When David Lindsay-Abaire decided to musicalise his 2001 play in 2021, he had the advantage of having previously worked with composer Jeanine Tesori on the "Shrek" musical, before Tesori went on to win best original score for "Fun Home" (she'd later win again for this musical). Changing technologies means that his play, previously a contemporary work, was now a period piece, and the musical doubles down on the late-90s-ness of the story, using a daggy suburban high school and its antendees to broaden out his central gimmick of a 15-turning-16 year old girl with a rapid aging disorder that means she looks like the 61-year-old Marina Prior, and her tricky relationships with her disreputable family. The musical introduces a quartet of high show-choir geeks to the cast but otherwise tracks pretty closely, including subplots about Kimberly's cheque-fraud-committing aunt, her not-entirely-responsible parents and the boy in her class she falls in love with.
Mitchell Butel's production manages to wrangle a small scale story onto the somewhat broad space of the Arts Centre Playhouse without too much damage, and manages to keep Kimberly central even when there are so many more colourful personalities jockeying for attention. It's not the smoothest production - the costumes and set lead towards a tendency to caricature more than perhaps is wise, but in centering Prior it knows where the humanity is in the story and lets her reactions guide us through to a joyous conclusion.
At this point in her career, Prior could be resting her laurels in a series of comfortable revivals but it's good to see her using her intense likability in a new show that trades off that in interesting ways - playing a child in an adult body with such vulnerability yet inner knowledge that we take her and her journey to our hearts. Casey Donavan as the disreputable aunt Debra is an energetic force of nature - we've known for 24 years she's a powerhouse vocalist but her comedy sense is spot on too. Christine Whelan Browne as Kimberly's mother showcases a likeable empty-headedness in contrast to her baddy in "Bloom" earlier this year, and Nathan O'Keefe as Kimberly's dad has all the right twitchy anxiety moves. Darcy Wain as Kimberly's anagram-obsessed geek love interest is also a sweetheart, and makes it easy to understand why she goes for him. And the showchoir quartet of Marty Alix, Allycia Angeles, Alana Iannace and Jakob Rozario showcase a combination of teen desire and inner turmoil as they support Kimberly's narrative.
This is a tender, sweet little story that realises its message in the nicest way in the final moments, while bringing somewhat wild circumstances to vigorous life. Hopefully this should get a later tour and the wider audience it deserves, if for no other reason than to showcase Prior's gently powerful performance - never pushing for affection but bringing us in all the same.
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