Kimberly Akimbo - (Paperback)

About the Book

"A playful and powerful musicalization of Lindsay-Abaire's beloved play about a young girl forced to grow up too fast. Kimberly Akimbo tells the story of a young girl suffering from a rare disease similar to progeria that causes her to age four times faster than her high school peers. Surrounded by a deeply neurotic and dysfunctional family, Kimberly must also emotionally age at an accelerated rate. When she meets fellow misfit Seth, the two form an unlikely bond in the midst of social alienation. Written with composer Jeanine Tesori, Lindsay-Abaire's musical adaptation of his beloved play retains the original's quirky charm while deepening its emotional resonance"--

Book Synopsis

2023 Tony Award winner for Best Musical!

NEW JERSEY, 1999. Kimberly is about to turn sixteen and has recently moved with her family to a new town in suburban New Jersey. Suffering from a disease that causes her to age four and a half times faster than her high school peers, surrounded by a dysfunctional family (and possible felony charges), Kimberly is also navigating her first teenage crush. Ever the optimist, Kimberly is determined to find happiness against all odds and embark on a great adventure.

Review Quotes

"Kimberly Akimbo is already the rare example of a good play that has become an even better musical . . . It embraces the ability of song, even in tragicomedy, to extend emotion into bigger realms . . . It is profoundly funny and heartbreaking . . . The season's most moving new musical." -Jesse Green, New York Times

"Kimberly Akimbo is the sort of refreshingly unexpected musical that makes anexhilarating case for the vibrancy and potential of the form. It asks big questions about family and mortality. It's unabashedly heartfelt and irresistibly funny. Like life, it's inherently sad and a little absurd, and like its subject, Kimberly Akimbo is exceedingly rare and almost impossible not to love." -Naveen Kumar, Variety

"A fresh and gorgeous musical . . . Lindsay-Abaire and Tesori rearrange the pieces of Kimberly Akimbo (the play) carefully, and in doing so they find hidden, sideways beauty." -Helen Shaw, New York Magazine

"A wondrous new musical . . . Breathtakingly lovely and often riotously funny . . .Blends the sweet, the sad, and the tartly offbeat in ideal dimensions." -Charles Isherwood, Wall Street Journal

About the Author

DAVID LINDSAY-ABAIRE is a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, screenwriter, lyricist, and librettist. His works for theater include Rabbit Hole, Good People, Shrek The Musical (Jeanine Tesori, composer), Ripcord, Fuddy Meers, Wonder ofthe World, and A Devil Inside, among others.

JEANINE TESORI, the most honored female composer in Broadway history, has written works for theater, opera, and film. Her works include Fun Home (Tony Award for Best Score); Soft Power; Shrek The Musical; Caroline, or Change; Thoroughly Modern Millie; and Violet. She was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist twice for Fun Home and Soft Power.