Director Jessica Stone on Juggling the Tony-Winning Kimberly Akimbo with New Broadway Musical Water for Elephants

Much has happened in the life of Jessica Stone since her last appearance on The Broadway Show. Standing on 45th Street outside the Booth Theatre, Broadway.com Managing Editor Beth Stevens congratulated Stone on her Tony nomination for Kimberly Akimbo, the show that gave the already successful Broadway actor a second Broadway debut in her comparatively new role as director. Stone didn’t end up taking home the trophy for herself, but the show did walk away with five awards, including Best Musical.

At the same time, Stone was preparing to direct the world premiere of Water for Elephants, a musical adaptation of Sara Gruen’s bestselling novel, at Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. The show would have its first preview on June 7 with the Tony Awards just four days later on June 11. “It's a very different kind of story than Kimberly,” Stone shared from the thick of the production process. “People slide upside down from poles and fly through the air, and there's a train and a stampede—I'm exhausted.”

Kimberly Akimbo—David Lindsay-Abaire and Jeanine Tesori’s quirky musical about a rapidly aging 16-year-old girl and her dysfunctional suburban family—could not be farther, aesthetically speaking, from Water for Elephants’ larger-than-life milieu. And yet, for a short while, they will jointly represent Stone's artistry on Broadway, even occupying the same city block. Water for Elephants will move into the Imperial Theatre just across the street from the Booth in February, just two months ahead of Kimberly Akimbo’s final performance on April 28. It’s a rare feat for any director, let alone one who is just beginning to build a Broadway resume.

“I wouldn't know how to begin to describe my style,” said Stone, contemplating her identity as a director in a time when these two vastly different projects were occupying her brain. “There are directors that are very visual. There are directors that have tremendous emotional wisdom. Everyone's got a different way into the story.” Stone’s way in can’t help but be informed by her time as an actor, and as an actor, everything begins with the words on the page (her last Broadway role was Erma in the 2011 revival of Anything Goes, directly preceded by two consecutive turns alongside Nathan Lane in Butley and The Odd Couple).

“The thing I cared most about was that David and Jeanine felt that their baby was in good hands,” she said, explaining her chief priority in sculpting the warm but comedically offbeat Kimberly Akimbo. “With a new show, it has to be the writers, no matter what.” Aside from that, “You just have to sort of be in the moment and follow your gut.” Water for Elephants has this instinct-driven director painting with an entirely new palette than the one she used for Kimberly Akimbo. But since sharing these early details of the musical that would seamlessly extend her Broadway tenure, Stone’s gut has proven a worthy compass.

“The thing I'm most excited about is Best Musical,” Stone told Stevens in spring 2023, sensing the prize that awaited Kimberly. “That one really belongs to all of us. That’s the one I’m proudest of.”