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"Kimberly Akimbo": Nov. 2022 - April 2024

 Before the Act One curtain, a story needs to shift its gears. Rose needs to forget June, and to put her focus on Louise. The Cossacks need to disrupt Motel's wedding. Sweeney needs to commit to cannibalism.


In "Kimberly Akimbo," the villain, Aunt Debra, has a scheme to move to Hawaii. But she needs a group of teens to assist with her elaborate crime; though she doesn't mention this, she really needs the help so that her own fingerprints aren't on any documents. She needs the help because she doesn't actually want to do the work. 

Right before the Act One curtain, Debra secures the assistance that she needs.

People have a bottomless capacity for self-delusion; this is what makes Aunt Debra interesting. As she sings of her plans, you can't help but feel queasy; there is so much tension in the room. Debra's song--"This Time"--has a double meaning. There's the sense of a promise: "I'll get it right this time." But time is also just a noun, a thing that we waste. While we delude ourselves, we are wasting this time that we have.

("Time" recurs in the song titles: "Father Time," "Now," "Before I Go.")

I have loved Debra and her fellow thieves throughout the show's extraordinary run--600-plus performances, without a single change in the casting--and I'm so sad to see these people departing from the theater district. Raise a glass.

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