When Ann Morrison was 25 years old, she made her Broadway debut as Mary Flynn in the much-maligned (now, reclaimed) Stephen Sondheim musical “Merrily We Roll Along.” Morrison was asked to play a woman in her 40s moving backward through time. Now, at the age of 70, she’s being asked to play a teenager.
Morrison plays the titular role in the national tour of “Kimberly Akimbo,” a show about a teenage girl with a rare genetic condition that makes her age at a much faster rate than her peers. The show hit Broadway in 2022, receiving eight Tony nominations and winning five, including Best Musical.
The show comes through the Fox Theatre Oct. 14-19. Ahead of the run, Rough Draft Atlanta spoke to Morrison about her experience taking on the role. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Before we jump into “Kimberly Akimbo,” I was reading up a little bit on you, and I read that your family helped run a theater company in Wisconsin when you were growing up – is that correct?
Ann Morrison: My folks were college professors at many colleges, but connected to George Williams College, they had a campus up in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin in the summertime – a very old campus. When my folks were hired to teach, they decided [they] wanted to start a theater company up there. It was called The Banner Players – my mom used to make the banners for every show – and it was a delight, because actors … when they had nothing to do in the summertime, would come up and work there. For me, it was great training. It was like doing summer stock at a young age. George Williams College campus up there was just beautiful. It was such a lovely time of my life.
So from a young age, you were set on this as what you wanted to do professionally?
Morrison: Very much so. They needed a kid, I was dragged in kicking and screaming – kicking like a chorus line dancer and screaming like Ethel Merman [laughs].
When did you first see “Kimberly Akimbo?” Did you see the original Broadway run?
Morrison: I saw it Off Broadway. Actually, when it opened Off Broadway, I got so many texts and emails from people saying – they finally wrote a show for you! You need to know about this show. It was a little bit different – when they got to Broadway, there were some really wonderful cuts and changes. I never got to see the Broadway production of it. But I kept hearing this from people.
Then I got a call from the casting director saying, we just love you. Would you be interested in auditioning for “Kimberly Akimbo?” Victoria Clark is going to be leaving the show. Oh! Okay! I guess the universe knows something! I had so much fun doing that audition. Actually, I did two auditions. I did an audition, and they were saying wonderful things, and then they called me up again and asked if I would actually do a taped one while I was in Minnesota – I was on my way to Iowa to work with some persons with developmental disabilities in theater.
So, I’m in … my friend’s house auditioning for all the creative staff of “Kimberly Akimbo.” It was wonderful. I got a great response. But then they decided to just close the show when [Clark] left. So I thought, well, that was that! Maybe somewhere along the line, some theater someday will do it, and I’ll get a chance to do it. But, I [later] got a call from the casting director saying that Carolee Carmello is leaving the tour, and they want to offer it to you. I was like, oh! Sure! Okay!
That was earlier this year, right?
Morrison: Right, that was in the spring. I was already doing a show down at the Asolo in Sarasota, Florida, a production of “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Guess what part I played? King Herod!
Oh, that wasn’t what I would have guessed.
Morrison: Obviously! Such a crazy thing … [“Kimberly Akimbo”] is a show that’s been running for almost a year on the road, so my question was, am I just going to be a fit in? Jessica Stone, the director, said, “Absolutely not. I want to see who your Kimberly is going to be.” I came very prepared. They even sent down the musical director to my house, because she wasn’t going to be there that week when they needed to rehearse me in New York. So they flew down to my living room, and I’m learning. But I already pretty much knew it, which is great. And she said, you know what? This show was written for you. That was fun, and so fitting.
When I finally got to tech, with the cast, I was going to go on that next Tuesday.
Wow. So fast paced!
Morrison: Your sitzprobe, your tech, everything is all happening in one night, in front of, you know, 3,000 people [laughs]. Crazy! But I just love this company. It feels like an ensemble show. Everybody’s so wonderful.
It’s interesting comparing this, acting-wise, with “Merrily We Roll Along.” In that role, you have to play someone who’s a good bit older than you at the time, and in this role, you’re playing a teenager. I wanted to talk to you about inhabiting that physicality, as an actor.
