Adolescence and old age can be challenging periods in life. So, imagine experiencing both at the same time. That’s the story of “Kimberly Akimbo,” the Tony award-winning musical at Tennessee Performing Arts Center through Sunday, April 11.
The main character is portrayed by Broadway star Carolee Carmello. She spoke with WPLN’s LaTonya Turner from St. Louis while on the tour’s previous stop before Nashville.
Turner: Tell me about about playing a teenager whose body looks and feels like an older adult. How do you balance all that emotion and the fact that you’re playing someone who is such a different age and stage of life than you?
Carmello: It’s been a long time since I was 16 years old! It’s important for the audience to kind of forget that I’m in my 60s and to just take the ride with this 16-year-old character. I also have co-stars who play my high school friends who are in their early 20s playing teenagers. Keeping up with their energy is really what helps me sort of tap into that state of mind.
Turner: I’d love to to hear your take on what the show is about and your character, Kimberly.
Carmello: It’s about a 16-year-old girl who is facing a lot of challenges, one of which is a disorder that makes her age faster than she should. So she’s 16, but she appears to be an older woman, which is incredibly rare. She’s facing that, which is not a small thing, but she’s also got a very funny, dysfunctional family. And they’ve just moved to a new town, and she’s trying to make friends in high school, and she’s got her first crush. There’s a lot of stuff going on for Kimberly, and it all sort of makes for a very emotional and hysterically funny story.
Turner: I saw that there’s ice skating in the show? Tell me about that!
Carmello: Yes — I’ve never done that on stage in all of my 40-plus years in this business! It’s really fun. During the show, we skate on a surface called PolyGlide, which is plastic, but it’s created specifically for ice skating.
Turner: The score is just so well done.
Carmello: Yes, it’s so well done. Jeanine (Tesori), who wrote the music, took a lot of inspiration from ’90s music, which makes it really fun.
Turner: There are videos of you singing “Make A Wish.” Tell me about that song.
Carmello: Oh, it’s a beautiful song. It’s the beginning of the show, and she’s filling out a form for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. It’s so touching because you think about like what would I wish for if I only had, you know, a limited amount of time on this Earth.
Turner: Has (this show) caused you to sort of re-examine your own ideas about aging? And is there something you want audience members to take away?
Carmello: Yes, it does change my perspective in the sense that, the overriding theme of the show is to appreciate the time that we have … whatever amount of time that is. What this show does for me and this character, she is so determined to get the most out of the time she has. And I think that’s an important lesson, you know. It’s never too late to have a big adventure or to try something new. Despite everything that this character goes through, I definitely feel more joyful at the end of the night and more uplifted, which I hope the audience will feel as well.
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