Groundbreaking musicals 50 years apart: 'Chorus Line' and 'Kimberly Akimbo'

Two musicals running in Northeast Ohio this summer are best known for shattering Broadway convention — each in its own way in its own decade, 50 years apart. "A CHORUS LINE" Broadway's consummate song/dance group-therapy session, framed ostensibly as an open-call audition for a new unnamed musical, returns in a 50th anniversary revival at the Beck Center for the arts. Under Beck's talented helm, "A Chorus Line" is as much a singular sensation as ever. That's not to say the pop-filled soul-uncovering work escapes its original 1970s sensibilities. From "Company" to "Follies," Broadway of a half decade ago reveled in tearing off the mask of superficiality and baring all, and not just finely honed, scantily clad bodies. In "Chorus Line's" case, the audience members find themselves in the middle of an open-call chorus audition. But the ominous director who comes out from the audience (rather one-dimensionally written and played by Scott J. Sumerak, an otherwise great actor) surprises the hungry-for-work youthful men and women (when such terms were still readily used) by seeking a lot more than their dancing abilities. Through dance and song, with a celebrated uber-'70s score by composer Marvin Hamlisch and lyricist Edward Kleban, these Broadway gypsies recount their lives and emotions — from broken homes to plastic surgery — that lead them to this very audition. The concept reflected "A Chorus Line's" original director and choreographer Michael Bennett, who gathered real Broadway dancers to share their experiences. The few "older" auditionees — meaning, in their 30 — are clinging to their last leg (so-to speak) of their careers. This plot point is most prominently reflected in Cassie (highly emotionally danced and acted by Julia Martin), who returns to the open-cattle-call humility after a failed Hollywood career and a surprise failed relationship with the director. The well-crafted Tony-winning book/script by James Kirkwood (who spent much of his earlier life living with his mother's family in Elyria and graduated from North Olmsted high School) and Nicholas Dante reflects all personalities culled from Bennett's original interviews -- an ambitious married couple of mixed singing abilities, a failed Rockette from the Midwest, a flaming gay man from Buffalo and Latin, Asian, Italian and Jewish ethnic types. Amazingly, Beck managed to cull top triple-threats (singing/dancing/acting) from the region, many from local college and university musical theater programs. Director and Choreographer Christopher Chase Carter managed to recreate the essence of Michael Bennett's magical celebration of the nameless faces behind the spotlighted stars. The quality continues with scenic and lighting designer Cheri Prough Devol and David Robison's precise and emotional musical direction. It should be of little surprise this production easily competes with the first national tour of "A Chorus Line", which came to Cleveland in the late 1970s. In fact, it's such a great recreation of the original production (or at least the original national tour), that it should be respected as an emblem of Broadway of a half-century ago and not even need a few updated references, such a substituting a reference to Troy Donahue from the 1950s to Tom Cruise of the 1980s. "A Chorus Line," especially as brilliantly produced here, is as much about the '70s as it is about Broadway, and that's a double singular sensation. "KIMBERLY AKIMBO" A half century after "A Chorus Line," quirky shows such as "Kimberly Akimbo" are still exploring new dimensions in the realm of Broadway musicals. Only instead of grand moments of emotion and passion, "Kimberly Akimbo" delves into subtle explorations of life. Try explaining the basic plot of "Kimberly Akimbo" (which debuted on Broadway in 2022) to someone who's not a Broadway aficionado, and you might get little more than blank stares: An exuberant teen girl with a rare aging disease struggles through the trials and tribulations of a dysfunctional family (a concept not so unique since the days of "A Chorus Line") and what may be her final year in high school, considering people with her illness rarely live beyond 16 or 17 years old. Yet this surprisingly upbeat, heartwarming musical — with an incisive book/script and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, based on his lesser-known 2001 comedy of the same name — quickly wins over audiences as they identify the power of those who embrace whatever life gives them and triumph as best they can. Like the play, the musical opens to a New Jersey skating rink (one of many creatively rendered set pieces by David Zinn), where the small musical cast are introduced, particularly the titular character clad in likely teen attire and an unlikely grandmotherly face. She's brilliantly embodied by Broadway veteran and Tony nominee Carolee Carmello, who quickly convinces the audience of her juvenile age and her premature-aging affliction. Her high school entourage are not necessarily close friends, but neither are they cruel A-listers. The playwright obviously realized that such a cliche high-school dynamic would turn the show into a lugubrious pity party. Instead, her fellow youthful and youthful-looking classmates are something of outcasts themselves. Fetchingly played by Grace Capeless, Darron Hayes, Skye Alyssa Friedman and Pierce Wheeler, they are glee-club enthusiasts trying to finance costumes for an upcoming performance and tournament. Kimberlee eventually even finds romance with her classmate and study partner — a winsome yet youthfully heroic Miguel Gil — and manages to navigate a preposterously off-beat family that would make the backstories of the "Chorus Line" characters seem like "Leave It to Beaver." The rest of the principal cast are stellar: Much praise goes to Jim Hogan as the alcoholic but still protective father who can't even manage non-expired theme-park tickets for his dying daughter; Laura Woyasz as the hypochondriac mother who won't even let her daughter win the disease sweepstakes; and particularly hilarious Emily Koch as the unapologetic grifter aunt who gets the glee-clubbers, her niece and her boyfriend in on a check-forging scheme. But don't fret about anyone getting arrested. This is a world that defies conventional morality, and the audience is just happy to hear the ensemble close the show with a heart-warming and jovial finale called "Great Adventure," easily the best and most catchy tunes of Jeanine Tesori's reflective pop score. And it goes to show, even an unlikely musical such as this can still send the audience out happy and humming. Contact Howard Gollop at howieeg@gmail.com.