Morrison: Yeah! The twist is at 25 I had to play 42 and go down. This time, I’m 70 playing a 16 year old. But that’s the story. She’s been on the planet 15 years, and in the course of the play, she turns 16. Kimberly ages every four or five years, so by the time she’s 16, she’s in her 70s. So I don’t have to act, I just have to show up [laughs], because I am a 16 year old at heart.
How has it been for you on the national tour? I was trying to figure it out, but I couldn’t tell if you’d been on the road like that in quite some time.
Morrison: It’s very different. The first time I did a tour, I was 19 or 20 singing with a Korean family in night clubs across the country.
I did read something about that actually, now that you bring it up.
Morrison: Well, that’s a whole other story. You and I can just talk about that another day. And that was just in a car. You just got in a family-style little car that went everywhere. The next one was doing a children’s tour for the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Florida, going all around the Southwest, and that was in vans, and that one was in the 70s. Then in the 80s, I went up and down the East Coast. But from the 1980s to 2025, it is a very different experience of touring. Because now we have Ubers, and we have cell phones, and we have all these other things that make traveling much easier and more organized. I’m 70, and not 25 anymore, but I’m finding that so far, I’m having a great time. It’s just when you get off an elevator and you go, wait – am I on the ninth floor or the 13th? No, the last hotel was the 13th floor? The old brain’s trying to figure it out [laughs].
You mentioned earlier wondering if you would have to fit yourself into a role that had already been created or create your own. Could you talk a little bit about finding your own character in Kimberly, because I can imagine that can be pretty complicated when the character already exists in some capacity.
Morrison: When I did “Merrily,” or when you do an original show, you’re part of the creation. In “Merrily,” there was a time when [director] Hal Prince looked at me and he said the lines – because they were getting new pages everyday in rehearsals, especially during those previews – and he’d say, “That’s not right, Annie. You know Mary Flynn better than anyone else. How would Mary say that line?” And I would say something, and they’d say, okay – tell [ book writer] George [Furth] that’s the line. That’s what the line is going to be. That was a shocker, to realize that you are actually part of the creative team.
This has already been created. So coming into it, I was expecting, like you would do with a normal show, where you’re not creating the show. But that was not their attitude. They loved my interpretation of [things]. We had a good two or three days of really tabling this piece with Jessica. You don’t always get that when you’re being put into a show. She said, “I love your Kimberly, Annie, because she’s not a victim.” That’s a trap that a lot of people doing Kimberly will go into, is playing the victim. They said, well, Annie Morrison isn’t a victim – I can relate to that very well. [Kimberly] is very optimistic, and I’m optimistic.
I also have to tell you, I work with 16 year olds. I have for a long time, but the last eight years, I have a theater company in Sarasota that celebrates solo theater artists. We go into Booker High School, which is a performing arts high school, and work with their juniors. They have a whole semester on solo theater development now as part of their curriculum, because of us. When I was creating this Kimberly, I would like a certain gesture – like touching the tips of my hair is a tribute to … a student, or the dragging of a foot, that’s another student. I was, for my own inner joy, incorporating little things. The thing that I love about 16 year olds, they can be so sophisticated at times, and then they can be 12 [laughs].
Yeah, a true dichotomy.
Morrison: It’s trying to find all that. They loved what I was doing. She’d give a little tweak here and there, because she got inspired by something that I did. So when we got into doing it with the cast as a run through for the first time – really the one and only time, and then the next time was going to be just doing it, because I’d been working with the understudies – they made an announcement – just want you to know, you’re going to have a very different Kim. So this is an opportunity for you guys to really listen again. They’ve been having fun recreating their relationships with the family, because I’m a different person. You’ve adopted another kid, and you have to deal with your new kid!
