Fun Home

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Todd
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Fun Home

Post by Todd »

This past Wednesday, I saw a matinee performance of "Fun Home." While the story didn't particularly sound like my cup of tea, I was nevertheless impressed with the musical number from the show that was performed on the Tony Awards. Since it won the award for Best Musical, I was pretty sure I would find it at least fairly enjoyable since my experience of seeing past Best Musical winners had always been quite good.

The individual acting and singing performances were all very good, particularly the two young ladies who played the lead actress as a child and as a college student. Unfortunately, though, those are about the only positives I can come up with for this production. In fact, I might go so far as to say that it's the least-enjoyable Broadway show I've ever been to.

Despite the title, it seemed to be an unhappy show about unhappy people. The musical score had about two songs that I liked, while the rest seemed bland and instantly forgettable. One number appeared to be a blatant rip-off of "Born To Boogie" featuring the lead girl and her two brothers dancing around - and on - a piano, complete with the three of them ending the song by falling down on the stage and lying on their backs with limbs spread out as the scene faded to black (sound familiar ?). It also had several raunchy scenes that most members of the audience found uproariously funny, but which seemed pretty offensive to me.

It's being performed in a theater-in-the-round, where no seat is more than about 7 rows from the stage. Because of that, it sounded like they didn't bother to mike the performers. Problem was, though, whenever they would turn and face the audience on the other sides, it made it very difficult to hear the dialogue.

To be fair, I was very tired when I went to the show, having gotten up at the crack of dawn that morning to go see a taping of the TV show "Kelly and Michael." I'm also guessing I was not part of the target audience for this show. Still, despite all that, I found myself asking, "This won Best Musical?"
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angelenroute
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Re: Fun Home

Post by angelenroute »

I'd been following some of the buzz about Fun Home, and of course I saw that incredible song featured on the Tony Awards, but I still wasn't sure what to expect when I reached the theatre last night. Will it be exciting and "fun", as the title seems to hint, or will it be darker than I might expect, touching on inexplicable feelings of a life lived in secret? As I soon realized, all of this was true, and much more besides.

It's telling that I just checked to see if Fun Home won the Pulitzer Prize (a close second it seems), because the show is an incredible force that far exceeds the framework of what we expect a Broadway show to be. There's an invisible creature of emotion haunting this show, I think, one that furtively wraps its way through the stadium seating and pokes the tears and giggles from you in equal measure. It truly is that rarest of rare theatrical pieces that weighs you down and lifts you up over and over again, so by the end of the show, you're emotionally drained in the very best way.

I can't heap enough praise on the performers, each of whom nailed their parts. Judy Kuhn (Alison's mom) is tasked with playing what at first seems like a background character, but she surfaces more and more as the minutes tick past, and slowly reveals her soul to us throughout the show. Michael Cerveris (Alison's dad) gives a multi-layered performance like no other. Cerveris unfolds Bruce throughout the show, but with just enough cards-to-his-chest gravitas to make you love and pity him at the same time. All three Alisons are fantastic. Beth Malone as adult-age Alison watches the comic strip play out along with the rest of us, and she lets us see it all through her eyes, as someone looking back on a childhood and a life so foreign, yet so familiar with all its aches and pains and smiles. Small Alison, played by the incomparable Sydney Lucas, is a child far beyond her years (both Sydney and Small Alison). She sees things happening and questions why. Why are you leaving? Where are you going? Why won't you hug me? We ache for the child she still is, and root for the adult she will one day be. At one point when Sydney was on stage, I found myself drenched in tears which were streaming steadily from both eyes. She and the power of the show were just that good. And Middle Alison (my favorite Alison) played by the beautiful, wonderful, amazing Emily Skeggs, knocked it out of the park with her performance. As college-age Alison, Emily Skeggs (who will go on to win multiple Tonys, possibly as a writer too) is a revelation. Her voice, both singing and spoken, is just perfection, her acting is deep and blooming, and her role is as crisp as it is important.

