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| Kimberly Akimbo Stumbles on Broadway (small design spoiler) | |
| Last Edit: Singapore/Fling 05:00 pm EST 11/27/22 | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 04:49 pm EST 11/27/22 | |
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| Like many, I adored this show at The Atlantic, where its unconventional storytelling and phenomenal performances made it a gem that did what musical theater often does at its best: remind us of how precious and meaningful life can be, if we just remember to keep living despite the pain. Like many, I was eager for this show to make the transfer to Broadway, where its joys could be experienced by a wider audience. And like many, I though that when it made that transfer and was freed from the physical restraints of The Atlantic Theater (which, crucially, has no wing space), it would be able to lift itself into a more joyous, more buoyant, more compelling experience. Unfortunately, the Broadway transfer ignored the many, many reviews that called for a re-thinking of the physical world, choosing to gussy up the set with some large gestures - flying signs, extra furniture, totally unnecessary snow - without changing the fundamentally awkward and drab pop-out set at the core of the story. The only real design change is that the lighting seems to have gotten darker, isolating the action more than it did Off-Broadway, plunging us into the play's grimness more than its joy. It's a horrible mistake, one that diminished the show's charms for me. Sitting in the back of the mezzanine for Act 1 (I moved to a mostly empty lower row for Act 2, which helped a bit), the show seemed stranded on a too-big stage, much of the action stuck upstage, losing the effortless connection the actors made with the audience last year. Perhaps the show was always too small to move into even a relatively tiny Broadway house, but if it was going to have a fighting chance, it needed a more thorough re-conception. There's a great thread on this board questioning the marketing campaign for this show (which seems to be getting worse with the new roller coaster artwork, with its... rather off-putting character design*), but I think the mistake there is of a piece with the larger misstep of the production and a rather obliviousness on behalf of the producers. For example, the show's merch includes a fake-candy necklace like the one that Kimberly wears. A fun idea, but since the necklace only appears onstage briefly at the very top of the show (at center stage, behind a scrim), it's almost impossible to see from the mezzanine. At the interval, I overheard the merch vendor explaining to an audience member what the necklace referred to, because the patron was confused. Clearly, the producers thought the necklace would have impact, and it has none. A small example, perhaps, but for me it speaks to the core problem of not knowing how to translate the show to Broadway. Is this production worth seeing? Probably, yes. It's hard for me to disentangle my disappointment over this version from the show itself, which still has a lot of highlights. Victoria Clark remains stunning as Kimberly, and Bonnie Milligan continues to slay in her very funny scenes as Aunt Deborah. Justin Cooley, Steven Boyer, and Alli Mauzy are all wonderful, and the Show Choir ensemble is a delight (though they probably needed to add a few more kids to this production, the way Spring Awakening found a way to add a few more singers on Broadway... some of the staging just seems too bare now). The book is still heartbreaking in the best ways, and the score still has some gorgeous dramatic moments and great humor. If you haven't seen it at all, it's probably still worth seeing, if you aren't sitting too far back. I just had hoped for so much more, and I'm struggling to accept what we were given... which is itself one of the themes of the show, so I guess that's appropriate. *I tried to find an image on-line but couldn't; I saw it in print in this week's New Yorker. |
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| re: Kimberly Akimbo Stumbles on Broadway (small design spoiler) | |
| Posted by: theaterisok 10:33 pm EST 11/27/22 | |
| In reply to: Kimberly Akimbo Stumbles on Broadway (small design spoiler) - Singapore/Fling 04:49 pm EST 11/27/22 | |
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| I adore your posts- always. Even if I don’t agree, as in this case. Thank you for mentioning the marketing of the show thread. But I do agree with your seeing the show as somehow smaller uptown. I thought they found the perfect balance between keeping the intimacy with needing to make things more uptown feeling, whatever that is (like the turntable for the dinner scene). Regardless, thank you always for your clarity and generosity. | |
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