‘I was still finishing assignments’: Kimberly Akimbo brings young talent to the stage
Booking a role in a mainstage production is a dream for any Elder Conservatorium of Music student. For 20-year-old Allycia Angeles, that milestone came a little early as she prepares to share the stage with her musical idols in Kimberly Akimbo.
Aspiring musical theatre star Allycia Angeles had a lump in her throat as she navigated callbacks for her first big break — and it wasn’t just nerves.
“I saw my doctor just three days out from my second audition and he said I had to rest my voice,” the second-year Elder Conservatorium of Music student tells InReview.
Severe hayfever notwithstanding, Angeles knew she had to go for it as the State Theatre Company South Australia searched for young cast members to appear in the Australian premiere of Tony-winning musical Kimberly Akimbo.
“There was something about this production that, in my gut, I just needed to do it, even though I wasn’t 100 per cent right,” she explains. “So, my doctor put me on steroids for three days.”
It did the trick, with the show’s director — and then-artistic director of State Theatre — Mitchell Butel picking her to play Delia in the show’s ‘Teen Quartet’ chorus.
Angeles says she “danced a jig” when she discovered she’d got the part.
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“I was doing a gig for SA Variety, and I got off stage, and I remember just seeing the confirmation, and just jumping with joy while all of my friends were like, ‘what’s going on?’,” she says.
The musical, an Australian premiere co-produced by State Theatre Company South Australia and Melbourne Theatre Company, stars soprano star Marina Prior as Kimberly, a 16-year-old girl with a genetic disorder that causes her to age rapidly — giving her the appearance of someone in their 60s.
Prior is joined by the cream of Australia’s musical theatre circuit with Casey Donovan, Christie Whelan Browne, and Nathan O’Keefe, as well as fresh newcomers such as Angeles, Alana Iannce, another Elder Conservatorium student, and Darcy Wain — a recent graduate, who plays opposite Prior as her “bestie” Seth Weetis.
Prior is full of praise for Angeles and the other emerging stars in the cast.
“Our young ‘Teen Quartet’ is massively talented,” Prior tells InReview. “They sing, dance and act superbly.”
Playing a teenager herself has been another adventure for the stage veteran, who has embraced the physical and mental challenges of the role.
“She is craving friendship, significance and a place to fit in,” Prior says of the titular teen. “I love that she is determined to live an audacious and brave life while she still has time. Her life expectancy is only 16, so she lives in the now, which I find very inspiring and uplifting.
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“The role is emotionally demanding as she goes from exhilarating joy and great tragedy during the show. I also have to rollerblade and sing which is rather demanding!”
The musical took Broadway by storm when it premiered in 2022, scooping five Tony awards in 2023, including Best Musical, with music by Jeanine Tesori (Shrek) and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire.
Prior believes the key to Kimberly Akimbo’s success is Lindsay-Abaire’s brilliant writing.
“He has captured the hilarity and pathos which such deftness,” she says. “The audience can be laughing one second and crying the next. The music by Jeanine Tesori is utterly beautiful and incredibly varied. Ultimately, the theme of ‘Seize the Day’ is so inspiring and uplifting.”
Starring in a production of this size and success is a major coup for the young Angeles, whose lecturers have encouraged her every step of the way.
“I remember one of my teachers said that he saw Kimberly Akimbo when it was on Broadway, and he said, ‘I really think you would fit well in that show and I want you to audition, because I want to push you out of your comfort zone’,” Angeles says.
"When I found out I got the role my lecturers reworked my academic year, and basically just made so many allowances for me to be in this show."
“When I found out I got the role my lecturers reworked my academic year, and basically just made so many allowances for me to be in this show. So, I’m forever grateful for the mentors and the teachers at Adelaide Uni, or else I would have either have had to drop out of uni or drop out of Kimberly Akimbo. So, it’s been an amazing experience so far, and I’ve been so supported.
“We’ve been rehearsing for about a month now and when we first started I was still finishing assignments and uni work.”
Angeles says she’s been starstruck during rehearsals, and says everyone has been welcoming and supportive.
“They are so willing to share and be vulnerable on the stage with you,” she says. “I was just so struck by how collaborative and open these people were and their talent is just out of this world.”
An added highlight for Angeles is that her grandmother, or ‘lola’ will be here from the Philippines to see her granddaughter’s debut on the Her Majesty’s stage.
“I can’t wait,” she says. “Our family, we like to sing in church, and we’ve always had music in our lives — it fills the hallways of our home.”
Kimberly Akimbo runs from July 8 – 19 at her Majesty’s Theatre