The reviews are in for Kimberly Akimbo, the five-time Tony Award-winning musical by David Lindsay-Abaire and Jeanine Tesori, which has finally reached this side of the Atlantic at the Hampstead Theatre in a production directed by Michael Longhurst. Maria Friedman plays Kimberly Levaco, a sixteen-year-old with a rare genetic condition that ages her four times faster than everyone around her, and whose criminally minded aunt drags her and her schoolfriends into a cheque-washing scam. The critics have come back largely delighted – the show’s wit, Soutra Gilmour’s revolving set and the double act of Gilli Jones’s Seth and Alice Fearn’s outrageous Aunt Debra draw praise almost everywhere – though they part company over how deeply the evening digs into the darkness underneath, and over how far Friedman’s casting against age carries the illusion. The Reviews Hub is the firmest dissenter, finding the plot over-busy and the characters thinly drawn, and West End Best Friend misses any real jeopardy; at the other end, Time Out, theartsdesk and Musical Theatre Review all give it five.
The verdict: twenty notices in so far – seven five-star, eight four-star, one at two and a half, three outlets that publish no rating, and The Times behind a paywall. Among those that do score, the average is 4.3 out of 5. The cast is the near-constant, with Alice Fearn’s Aunt Debra and Gilli Jones’s Seth singled out again and again; the one firm dissenter is The Reviews Hub, which finds the plot over-busy and the characters thinly drawn.
What are critics saying about Kimberly Akimbo?
Time Out
"Maria Friedman is sensational in this sweetly existential Broadway musical"
Reviewer: Andrzej Lukowski
"Director Longhurst has made a name for himself lately as the patron saint of quirky American musical smashes looking for their UK debut, notably Next to Normal and The Band’s Visit. I’d say those shows were both lightly lost in translation: not flops, but never the hits here that they were back home. Maybe that will be the same for Kimberly Akimbo but I hope it transfers beyond Hampstead and that Friedman is game to stay on – it’s easily my favourite musical of the year, and deserves a long life."
London Box Office
Reviewer: Stuart King
More than anything, it is the overwhelmingly positive and upbeat energy which emanates from every cast member that elevates this show from mere humdrum fluff, to something altogether more special. It counts for a great deal and makes for an irresistible combination together with catchy songs and the underplaying of serious familial issues which therefore never descend into tedious melodrama.
theartsdesk
“A show to make you happy and sad all at the same time”
Reviewer: Gary Naylor
Anchoring it all, Maria Friedman’s Kimberly is a bundle of fear and joy, of anticipation and hesitancy, of resilience and damage. She’s not perfect, not some doomed, Victorian paragon of virtue, but a girl with the same dreams as any other – just inside a body that is fading like a flower in a stop-motion film. That truth hits you like a hammer when she dons her disguise for the heist, a gasp-inducing scene. Never for a moment do we think that this is a late-middle aged actress getting down with the kids, because Friedman plays exactly as written, becoming a prematurely aged teen. No spoilers, but there are two or three lines that land in the base of your stomach like few do in any play, musical or opera, one a reflection on her very different adolescence that made me miss the next couple of minutes as I recovered.
All That Dazzles
“The Broadway musical gets its long-awaited European premiere in a life-affirming and joyous show”
Reviewer: Daz Gale
I didn’t think joyous was a word I would use to describe a story such as this, but that is what is at the heart of the story. It also helps that it is wickedly funny as well, with hilarious one-liners and absurd situations causing me to break into hysterics repeatedly throughout. It isn’t low-hanging fruit, however, with great care taken into each line to ensure this is comedy with intelligence. The entire script benefits from that, coming across as elegant and exquisite, full of meticulous details and jokes that earn their ultimate payoff, causing a faultless hit rate. The appearance of a clock may remind us that time is running out, particularly for Kimberly, but the show never wants us to forget that life is for living and to make every second count. A show that carries a worthy and important message that elevates it from simply being an entertaining watch - something it certainly is as well.
Theatre and Tonic
Reviewer: Amelia
Alice Fearn is a marvel as Debra, in a role unlike anything I’ve ever seen her do, and it’s wonderful! Her comedic timing is spot on, and the way she sings the score is stellar. She completely throws herself into the character, bringing so much energy and personality to every moment, and it’s an absolute joy to watch.
Musical Theatre Review
"Kimberly Akimbo (book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, music by Jeanine Tesori) began life as a 2001 play by Lindsay-Abaire. Two decades later, this musical version took New York by storm, won five Tony Awards, and has now made its way to London’s Hampstead Theatre. It may strain credulity that a musical about a terminally ill teenager is one of the most purely enjoyable and heartwarming shows of recent times, but that is the case I’m going to make over the next few hundred words."
Plays To See
Reviewer: Tim Hochstrasser
“Maria Friedman, in her 60s, plays Kimberly, aged 16, with a winning combination of plausible, gamine, eagerness for life, and world-weary fatalism in the face of mortality. Not just does she inhabit a wonderful part for an older woman, though the creators deserve credit for providing such a rare opportunity; she also offers an exceptional embodiment of understated ‘grace under pressure’. When she does let the emotions rip in the second act, it is a cathartic moment for everyone that reduced the house to silence. It is a performance, like several others here, that deserves to win awards.”
The Guardian
“Maria Friedman plays a 15-year-old with a rare ageing condition in a heartfelt and funny show that manages to sustain its sweetness”
Reviewer: Lyndsey Winship
This is a story, after all, that takes in criminality, alcoholism, neglect, thwarted dreams and life-limiting illness. It’s dealt with lightly – not dismissively – but with a deft handling of tone by Tesori and director Michael Longhurst. It is frequently laugh-out-loud funny (in an opening number about the joys of New Jersey and not fitting in: “I think Springsteen’s just OK,” sings Seth). Alice Fearn has great timing as Pattie’s felonious sister Debra who arrives with a get-rich-quick scheme.
