Composer Jeanine Tesori discusses the UK debut of Kimberly Akimbo, the Tony award-winning musical she co-created with David Lindsay-Abaire about a teenage girl who ages four times faster than normal due to a rare genetic condition. Despite its premise, the show is a comedy about a chaotic family and tender teenage romance, and its London production stars 66-year-old Maria Friedman in the title role. Tesori reveals the story's themes of mortality and making the most of limited time were shaped by losing many friends during the Aids crisis, and reflects broader questions about ageing that resonate with her own life and family.

The original New York production was the biggest winner at the 2023 Tony awards, and Tesori's wider body of work spans crowd-pleasing Broadway shows such as Thoroughly Modern Millie and Shrek, more complex pieces including Caroline, or Change and Soft Power, and avant-garde operas. Collaborators including Lindsay-Abaire and director Sarah Frankcom praise her dramatic insight and ability to convey profound emotional change through music, citing works such as Fun Home, which recently had its first UK run at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre. Tesori also notes a recurring interest in father-daughter stories, drawing on the complicated relationship with her own late father as source material.