Kimberly Akimbo Gets Its UK Premiere at Hampstead Theatre with Maria Friedman in the Lead
A five-time Tony Award-winning musical is heading to London for the first time. Kimberly Akimbo, which took Broadway by storm, will have its UK premiere at Hampstead Theatre from 28 August to 7 November (WhatsOnStage).
The show tells the story of 16-year-old Kimberly Levaco, who lives with a rare genetic condition causing her body to age at four times the normal rate. It has a book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire and music by Jeanine Tesori. On Broadway, the production collected five Tony Awards, the theatre world's top US honour.
Maria Friedman, a three-time Olivier Award winner, leads the UK cast in the title role. Friedman is better known to London audiences as a director — her recent work includes the Menier Chocolate Factory's celebrated revival of Merrily We Roll Along — but here she returns to the stage as a performer, playing a teenager whose body is racing ahead of her life expectancy.
Michael Longhurst, whose credits include the original Donmar Warehouse production of Constellations, directs. The creative team features designer Soutra Gilmour, musical supervisor Nigel Lilley, choreographer Matt Cole, lighting designer Jack Knowles and sound designer Matt Peploe. Casting is by Anna Cooper.
The company around Friedman mixes established names with fresh faces. Alice Fearn (Wicked, Come From Away) plays Debra, Kimberly's mother. Peter Hannah plays Buddy Levaco, her father. Niamh Perry takes the role of Pattie Levaco. Gilli Jones plays Seth Weetis, Robin Simões da Silva plays Martin Doaty, and Aviva Tulley plays Delia McDaniels.
Two cast members are making their professional stage debuts: Sara Hajizadeh as Teresa Benton and Ronav Jain as Aaron Puckett.
Hampstead Theatre, a subsidised venue in north London, has form with musicals that later travel — its 2022 production of The Pajama Game transferred to the West End. Kimberly Akimbo runs there for just over ten weeks, a limited engagement that gives the show a home while keeping the run tight.
For London audiences who missed the Broadway run, this is the first chance to see a musical that collected multiple top-tier American awards and arrives with a ready-made reputation. Whether it transfers — the term for a production moving from its original venue into a commercial West End house — will depend on how Hampstead audiences respond over the autumn.
For now, the rehearsal room is up and running, and opening night is ten days away.
