Bonnie Milligan Describes Feelings of ‘Gratitude’ and ‘Value’ in the Post-Pandemic World of Broadway (Exclusive)

When bonniemilagan singing her opening lines in her impressive number “Better,” it’s clear she’s a force. People might be surprised to find that her portrayal of Aunt Debra is criminal but caring Kimberly Akimbo it is only the Ohio native’s second Broadway production. Bonnie made her Broadway debut in head down in 2018 to rave reviews, but nearly a year after the show closed, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down Broadway for 20 months, leaving it to grapple with its next steps.

“I think whatever happens to us in life, when things happen to us, we grow and deepen as human beings. I’ve seen a lot of life and loss over the past five years and I think I feel a real sense of value for life in general, but especially for being on a Broadway stage when the pandemic has shut everything down,” Bonnie explained to HollywoodLife.com In an EXCLUSIVE interview with the Tony Contenders 2023 Series. “Sometimes there was a fear of ‘Will this industry come back?’ and ‘Will I have to choose a new career?’ ‘What will happen?'”

Bonnie booked the role of Aunt Debra in May 2020, shortly after her father’s heartbreaking death, while still at her home in Ohio “hanging around” reading the script. “We didn’t really start until 9pm in person, and I was very happy with the collaboration of being in a room with people. And there’s nothing like collaboration, that’s what’s so great about theatre: you can really be in the room with the writers, the directors, the choreographers, the other actors in the jump and they’re all creating something together,” he said… “I think that deepened for me as an artist. There’s just gratitude and value in knowing that it can happen at any moment and really be in the moment, which is also the message of my show.”

Bonnie continued, “My headspace is what’s happening right now and being thankful for where we are and no matter what. But we will be here.

The story of Kimberly AkimboOf David Lindsay Abaire, follows lonely teenager Kimberly Levaco (Victoria Clark) who suffers from a progeria-like disease that causes her to age rapidly, giving her the appearance of an older woman. The poor young woman is plagued by dysfunction, as her father is an alcoholic, her pregnant mother is a hypochondriac and possibly a narcissist, and her aunt, played by Bonnie, is a criminal. “Debra is not a malicious person. She is a survivor. She is a fighter. She settles for what she knows she has. She’s not exactly educated or rich, but she’s very good at charming people,” Bonnie explained, likening her character to a modern-day Harold Hill. The music man.

“Basically, what I found so important was his true, genuine and deep love for Kimberly. I think it’s a very complicated love for a selfish person, that in the end she will have to choose herself. But I want to find the complication in that,” she continued. “I have met very complicated people in this life who have done complicated things and they are not bad people. they are just damaged. public”.

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Bonnie admitted that being a part of the production is “the greatest pleasure and joy,” adding that “it helped [her] In [her] own pain” and “remain present”. “I’m thinking about telling the story and starting to tell the story, and that’s really exciting and refreshing for me,” she enthused.

Kimberly Akimbo is currently on Broadway at The Booth Theatre.

Bonnie Milligan is part of HollywoodLife’s Tony Contenders series, in which we interview today’s biggest Broadway stars vying for the next Tony Awards on June 11, 2023.

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