): Nina White, Michael Iskander, Fernell Hogan & Olivia Hardy. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘KIMBERLY AKIMBO’ (left to right): Victoria Clark, Justin Cooley & Steven Boyer. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘KIMBERLY AKIMBO’: Victoria Clark & Justin Cooley. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘KIMBERLY AKIMBO’: (left to right): Victoria Clark, Justin Cooley, Michael Iskander, Olivia Hardy, Nina White & Fernell Hogan.

‘KIMBERLY AKIMBO’: The cast. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘KIMBERLY AKIMBO’: (left to right): Alli Mauzey, Victoria Clark & Steven Boyer. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘KIMBERLY AKIMBO’: Victoria Clark & Alli Mauzey. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘KIMBERLY AKIMBO’: Alli Mauzey. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘KIMBERLY AKIMBO’: Bonnie Milligan. Photo: Joan Marcus.

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‘TIME AND THE CONWAYS’: (left to right) Elizabeth McGovern, Charlotte Parry & Anna Baryshnikov. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

TIME AND THE CONWAYS
Written by J. B. Priestley
Directed by Rebecca Taichman
Through November 26, 2017
American Airlines Theater
227 West 42nd Street
(212-719-1300), www.RoundaboutTheatre.org

By David NouNou

Written and performed on the London stage in 1937, J. B. Priestley uses the basis of time travel to showcase a family’s life and changes. Starting in 1919, the first part of Act 1 shows us the giddy, frivolous lives of an upper-middle-class British family (the Conways) at the end of World War 1.

On this particular night, the Conways are celebrating Kay’s (Charlotte Parry) 21st birthday. Kay is one of six children blessed to Mrs. Conway (Elizabeth McGovern) who is now a widow. Kay wants to be an author/writer and is unsuccessful in her endeavors. Her siblings consist of a doltish older brother, Alan (Gabriel Ebert) who is a clerk in a dead-end job; she has a younger sister, the beauty, Hazel (Anna Camp) who is vapid and only cares about her looks and pleasures; another sister, the Socialist and spinsterly Madge (Brooke Bloom); the youngest sister, the lovely childlike Carol ( Anna Baryshnikov); and the returning soldier and golden boy, Robin (Matthew James Thomas). Tonight, Kay is orchestrating her party and is assigning charade duties with costumes to her mother and siblings for the pleasure of the guests that have been invited.

In the middle of these proceedings, part two of Act 1 comes to view. With the wonderfully designed set by Neil Patel, the current living room fades backward and from the ceiling descends a less ornate version of it and the year is 1938, a year later than when the play was presented. Kay has returned from London to her home by the request of her mother. Kay is a writer for a magazine that interviews movie stars who visit England. She has come home on the day that coincides with her 40th birthday. Also, there are her siblings. In the ensuing 19 years, “time” hasn’t been that good to the Conways. Only Alan, the dolt, has the good sense and serenity to take things as they come and flow with the tide. This upheaval has disastrous consequences for the rest of the siblings. Hazel has married a rich bully, Ernest Beevers (Steven Boyer), who takes vengeance on her and the Conways. Madge has become a spinsterish school headmistress. Robin has become a drunkard, deserted his wife and family, and failed in all his endeavors. Worst of all is Mrs. Conway, who is about to lose her home and her children’s inheritance.

Act II goes back to 1919 to reveal what led to this downfall. Of course, the end of the war has a lot to do with it, due to social economics and the changes that are taking place around the world to which the Conways are totally blithe. The impoverished Beevers, who came to court Hazel. was ridiculed by her and the family. Similarly, Gerald Thornton, the family solicitor (Alfredo Narciso), who was only seen as their employee, now controls the purse strings. The uniqueness of Time and the Conways isn’t just the reversal of fortunes, it’s also about how the frivolous and feckless who look down on people create the monsters that unseat them.

The acting is uneven by mostly everyone. Elizabeth McGovern, as Mrs. Conway, is unconvincing as her younger self in Act I, some of her children look older than her. However, as her older and hardened self of 1938, she is riveting and heartbreaking. Steven Boyer, who was spellbinding in Hand to God, now in a much smaller role, is frightening as the belligerent Beevers who changes from an eager wooer to a maniacal bully to exact revenge is perfect. Charlotte Parry, as Kay, is charming and engaging and it never ceases to amaze me how Gabriel Ebert can play a dolt and be able to steal every scene whether here, in Matilda or Therese Raquin.