The Standard
“Witty musical about a teen with an ageing disorder”
Reviewer: Nick Curtis
There’s also a rogue, sociopathic aunt Debra (Alice Fearn, in a turn that would be a show-stealer if Friedman and Gilli Jones as the young male lead Seth weren’t so strong). Kimberly’s classmates seem generally accepting but it falls to her to cover their gaucheries around her condition. On every front, she’s compelled to be older than her years.
The Independent
“Quirky American musical manages to mine comedy from a strange, bleak premise”
Reviewer: Louis Chilton
Shows like this often live and die by the music, and there is much to enjoy about Tesori’s score, and Lindsay-Abaire’s lyrics, which are never really intricate (beyond the odd internal rhyme) or profound, but consistently lively and well-judged. The music is a cut above most modern musicals, tempering the sort of bright, generically popish sound of its bigger numbers with more classical musical-theatre forms elsewhere.
WhatsOnStage
“Maria Friedman stars in the European premiere of the five-time Tony Award-winning musical”
Reviewer: Sarah Crompton
Soutra Gilmour sets the New Jersey scene with a slightly cumbersome revolving set, that incorporates a three-storey house, an ice rink, a high school and a garage (complete with car). In this space that represents her life, Friedman wisely underplays the teenage mannerisms, trusting a range of T-shirts and an adolescent stomp to create the sense of a child in an adult’s body. She relies on her voice, and Tesori’s flexible, subtle music to create the sense of someone who is struggling to make the best of everything against incredible odds.
London Theatre
“Maria Friedman leads a superb production of this quirky, life-affirming musical”
Reviewer: Marianka Swain
Gilli Jones gives a gorgeous performance as nerdy Seth, who loves anagrams, Tolkein, and, in a great sight gag, is constantly dwarfed by his giant tuba case, but whose unusual perspective means he sees Kimberly differently – to her delight. Alice Fearn, meanwhile, has a ball as the outrageously sleazy Debra, who hits the show like a tornado. She gets the best number too, the riotous “Better” (backed up, naturally, by the show choir), though Tesori’s score also features wistful beauties like “Make A Wish” and “Father Time”.
BroadwayWorld
“The Tony-winning musical makes its UK debut”
Reviewer: Katie Kirkpatrick
It’s a total joy to see this show find its audience in London. Kimberly Akimbo is a real testament to both the heart and the craft that goes into creating a more intimate, character-led kind of Broadway musical – one that leads with empathy and imagination, without ignoring the deep sadness that runs through its core.
LondonTheatre1
“Funny, touching, occasionally heartbreaking and, above all, wonderfully strange.”
Reviewer: Alan Fitter
“And then there is Maria Friedman. Casting an actor in her sixties as a teenage girl is quite a gamble, but Friedman is an extraordinary performer and makes Kimberly much more than a theatrical gimmick. She captures the awkwardness, insecurity and yearning of adolescence while giving us a character who has unfortunately been forced to grow up too quickly. There is tremendous warmth in her performance, and when she sings, those familiar Friedman vocals provide some genuinely beautiful and touching moments.”
The Reviews Hub
Reviewer: Maryam Philpott
David Lindsay-Abaire and Jeanine Tesori’s musical struggles with focus and is driven by an over-excitable plot in which every new scene brings additional elements into the narrative without offering a clear trajectory. There is no major adversity or jeopardy to overcome and instead feels disconnected, lots of little occurrences without delving deeply enough into any of them to get a fuller sense of the characters and their lives. And in this way, the story positions not having home-cooked meals, a domestically useless family and unrequited teenage love on a par with mail fraud and contemplations about time passing – the idea recurs throughout the show but has little to say about time other than it passes, so use it well.
Theatre Weekly
“A beautifully judged and utterly life-affirming musical”
Reviewer: Greg Stewart
At the centre of it all is Maria Friedman in the title role. It’s a brave performance that asks both actor and audience to continually navigate the tension between Kimberly’s chronological age and physical appearance. There are moments when that balance wobbles, and you become aware of an older performer playing younger. Yet Friedman’s skill ultimately carries the day. She captures Kimberly’s yearning, awkwardness, intelligence and resilience with remarkable precision, ensuring we never lose sight of the teenager beneath the condition.
Production photographs by Marc Brenner.
LouReviews
Reviewer: Louise Penn
The ending made me think a bit of Little Miss Sunshine‘s musical treatment in its upbeat nature, but it at least leaves the audience heading out to Swiss Cottage with a spring in their step.
If you are expecting a focused dramatic exploration of illness and neglect, Kimberly Akimbo isn’t it. What it offers is exaggeration, puns, and how to make the best of the time you are given.
West End Best Friend
Reviewer: Tom Ambrose
"Although David Lindsay-Abaire’s book is fun and full of heart, the story lacks any real jeopardy to keep audiences truly invested for the duration. You feel for Kimberly without ever really fearing for Kimberly."
Also reviewed by: The Stage (Tom Wicker, four stars, “Utterly earwormy score”), and The Times, whose reviews sit behind paywalls.
If you are catching up on the autumn openings, we have also rounded up the critics on Jane Eyre at Southwark Playhouse Elephant, A Month in the Country at the Donmar Warehouse and The Story at the National Theatre. You can also see the first production images from this staging, and hear the company’s first listen to “Great Adventure”.
Kimberly Akimbo is booking at the Hampstead Theatre until 7 November 2026.
