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Kimberly Akimbo, Cont'd.

 "Kimberly Akimbo" is about many things, including time and mortality, and it's about the end of youth. A mom addresses the sky:


 Father Time--
Slow down the day.
Don't let the dark come and steal it away.
For goodness' sake!
We're still awake.
And Baby wants to play.

The show has several inversions; for example, Mom (Alli Mauzey) has the breathless voice of a teenager, and the actual teenager (Victoria Clark) sounds like Joan Sutherland. Mom appeals to "Father Time" (maybe because Mom still feels like a child).

Father Time--
Hold back the night.
Please let the sun stay, and
We'll be all right.
Tell the Man in the Moon...
It's much too soon
To be turning out the light.

This is like the opposite of a lullaby. Generally, a mother sings directly to her baby, and the command is: "Go to sleep." But, here, Baby is a bystander; also, the goal is to keep everyone awake.

Baby's eyes are heavy now;
Baby's breath is deep.
Mommy wants to baby her.
Baby wants to sleep....

The bridge uses the repetitive structure of a picture book, but the problem is something from Freud or Shakespeare: One part of Mom wants to live in denial, and another part understands that an important ship has already sailed.

The writer compares his setting to a haunted house--and we can see why. Mom is uncomfortable with the child she has, so she invents a perfect baby, in her head. "Nothing's right. Nothing is what it should be." It's miraculous that "Father Time," performed by the "villain" in the story, still rips your heart out and makes you hold your breath. (I think it's the moment in the First Act when the show begins to feel like a thriller, and you understand that the critical praise is justified.)

The "Kimberly Akimbo" album came out on February 14, and I can't stop listening to it. Happy Valentine's Day!

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