Rare, incurable illness, high school romance and straight-up check fraud — all on everyone’s bingo card? All of the aforementioned happen to be key elements of the latest story being told at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre: 2023’s Best Musical at the Tony Awards, “Kimberly Akimbo.”

The comedy musical, set at the dawn of the internet age, tells the story of the New Jersey-native titular character. Kimberly navigates a dysfunctional family and a budding love life, all in the face of turning 16 and having a condition that causes her to age more rapidly, slashing her life expectancy to just that — 16 years.

Onlookers are welcomed into the theater by a proscenium in the pentagonal shape of a house, with bands of light across its edges. Sceneries tracked on and flown in throughout the play allow for rapid scene changes that keep a homely feeling apt for the setting. As lockers double for bookshelves and players seamlessly transition from skating rinks to newly-moved-into houses, the hectic playfulness of “Kimberly Akimbo” seeps into the audience early.

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Lighting is used creatively, such as quick flashes across the house when the first act ends on a camera flash clicking. However, the strip lights on the arch are slightly underused; when they are put into effect, they are more impactful, perhaps simply due to how little this fascinating detail of stage-building is used.

The most memorable part, bar none, is the titular Kimberly, brought to magnificent life by three-time Tony nominee Carolee Carmello. Her veteran voice filled the Pantages all the way to its nooks and crannies, but this role demands more than that. Carmello was faced with the gargantuan challenge of playing a 16-year-old character while being 62. The greatest testament to her fantastic labor in this play is that, after the first number, one genuinely forgets the real-life age disparity between the actors.

The show is hilarious throughout. Supporting characters, while adding varying depth to the story, often act as comic relief. Audiences are introduced to the unserious dynamics of the younger characters when they meet the quartet of Delia (Grace Capeless), Martin (Darron Hayes), Teresa (Skye Alyssa Friedman) and Aaron (Pierce Wheeler).

This friend group, unbeknownst to themselves but evident to all around them, are, in some capacity, in love with one another. The sheer silliness of these moments, heightened by the energetic performances of these four fantastic performers, perfectly sets the tone for the rest of the show. Highest marks among them go to Hayes, whose Martin has moments of bombastic exhilaration and depressive embarrassment in a way that expertly avoids being too much or too little and endears the viewers nearly immediately.

Elsewhere, Kimberly’s family also heightens the antics and adds to the light tone but not without their moments of profound performance that tug at the heartstrings — and tug strongly. Jim Hogan’s Buddy is a drunk, brazen mess — as he should be! “Happy for Her” perfectly shows his immature yet parental rage at the sight of his daughter having a crush, and the in-between scenes of him and his wife, Pattie (Dana Steingold), add to the unsure, unstable family dynamic in a manner reminiscent of a classic sitcom parenting duo.

However, his take on the character leaves a tad to be desired as far as the more emotive moments are concerned, namely his less-than-impressive version of “Hello, Baby.” The greater story, though, does not suffer from this moment, as it feels like his muted song performance wastes a bit of potential.

Another family member performs well but shows some of the less glistening parts of the play. Emily Koch plays crazy aunt Debra, a character purposefully out of left field — sleeping in libraries, breaking into homes and organizing a check fraud operation in a basement, though the character’s jokes are often hit-or-miss.

This is to no fault of Koch and her larger-than-life portrayal, however. In fact, her tour de force during “Better” is fun, strong and full of spirit and is definitely one of the show’s highlights. Still, it is unfortunate that what makes the show truly feel like it is in the early 2000s is not the Game Boys or flip phones but rather the painfully loud and uncreative jokes Debra tells between songs that scream millennial “comedy.”

Debra’s dear sister Pattie takes the cake where less-than-perfect family members are concerned. Steingold plays a balancing act between squeaky, sardonic and silly numbers, starting with “Hello, Darling” and its successive iterations and well-rounded, redeeming letters of love and emotion such as “Father Time.”

Both of Kimberly’s parents play to this duality to an extent, but Steingold’s Pattie is truly out of this world. Her vocal range lends itself to the high-pitched and just-raspy-enough moments of anger and desperation in the more comedic songs, as well as the deep, swelling and emotive numbers that encompass a rare performance: one that can make an audience laugh just as much as make it sob.

Miguel Gil plays male lead Seth, playing to the character’s awkwardness and kindness exceedingly well. His vocal performance is not perfect, with the occasional wayward note. However, the giddy embodiment of the character plays a perfect partner to the lead role, making for moments of tenderness and solidarity that stick with the audience and find them asking for more Seth all around.

This is not to say there are no questionable moments — an onstage kiss between a woman in her 60s and a man yet to graduate college was also probably not on many bingo cards — but songs like “This Time” allow Carmello to embody a youthful desperation that puts a world-beating versatility on show for all of Los Angeles to see. Thankfully for L.A., they can see “Kimberly Akimbo” in all its glory until Nov. 3, when the show gets back on the road to continue its national tour.