It’s been delightful. I’ll tell you this, I’ve never been involved in a show quite like this, where it’s so much fun to go to work because the cast, the crew, the creative staff, everyone is involved. There are a lot of people who are not on stage, because there’s only like, nine of us. The rest is all the crew and the creative staff and stage management. Everyone is happy to be there. They love their jobs. When something goes wrong, instead of beating each other up, we just giggle and find it fun. It’s so supportive – I’m going to start crying right now. You don’t get that very often. And I’m the old broad – I’m the oldest cast member. I’m probably the oldest member of the company period [laughs]. And I’m treated so lovely. The young kids like to hear my stories, and that’s lovely. You don’t always get that with Gen Z. Do they want to hang out with me all the time? No! I’m the 70 year old [laughs]. But it’s been delightful, and I’m enjoying it.
You mentioned Hal Prince earlier, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring up that you had a relationship with Hal, Stephen Sondheim, and George Furth from a fairly young age. How does being around giants, for lack of a better term, at such a young age with a show that is a failure at that time, shape your career?
Morrison: There’s lots of things to address about that. First of all, those were my musical theater gods. So the first read through of “Merrily’s” script, Jason Alexander was making his Broadway debut too at the time. He leaned into me and said, “I think we’re in trouble.” [laughs] I said, “But these are the musical theater gods. They’ll fix it!”
I think if you ask Stephen Sondheim, he would have told you that it was the most fun he ever had. He loved working on “Merrily.” And Hal became Uncle Hal. They were my mentors. I could write both of them. In fact, I would always have coffee with Hal when I was in New York, because he considered me family. In fact, he brought me up to do another show because he was wondering where I was. That was “LoveMusik.” And Steve – I could ask him any question. I was working with persons with developmental disabilities, and one of them wanted to write a musical. I don’t know how to write a musical, you know, but I learned basically, just stay out of the way. Just write down what she wrote, and support her decisions as a woman with Down syndrome.
They were just lovely. What was great about [“Merrily”} was to watch giants fail at something and pick themselves up and move on. That was a great lesson. Hal’s attitude is, when a show’s over with, he’s already onto the next. Yes, he has feelings – terribly so – when things fail. I mean, their working relationship split after “Merrily.” It wasn’t until the reunion concert in 2002 that Hal and Steve got onstage and hugged in front of everybody and announced their next show they were going to be doing together, which was “Bounce.” So that was an amazing experience.
It’s amazing! I think when you’re working with giants, people who are really talented and up there, they’re kind. So when you work with sh*tty little dictator directors, you go, you’re never going to make it big. You have to love a project into being, and you have to care about your actors that way. With Jessica and all the creative staff here, they just love the show. It sets the tone.
Do you have a favorite moment in the show, whether that’s a particular song or a scene?
Morrison: I would have to honestly say, when the curtain goes up and then the curtain goes down, everything in between is my favorite. I did a talk back last night and the students asked that, and I said, “Well, I’ll give you an answer tonight, and tomorrow I’ll probably have a different answer.” Because to me, I just love the moment to moment to moment to moment of this piece. There’ll be a night where I’ll get into a song and I’ll go, “Oh, I didn’t realize that!” Because I want to keep learning.
Last night, I would say it was “Before I Go.” It’s Kimberly realizing that she cannot fix her family. They’re so dysfunctional, but she loves them, and she knows that she has to let them go. That is a very, very mature decision to have to make, and to move on, because that’s the only way anyone’s going to heal, is to move on. It’s a very, very mature song. And of course, you can give it to Kimberly to sing at that age because she is in a 70-year-old body, which means her prefrontal cortex has been in [longer]. I keep telling people, remember, this is a person with a prefrontal cortex. 16 year olds don’t have that ability, usually [laughs].
It’s a profoundly beautiful piece. I just love my mother and father in the show. You know, Jim [Hogan] and Laura [Woyasz] are just divine in their parts, and to watch them sit on the couch realizing they have to surrender to it. She’s right. They have to let her go. It’s just a beautiful moment. But then there are funny moments with Miguel [Gil], who plays Seth. He’s so precious. He’s just so wonderful. Little nerdy, little moments that we have. Our relationship keeps changing every night. We keep discovering little, tiny moments of friendship. We’ve realized that both of our characters think faster than mostly everybody else. It’s just the way their characters are. So of course, they’ve bonded because they’re wonderful nerds [laughs].
Correction: A section of this article previously spelled George Furth’s last name as “Firth.” That has been corrected.
