Review: KIMBERLY AKIMBO at Fox Cities Performing Arts Center

The national tour of Kimberly Akimbo arrives as one of the most resonant productions on the touring circuit this season. Winner of five Tony Awards including Best Musical, this adaptation of the play by David Lindsay-Abaire features a witty and emotional score by Jeanine Tesori. Stylistically masterful, the show resists spectacle in favor of storytelling, utilizing a bold restraint that makes it so captivating and real. For many theatergoers, Kimberly Akimbo is likely unfamiliar territory. It lacks the typical footprint of well-known titles, and its premise is unusual: a New Jersey teenager living with a rare genetic condition that causes her to be sixteen going on sixty. What could easily become a gimmick instead unfolds into a forceful human reflection on adolescence, family dysfunction, and the fragility of time.

What makes Kimberly Akimbo so imperative is its insistence that time is not guaranteed, nor evenly distributed. While Kimberly’s condition accelerates her physical aging, the emotional landscape is relatable and recognizable. Parents fail. Siblings resent. Friends surprise us. Love arrives awkwardly and sincerely. Regardless of how much an audience member can relate to an individual character, it opens the door to ask one striking question: If you knew your time was shortened, how boldly would you live?

In the role of Kimberly, Ann Morrison gives a nuanced and compelling performance.  Balancing an aging body with a youthful spirit is no simple task.  Her take on the role is extraordinarily genuine and grounded, allowing the audience to fall in love with not only who Kimberly is, but also the perspective she has on her terminally limited life. Bringing years of experience to the table serves this role well.  You can see the refinement of Morrison’s craft in how she guides the audience with grace, wit, and raw emotion.  Morrison is a touring treasure.

Alongside Morrison, is Marcus Phillips as Seth.  From start to finish, Phillips brings a quirky joy to the show.  The audience is given permission to fall in love with and root for this character from the moment he takes the microphone at Skater Planet.  Phillips has a masterful way of balancing unconventional charm with deeply perceptive insight. Those elements paired with a gentle vocal make for a delightful performance. 

The youthful quartet composed of Gabby Beredo (Delia), Skye Alyssa Friedman (Teresa), Darron Hayes (Martin), and Max Santopietro (Aaron) provide many components of the show that keep it lively.  Working in harmony in more ways than a show choir, this dynamic ensemble of characters has perfected bringing authenticity to adolescence. In a show centered on the fragility of life, these four students embody vitality. They move as a unit, react as a unit, and support one another both as characters and as performers,  creating a synergy that feels spontaneous rather than rehearsed.

While many characters in the show bring levity, Debra supplies rocket fuel. Emily Koch understood the assignment. Vocally, the role demands both power and precision, something Koch can handle with ease. Debra’s featured moments are showstoppers in the truest sense; bold, unapologetic, and sharp. But what makes her performance resonate is not volume, it’s commitment. Every choice is specific. Every glance carries intention. Koch doesn’t just enter scenes, she commands them.

Rounding out the cast are Laura Woyasz as Patti, and Jim Hogan as Buddy, Kimberly’s parents. These roles are presented with painful honesty. Hogan brings a softness to Buddy that invites empathy, even as his passive nature deepens the household’s instability. In stark contrast, Woyasz’s Patti bristles with sharp edges, delicate resentment, and anxiety spilling out in biting remarks. Despite really strong negative characteristics written into the script, neither parental role is reduced to villainy. Instead, they feel achingly human; flawed, overwhelmed, and ill-equipped to handle the extraordinary circumstances placed before them. Together, they create a landscape that is darkly comic and deeply unsettling, underscoring one of the musical’s central truths: love alone is not always enough to steady a family, especially when time feels both abundant and tragically short.

Ultimately, Kimberly Akimbo is less about illness and more about relationships. The humor, sometimes absurd, sometimes biting, brings the experience an undeniable buoyancy. While comical in many ways, the broadest moments never undermine the piece’s emotional integrity. There is a fine balance between whimsy and weight here, and the production walks it gracefully. It without question fulfills its purpose; striking the heart and centering itself on who shows up, who disappoints, and who dares to stay. Kimberly Akimbo reminds us that growing up is never linear, that family can both wound and redeem, and that time, however much we are given, matters. Sometimes the most captivating theatre simply asks us to pay attention; to the people we love, and to the time we have.