By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN? Saturday 29 August, opens Wednesday 9 September and and runs through 7 November 2026 RUNTIME: 165 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

The key to the success of this Tony Award-winning musical is the casting of its leading lady who can convince as a 16-year-old ageing four times more quickly than her peers and as the pensioner she physically appears to be.

• Read on for reasons including how this is is filled with joy, love and laughs even at its tear-spattered finale

Fortunately this revival directed by Michael Longhurst (Second Best, Riverside Studios Hammersmith) stars Maria Friedman (Maria Friedman and Friends, Menier Chocolate Factory) and we are in safe, extraordinary and dynamic hands.

Akimbo won 5 Tonys in 2023 including Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book and Friedman is the titular Kimberley, the new kid in town in New Jersey in 1999, a time before mobile phones.

Her friends are in a Glee-style show choir desperate for funding for their ambitious costumes and each with gay or straight crushes on the wrong members.

Akimbo meets kindhearted skate rink worker Seth, given fine-voiced life by Gilli Jones, whose sensitivity, familiarity with loss and enthusiasm for Lord Of The Rings and anagrams start to work their charms on Kimberly.

There’s a big emotional moment during 11pm number Before I Go where Kimberly displays an emotional maturity beyond that of her selfish parents singing: ‘I was never the daughter you wanted, that’s the thing we never say but that’s the truth and that’s OK … We live in a house that’s haunted, there’s always you, there’s always me, and there’s the ghost of a girl I’ll never be.’

But there are laughs too particularly from the very inappropriate Aunt Tina, a hilarious Alice Fearn, with tales of hand jobs and splash baths as she offers to mastermind a cheque scam that can solve the show choir’s costume problem and send Kimberly on a road trip she wants before her premature death.

Kimberly’s mother is pregnant and has gone to drastic lengths to avoid a child with the same condition as Akimbo and yet both she and her husband strive to be better when confronted with the reality of their daughter’s curtailed life.

We chose to visit Kimberley Akimbo because of its Tonys, were excited by Friedman being cast as the lead and this comedy musical didn’t disappoint.

The Broadway soundtrack is available on socials and it’s worth giving a listen to before visiting and we were glad we did because it allowed us to look forward to what we were about to see.

Friedman gives a career best performance, she’s surrounded by a fine ensemble and Kimberly Akimbo is filled with joy, love and laughs even at its tear-spattered finale.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Hampstead Theatre Tickets
• Have you seen a Maria Friedman show before and what did you think of it? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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