State Theatre Company South Australia today reveals a major new production of the Tony-Award winning Broadway hit musical Kimberley Akimbo for its 2025 season.
Kimberley Akimbo will premiere at Her Majesty’s Theatre in July followed by a season with Melbourne Theatre Company, in association with Wagnan Productions and presenting partner, ECH.
Kimberly Akimbo took Broadway by storm last year, winning countless hearts and five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, as well as rave 5-star reviews – “breathtakingly lovely and riotously funny… it feels like a miracle” (Washington Post), “a howlingly funny heartbreaker of a show” (New Yorker), “a perfect night of theatre” (Time).
With a book by David Lindsay-Abaire (Ripcord) and with music by Jeanine Tesori (Shrek, Fun Home), Kimberly Akimbo stars the legendary Australian actress and singer Marina Prior as the title character.
Kimberly is the new girl in town and she’s making heads spin. New Jersey, 1999: from a sea of teen angst, unrequited crushes and popularity contests bursts Kimberly, a musical heroine like no other. Equal parts teen comedy, heist caper and unlikely love story, her rollercoaster journey shows that the tempo of your own song is yours to set. Born with a genetic rarity that means she ages at four times the rate of everyone else, Kimberly is a teen in mid-life form and living on borrowed time. She can cope with her dropkick dad and narcissistic mum – can’t spell ‘dysfunction’ without ‘fun’, right? But when her criminal aunt Debra shows up with a get-rich-quick scheme too good to be legal, Kimberly decides you’re only young once.
Pop superstar Casey Donovan joins the cast as Aunt Debra, as well as fellow Australian stage icons Christie Whelan Browne, Nathan O’Keefe and Alana Iannace.
This Australian premiere directed by four-time Helpmann award-winner and outgoing Artistic Director, Mitchell Butel, brims with infectious energy and tunes that soar. This new musical transcends generations with laughter, love, and a poignant reminder of life’s fleeting moments.
Butel says “This is one of the most hilarious, surprising, unique and touching musicals ever written and I’m thrilled to be directing its Australian premiere with the perfect cast for my final show as Artistic Director.”
Kimberley Akimbo – Her Majesty’s Theatre 8 – 19 July 2025.
State Theatre Company South Australia will launch the remainder of the 2025 season on 31 October 2024. Tickets for Kimberley Akimbo will be available as part of subscription packages. A wait list is available on the website now statetheatrecompany.com.au
CONTENT WARNINGS
Coarse language, adult themes
2 hours 45 with interval
