Kimberly Akimbo

A

David Lindsay-Abaire (Good People, Rabbit Hole, Fuddy Meers) and Jeanine Tesori (Caroline, or Change; Fun Home, Violet) have joined forces to turn his early dark comedy into a musical. I am happy to report that the result, now in previews at Atlantic Theater Company, is thoroughly satisfying. Although Kimberly (Victoria Clark; The Light in the Piazza, Sister Act) is just turning 16, a rare illness has aged her at 4 1/2 times normal speed, so she has the mind of a teenager in the body of a 70-year-old. She is further saddled with a dysfunctional family — an alcoholic father, Buddy (Steven Boyer; Hand to God, The Explorers Club), a narcissistic hypochondriac pregnant mother, Pattie (Alli Mauzy; Cry Baby, Wicked) and Debra (Bonnie Milligan; Head over Heels, Gigantic), her sociopathic ex-con aunt. At her New Jersey high school, she forms a friendship with Seth (Justin Cooley), a nerd with a fondness for anagrams. We also meet two mismatched pairs of fellow students — Delia (Olivia Elease Hardy), Martin (Fernell Hogan II; The Prom), Teresa (Nina White) and Aaron (Michael Iskander). All five principals have at least one song that develops their characters. The other songs are all well-integrated into the book to move the plot along. We learn why Kimberly’s family had to move away from Secaucus in the middle of the night. Debra stirs things up with a plan to make some fast money. There is much reason to laugh, but a realization that an underlying sadness is rarely far away. Ms. Clark is, not surprisingly, excellent but Ms.Milligan almost steals the show with her larger-than-life performance. The young actors portraying the sidekicks are all fine. The choreography by Danny Mefford (Fun Home, Dear Evan Hansen) includes a clever ice skating number. David Zinn’s (Fun Home, Choir Boy) unit set effortlessly transforms to several locations. The costumes by Sarah Laux (The Band’s Visit, The Humans) befit the characters well. The direction by Jessica Stone (Dancing at Lughnasa, Absurd Person Singular) is smooth and assured. All in all, it’s a rare treat. It received a standing ovation, which I have not seen before at the Linda Gross Theater. (Running time: 2 1/2 hours including intermission.)

Head over Heels

B

The idea hardly sounds promising: take a 16th-century English pastoral, “The Arcadia” by Sir Philip Sidney, revise it and marry it to a score made up of songs by the all-female 80’s rock group, the Go-Go’s. Nevertheless, it was sufficiently well-received at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival three years ago that a group of producers including Gwyneth Paltrow and Jordan Roth signed on to shape it up and bring it first to San Francisco and now to Broadway's Hudson Theatre. Against all odds, it mostly works. James Magruder (Triumph of Love) adapted Jeff Whitty’s (Avenue Q) original concept and book and the producers assembled a fine cast and a very talented creative team including Tom Kitt (Next to Normal) as orchestrator, Spencer Liff (Spring Awakening) as choreographer and Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening) as director. The sumptuous set design by Julian Crouch (Hedwig), the wonderful costumes by Arianne Phillips (Hedwig), the hyperactive lighting by Kevin Adams (Hedwig) and the clever projections by Andrew Lazarow (Privacy) all add greatly to the production. The eight leads — Jeremy Kushner, Rachel York, Bonnie Milligan, Samantha Pollino (u/s for Alexandra Socha), Tom Alan Robbins, Taylor Iman Jones, Andrew Durand and Peppermint — are all talented performers. Durand (Spring Awakening) is delightful in the dual role of shepherd and Amazon. It’s good to have Rachel York (City of Angels) back on a New York stage. Peppermint (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”) is notable for being the first transgender woman to create a role on Broadway. For me, Liff’s choreography is one of the strongest aspects of the show. l confess that I had never heard a Go-Go’s song before and would not feel deprived if I did not hear one again. Nevertheless, they fit reasonably well into the show. The GoGo’s must have reached cult status, because there was loud whooping and hollering whenever the first bars of a familiar song were heard. The plot is unabashedly silly, with an oracle, a curse, a royal family, a shepherd, hidden identities and a touch of “woke” gender fluidity. It’s not My Fair Lady or Carousel, but it works as naughty fun for a summer night. The curtain call is a real treat! Running time: two hours 20 minutes including intermission.

Gigantic **

This musical with a book by Randy Blair and Tim Drucker, music by Matthew roi Berger and lyrics by Blair has been kicking around in various forms since 2009. As “Fat Camp,” it won Best of Fest award at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in a production directed by Alex Timbers. In 2012 American Theatre of Actors revived it with several cast changes and a set by Beowulf Boritt. Why talents such as Timbers or Boritt were attracted to this pedestrian show and why Vineyard Theatre decided to give it a third New York outing are mysteries to me. The antics at a summer camp for overweight teenagers are a slender {pun not intended} thread for a full-evening musical. During the second act, the authors try frantically to liven things up with a production number featuring a dozen or so life-size dancing animals that bears no relation to anything else in the show. Likewise, as part of the color war, one team, with no rationale whatever, performs a scene from “The Crucible” dressed in Pilgrim costumes made from trash bags. The energetic, appealing cast give it their all. They are all good, but Bonnie Milligan, Larry Owens and Leslie Kritzer stand out. The music is generic pop-rock, with many songs sounding almost alike to me. I might have appreciated the music more had it not been blasted at levels that were painful to bear. The woodsy set by Timothy R. Mackabee is quite attractive and Gregory Gale’s costumes are inspired. The choreography by Chase Brock is lively and the direction by Scott Schwartz is smooth. Too bad the the quality of the material does not match the high level of the production. Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes including intermission.