Actors Laura Wayasz and Bailey Ryon have three things in common at the moment: Both graduated from Virginia colleges, both majored in musical theater, and both are appearing in the touring production of Kimberly Akimbo, playing Altria Theater November 4th through 9th.
The winner of five 2023 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Kimberly Akimbo tells the story of Kimberly who is about to turn 16 and recently moved with her family to a new town in suburban New Jersey. Even though Kimberly suffers from a rare genetic condition where she ages four to five times faster than the average person, she continues to stay optimistic and find her happiness in a complicated and unusual life.
Wayasz, a Shenandoah Conservatory alum, plays Pattie, Kimberly’s mom in the touring production.
“These are just average people in an extraordinary circumstance,” she says of the characters. “Pattie is a narcissist and a hypochondriac. She’s really layered.”
Wayasz likes the character’s complexity, she says. “She is a mom in hard circumstances. She’s not emotionally mature, but she is trying her best, which is what we all try to do.”
Playing Pattie is challenging for Wayasz who says she is nothing like the character she plays.
“I had to really dig deep,” she says. “I am soft spoken, and Pattie is loud. She doesn’t think before she speaks, and I am mindful of my words. Playing her was scary, challenging, and fun.”
The role is a departure from the roles she has played in the past. “Pattie is messy. The relief for me is that I don’t have to be a good person, I can be this messy person,” she says. “It is hard, but worth the hard. Pattie is really trying. She loves her daughter. She just doesn’t have the words to express herself in a warm way.”
Ties to Virginia
As a child, Wayasz was shy. She didn’t get interested in musical theater until high school. During her junior year, she was cast in a lead role in her high school’s musical and that resonated with her. Her choral teacher recognized her talent and put her in touch with a voice teacher who gave her a pamphlet for Shenandoah University.
“I liked that it was a smaller school,” she says. “I fell in love with Shenandoah and with musical theater.”
After she graduated, Wayasz landed her first professional job with a touring children’s show for Theatre IV in Richmond. “Through that job I got my first equity show — James Joyce’s The Dead,” she says.
Since then, she has performed with Wicked in Los Angeles and on Broadway, done three national tours, and has acted in several off-Broadway shows as well as regional productions.
She met Bailey Ryon, a James Madison University alum, after being cast in Kimberly Akimbo. Ryon serves as dance caption for the touring production and understudies the roles of Delia and Teresa.
Bailey Ryon: Dancing Her Way to Kimberly Akimbo
Ryon began dancing when she was three years old. “My mom was a dance teacher and a dancer. I took dance classes while I was at work with her,” she says. “She always encouraged me to try other things, but I loved dance.”
She started singing and acting lessons when she was six and was working professionally at the age of eight with the professional tour of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. She soon landed the lead role of Matilda in the original Broadway cast of Matilda. She shared the 2013 special Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre with the three other girls who also played Matilda in the production.
She says she learned about JMU from her cousin who went to the University.
“I found my people at JMU,” Ryon says. “I made lifelong friends.”
As soon as she graduated, “Kimberly Akimbo fell into my lap,” she says.
Ryon’s main role as dance caption in the show is to make sure everything stays true to the vision of choreographer, Danny Mefford.
“I love the choreography. It’s so special. Every movement has meaning behind it,” Ryon says. “The cast also ice skates in the show, and I take care of that. If new members come in, we will teach them the choreography and work with them in the show.”
Ryon stays backstage during the show, and she loves being behind the scenes as well as on stage. “I get to hang with everyone backstage every day,” she says.
She likes the fact that the show has an intimate cast — nine cast members with five swings. “We can go out and do activities together. We spend a lot of time with each other,” she says. “We go on adventures.”
Both she and Wayasz hope to catch up with friends in the area when they are back in Richmond. “I loved my time in Virginia,” says Wayasz. “I really enjoyed Richmond and am so excited to come back to the area.”
Ryon never had the chance to see Kimberly Akimbo on Broadway. Her first experience with the show was her first table read. “I left the reading feeling so emotionally fulfilled. It was so sweet. It leaves you with a different perspective on life,” she says. “I love the simplicity of it. It’s unique, something we really need to see in the world today.”
All the actors in the musical are passionate about it, she adds. “It feels like that passion seeps out from the stage.”
The musical tugs at “your heartstrings for sure,” says Wayasz, adding that the message of the show is to do what you want to do in life, don’t put it off. “We are only here once. I love the message. I don’t want this show to end.”
Tickets for the show are available at www.BroadwayInRichmond.com, by phone at 1-800-514-3849(ETIX) or at Altria Theater box 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. during weekdays and excluding some holidays.
