Preview: Kimberly Akimbo at Broadway at the Hobby

When the curtain goes up, Kimberly Akimbo stands center stage holding a pair of ice skates and a necklace. There is no sound — rare for the start of a musical — until after she takes a bite of her necklace (it’s candy) and the music begins.

In Kimberly Akimbo, a 15 year-old girl is about to turn 16, usually important for a teenager but not one that should fill anyone with dread.  Unless you’re suffering from a rare genetic condition that causes you to age four-and-a-half times the usual pace.

Broadway veteran Ann Morrison is now on national tour as the title character which she says is the perfect role for her because “I really don’t have to do much acting. I am 70 with the mind of a 16-year-old.” The musical while on Broadway won five Tony Awards including Best Musical.

Morrison loves the attention-getting start and, in fact, all the details that go into Kimberly’s persona. “She’s very optimistic no matter what’s going on. And even though there’s a possibility that her life expectancy may be up — they don’t really live much longer than 16 — who knows?”

In the opening scene, Kimberly “looks like the lunch lady dressed like a 16 year old,” Morrison says. She’s just moved to a new town in suburban New Jersey and clearly other students don’t know what to make of her. Since high school students are not always the kindest to others they consider odd, Kimberly has a tough start.

 On top of that, “Kimberly has a very dysfunctional family,” Morison says. “Her mother and father mean well but they don’t always make good choices.”

“Even though her family’s dysfunctional, you can’t help to love them even though you want to smack them around a little,” she says, laughing. “And there may be a felony charge coming up.”

But she soon begins forging what Morrison describes as a wonderful relationship with 16-year-old neuro divergent Seth.

Besides her parents and Seth, she has four characters who are part of a show choir and “an aunt that’s crazy nuts,” Morrison says. “Everyone in the show is a misfit. They all have to find each other and to figure out how to be in the world with each other.” The show is set in the late ’90s which means no cell phones to quickly contact one another and clear up any misunderstandings.

The show has musical theater royalty at its helm. Book and Lyrics are by Tony and Pulitzer Prize-Winner David Lindsay-Abaire, music by Tony Award-Winner Jeanine Tesori and it’s based on the play by Lindsay-Abaire. Tony Award nominee Jessica Stone directs with choreography by Danny Mefford.

Added to that lineup is Morrison who among other things, played Mary Flynn in the legendary original Stephen Sondheim/George Furth musical, Merrily We Roll Along on Broadway. She has acted on and off Broadway and in the West End. She has performed in various solo actor shows and through her theater company, Sarasota Productions, she teaches 16- and 17-year-old how to create their own one-person shows.  “They have a solo play that helps them get into college.”

Asked about how she got into theater, Morrison responds:  “I was dragged into the theater kicking and screaming.  Kicking like a chorus dancer and screaming like Ethel Merman.”  A perfect response soundin glike a punch line from vaudeville except her father was a university professor and her mother was involved in a variety of performance arts who between them “wrote three musicals, three ballets, one opera, art songs.”

Why should people come to this musical?

 “When audiences leave they just feel so good about themselves,” Morrison says. “And right now, why not go see something like that? The message is: life is short so just enjoy the ride. Make positive choices with your life not negative ones.”

Performances are scheduled for September 16-21 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the Hobby Center, 800 Bagby. For more information, call 713-315-7625 or visit thehobbycenter.org or broadwayatthehobbycenter.com. $55-$131.