Kimberly Akimbo Brings Big Laughs and Bigger Heart to the National Theatre
It’s awkwardly awesome! Kimberly Akimbo, now on stage at the National Theatre, will hit you right in the feels (and then leave you doubled over laughing five seconds later.)
This darkly whimsical and deeply human musical, which swept the 2023 Tony Awards (including Best Musical), has arrived in Washington with all the humor, heartbreak, and hope that made it a Broadway darling. From the very first scene, it’s clear: this isn’t your typical coming-of-age story. It’s also a coming-of-aging story.
Set in the bland yet strangely chaotic suburbs of New Jersey—but with enough emotional mileage to resonate from Rockville to Capitol Hill—the show follows Kimberly Levaco (3-time Tony nominee Carolee Carmello), a bright, awkward 15-year-old girl with a rare genetic condition that makes her age rapidly. Played with luminous warmth and comic brilliance by Carolee, Kimberly is a teenager trapped in a 70-something body, navigating AP bio and first crushes while managing a severely dysfunctional family.
Jeanine Tesori’s score (her first Broadway musical since Fun Home) is a poignant mix of quirky rhythms and aching melodies, at times channeling the awkward vibrancy of adolescence and at others the fragile urgency of borrowed time. Paired with David Lindsay-Abaire’s book and lyrics—witty, weird, and wonderfully grounded— Kimberly Akimbo strikes a rare balance between the absurd and the authentic.
But make no mistake: this show is funny. The comedy is sharp, sometimes crude, and unapologetically local in tone—even if that locale is East Orange, not Eastern Market. It’s packed with authentic Jersey vernacular that somehow feels right at home here in DC, where we’re no strangers to bureaucratic dysfunction or emotional overachievement.
Supporting performances are equally strong. Kimberly’s classmates are a band of lovable misfits. Her crush, Seth (Miguel Gil), is a surefire rising star in this industry — he makes the awkwardness of youth as well as the bumbling reality of teenage love remarkably believable; and Kimberly’s scheming Aunt Debra (Emily Kock) steals scenes with the chaotic energy of someone who just got kicked out of a H Street speakeasy for trying to sell fake IDs.
And yet, for all its eccentricity, Kimberly Akimbo is ultimately about something very real: the need to be seen, loved, and understood—no matter your age, appearance, or zip code. It’s about how family can both hold you back and propel you forward. And it’s about choosing joy, even when time is running out.
In a city where so much of life is lived in three-minute elevator pitches or ten-second sound bites, Kimberly Akimbo invites us to slow down, laugh harder, and hold our loved ones closer. It’s a weird little musical with a big old soul—and it’s exactly what DC needs right now.
Kimberly Akimbo is playing at the National Theatre through June 1. Recommended for ages 13 and up due to language, crude humor, and the kinds of family chaos that might feel a little too familiar...