We♥Broadway: Kimberly Akimbo (national touring) at Kauffman Center, Kansas City, MO (January 20 to 25, 2026)

A unique, offbeat, music treat!

Kimberly Akimbo is the recent musical that won five Tony Awards including Best Musical featuring a very individual story line., mixed with the very relatable themes of growing up, and growing older with imperfect friends and family around you. The Broadway hit (which also won Best Original Score and Best Book from a Musical) is on a national tour and stops in Kansas City through Sunday, at the Kauffman Center for the Arts.

The award-winning book and lyrics are by David Lindsay-Abaire, based on his original play from all the way back in 2000 and the award-winning score is by Jeanine Tesori, with choreography by Danny Mefford (known for ‘Dear Evan Hansen’) and direction by Tony-nominated director Jessica Stone.

The story follows a somewhat lonely girl, about to turn 16 who suffers from a rapidly aging disease similar to progeria, which makes her physically appear 4-5x her age, or approximately 72.

She recently moved with her family to a new town in suburban New Jersey and encounters high school classmates and a relative that makes her navigate family dysfunction, her rare genetic condition, a first crush … and a scheme that could mean possible felony charges.

Veteran Broadway actor Ann Morrison (whose first break was back in a 1982 version of Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along) takes the lead role and makes it her own, expertly applying that delicate nuance of being a young teenager, in an older grandmother’s body. Morrison showing moments of youthful naive glee, coupled with a mature vision of her character’s condition, is combined with a grace and astute regard to detail, that anchors the story as only an accomplished stage actor could.

Marcus Phillips’ portrayal of the likable quirky classmate, skating rink worker, and anagram-loving Seth, was equally compelling and well-played, who dares to want to know more about Morrison’s Kimberly Levaco character, beyond her health malady.

The tale mostly takes place at the local high school, at the aforementioned skating rink, and at the Levaco home, which includes parents Martin (played by a Shane Gillis-like Jim Hogan) and the bandaged up (for various reasons) and again expecting mother, Pattie. She’s played with comic appeal and a subtly idyllic voice by Laura Woyasz, and visiting boisterous aunt, Debra played by Emily Koch helps hatch the potentially money-making scheme.

The musical is filled with hummable songs, including the first act’s opening “Skater Planet”, Woyasz’s turn on “Hello, Darling”, and the high schoolers singing “Anagram.” The relatively small nine-person cast makes the songs grow enough, to have it feel like a larger production.

Sets and lighting were purposely modest and simple, but enough to paint the images of a row of lockers at the high school, waiting outside the rink in the show, or the drab interior of the Levaco household, without overstating and intruding, But also not understating the environment, where it could fade too much to not be an important element, so was just right.

Kimberly becomes a social part of the outsider student group that includes her lab partner, Seth and some show choirmembers prepping for a state competition. The plot does take a “catch me if you can” turn that involves potentially fraudulent activity by the school friends, as goaded on by Aunt Debra, but even that twist is anchored by the connections the schoolmates have, and the dysfunctional, but constant love of the Levaco family members have, trying to get by, in this thing  called life.

Phillips shines on the second act’s “Good Kid”, the opening “Skater Planet” is brought back for a reprise, most of the cast gathers for “The Inevitable Turn”, and the company ends the show with “Great Adventure”, not with an all-out bombast, but with a more intimate bonding and connectivity that says what it needs to, without having to shout to the rafters.

The tone of the show is more ‘indie-rock ditty’, than ‘arena rock anthem’ and that’s what fits best, given the oddity of the story itself and its down-to-earth, relatable characters. This is the ‘little engine that could’ not the massive ‘express train’ like so many musicals that feel the need to go over to top, as a way to win over the audience.

Sometimes, there’s no need to shout, and if you take the show on its own merits and allow in the characters and those winning songs, Kimberly Akimbo might just be your favorite new musical.

KIMBERLY AKIMBO TOUR DATES

01/20 – 01/25 Kansas City, MO Kauffman Center

Tuesday, January 20, 7:30 PM
Wednesday, January 21, 7:30 PM
Thursday, January 22, 7:30 PM
Friday, January 23, 7:30 PM
Saturday, January 24, 2:00 PM
Saturday, January 24, 7:30 PM
Sunday, January 25, 1:00 PM
Sunday, January 25, 6:30 PM

01/27 – 02/01 Grand Rapids, MI DeVos Performance Hall
02/03 – 02/08 Des Moines, IA Des Moines Civic Center
02/10 – 02/15 Madison, WI Overture Center for the Arts
02/17 – 02/22 Milwaukee, WI Marcus Center
02/24 – 03/01 St. Paul, MN Ordway Center
03/03 – 03/08 Appleton, WI Fox Cities Performing Arts Center
03/10 – 03/15 East Lansing, MI Wharton Center
03/17 – 03/22 Buffalo, NY Shea’s Performing Arts Center
03/24 – 03/29 Rochester, NY Auditorium Theatre
04/01 – 04/05 Ft. Myers, FL Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall
04/07 – 04/12 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Broward Center
04/14 – 04/19 Orlando, FL Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
04/21 – 04/26 Greensboro, NC Tanger Center
04/28 – 05/03 Baltimore, MD The Hippodrome Theatre
05/05 – 05/10 Providence, RI Providence Performing Arts Center
05/14 – 05/17 New Haven, CT Shubert Theatre
05/21 – 05/24 Red Bank, NJ Count Basie Center for the Arts

National Tour Photo Credits: Joan Marcus, and Patrick Gray at Kabik Photo Group