Time and The Conways does have a moral to it; frivolity and fecklessness have a price, it’s not all about the fun, parties and wishful dreaming. Pertinent to our current situation, but in reverse, enjoy yourself now, make every minute count, because World War III may be around the corner.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 15, 2017
Reviewed at October 14, 2017 press performance.

‘TIME AND THE CONWAYS’: (left to right) Matthew James Thomas, Gabriel Ebert, Anna Baryshnikov. Charlotte Parry, Elizabeth McGovern & Anna Camp. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘TIME AND THE CONWAYS’: (left to right) Gabriel Ebert, Anna Baryshnikov, Anna Camp, Elizabeth McGovern & Matthew James Thomas. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘TIME AND THE CONWAYS’: (left to right) Matthew James Thomas, Gabriel Ebert, Steven Boyer & Charlotte Parry. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘TIME AND THE CONWAYS’: (left to right) Anna Baryshnikov, Charlotte Parry, Matthew James Thomas & Anna Camp. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘TIME AND THE CONWAYS’: (left to right) Elizabeth McGovern, Brooke Bloom & Charlotte Parry. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘TIME AND THE CONWAYS’: (left to right) Anna Baryshnikov, Charlotte Parry & Anna Camp. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

The post ‘Time and the Conways’: The price of frivolity appeared first on StageZine.

LIKE ‘AVENUE Q’ ON STEROIDS (left to right) Geneva Carr, Sarah Stiles, Mark Kudisch, Steven Boyer & Michael Oberholtzer. Photo: Joan Marcus

HAND TO GOD
By Robert Askins
Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel
Booth Theatre
222 West 45th Street
(212) 239-6200
http://handtogodbroadway.com

By Scott Harrah

This is that rare show that changes and challenges the foundations of traditional theater, the way Samuel Beckett did in the 1950s with Waiting for Godot and Edward Albee did in the 1960s with Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Equal parts dark comedy, absurdist drama and horror/gore show, Hand to God is both funny and frightening, has the irreverence of The Book of Mormon, and the gross-out ick factor of every John Waters film, but playwright Robert Askins’ tale is highly original as well. At times scathingly hilarious but ultimately disturbing, this tragicomic masterpiece takes digs at everything from Christianity and teenage angst to taboo sex. It is unlike anything you’ve ever seen on the New York stage in years.

Hand to God has transferred to Broadway after two successful downtown productions. Although lead actor Steven Boyer isn’t yet a big name in theater, he will be soon for his tour de force portrayal of Jason, a troubled teenager who brings out his inner demons through Tyrone, the hand puppet he plays with at a Texas church in a Christian puppet class run by his mother, Margery (the outstanding Geneva Carr).

Margery is still grieving the loss of her husband just six months earlier as she attempts to rehearse for an upcoming church puppet performance with Jason, smart-mouthed bully Timothy (Michael Oberholtzer) and quick-witted Jessica (Sarah Stiles).

Meanwhile, Pastor Greg (Marc Kudisch) has romantic feelings for Margery, but she’s too grief-stricken from her husband’s death to even feign interest in the guy. Margery is also indulging in some stomach-churning, inappropriate behavior with hormone-addled Timothy (don’t ask). To make things worse, Jason’s going overboard playing with his puppet Tyrone, shouting out so many potty-mouthed witticisms and acting out violence and perverse sex acts that it seems Tyrone has literally possessed the poor kid.

Hand to God questions many of the foundations of mainstream Christianity and morality as the characters take us on a nonstop ride of four-letter words, jabs at the Bible and social mores as we see puppets and humans in various acts of sex and violence. Although act one is full of belly laughs, by act two the show builds to an uncomfortable climax that makes us realize Hand to God is more of a modern-day Greek tragedy than an edgier, filthier Avenue Q. Like many Greek heroes and heroines in Euripides and Sophocles’ classics, Jason and mom Margery commit despicable crimes of passion and must face the consequences.

Director Moritz von Stuelpnagel keeps the exceptional cast moving at a steady pace, in a show that is so full of energy, fake spewing blood and searing physicality that it has to be exhausting for the actors. However, as first-rate as Robert Askins’ play is, the raison d’être of the show is also Steven Boyer’s mind-blowing portrayal of Jason and Tyrone, in what is certainly the must-see performance of the spring season, making him a frontrunner for the Tony Award.

JASON & TYRONE: Steven Boyer in ‘Hand to God.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

JASON & HIS CRUSH, JESSICA: Steven Boyer & Sarah Stiles. Photo: Joan Marcus

MARGERY & PASTOR GREG: Geneva Karr & Mark Kudisch. Photo: Joan Marcus

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 10, 2015
Reviewed at press performance on April 9, 2015

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