Important. That's the word that keeps coming to mind as I think about what I witnessed last night. This is a musical with beautiful songs, a little dance, and a whole lot of heart, but behind the dressings and the furniture polish, there's a profound, important story. It's a story about change and growth, but it's also about learning and growing wise (which are not the same things), and above all this, it's about perspective. This is a show that in theory had no business making it this far, and yet it's also a show that belongs there on Broadway, and deserves to be seen. It needs to be seen. No, it's not the kind of feel-good comedy so many love, but that isn't to say it hasn't got lots and lots of funny, often hilarious moments. It's just that Fun Home is about so much more than the "Fun". It's about the "Home" too.

With sets that twist around, move around, dip and rise throughout, and lighting effects that perfectly capture the frame-by-frame moments Older Alison remembers from her childhood and young-adult years, Fun Home is a living, breathing piece of art. You go into the theatre expecting to see a funny comic strip with perhaps a few tender moments added for effect, but instead you're very quickly astounded by the sublime artwork playing out before you.

You really don't see it happening at first, but as the moments and minutes tick by in Fun Home, that invisible creature of emotion has silently found you at your seat. It reaches a tentacle forward and wraps itself delicately around your heart, squeezing you at times, but only as much as you let it. The tears arrive unexpectedly, the laughter comes at all the right moments, and the beauty of the entire piece hits you like a 10-ton truck by the end. You're left shocked by what you've witnessed, speechless at what they've accomplished, and mesmerized by the incredible truth of it all.

For tickets and more, go to http://funhomebroadway.com/

Sean Patrick Brennan

"Good writers define reality; bad ones merely restate it." -Edward Albee
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CJ-Rochester
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Re: Fun Home

Post by CJ-Rochester »

Sydney Lucas, who gave us that amazing and heartfelt performance on the Tony Awards, will depart the show October 4th. Next up to play Small Allison is Gabriella Pizzolo, who played the title role in Matilda. I saw Gabby in that show in 2014 and thought she was quite good.

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/fu ... cal-362914
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atreyu
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Re: Fun Home

Post by atreyu »

The Diary of a Lesbian's Self-Discovery. Seemed like that could have been the subtitle of Fun Home and accurately depict what it's about. That is not at all intended to be demeaning, I hope it is not taken that way. It's simply a blunt synopsis. But from my viewpoint, I would have to agree with Todd.
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angelenroute
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Re: Fun Home

Post by angelenroute »

It's a hell of a lot more than that, and if you guys are bored at this show, you're not watching the same show I saw. Won't go back and forth, because my blood pressure is already high enough as it is, but did need to shout out briefly that I just don't get how you could go see Billy or Finding Neverland so many times yet not appreciate Fun Home.

"Good writers define reality; bad ones merely restate it." -Edward Albee
cglaid
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Re: Fun Home

Post by cglaid »

And, more than that, Born to Boogie is literally nothing like Come to the Fun Home. I find that a common theme on this board is that the members put BE on a ridiculously high and unreachable pedestal and then lambaste any other show for not being Billy Elliot. I love BE and yet was still able to find Fun Home incredibly moving. It's a beautiful, touching and untold Broadway story with stellar performances. Don't see other shows then if you're just hoping it's Billy Elliot - when no show will really ever be remotely the same - and just continue seeing BE for the 8,000th time before it closes instead. If your only real baseline is BE over and over again, how can you truly have any objectivity?
Todd
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Re: Fun Home

Post by Todd »

I can't speak for others here, but I've seen a number of other shows that I've thoroughly enjoyed besides "Billy Elliot" . . . . "Pippin," "Phantom of the Opera," "Newsies," "Finding Neverland," "Godspell," "Children of Eden," (yes, I'm a Stephen Schwartz fan), "Oklahoma," "Kinky Boots," "Spamalot," . . . . .I could go on, but those are some of my favorites. The only two Broadway shows that I've seen that I don't care to see again are "Chicago" and "Fun Home." I'll even risk having darts thrown at me by saying that a few musicals that many people would list as among their favorites - "Les Mis," "Lion King," and "Wicked" - are fairly low on my list, although I admit that their musical scores are very good.

Not sure if I understand getting upset and throwing out accusations at people who have a different opinion about a particular show. I guess I prefer shows to be a bit more fun and uplifting, as I felt like "Fun Home" was sorely lacking in the "fun" category. Most of the characters seemed very unhappy and I didn't care for the sex scenes. Nor was its general theme something that I could identify with. I think it really just comes down to personal preference - just like it does with movies, music, politics, and favorite kind of bar-b-que. 8-)
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atreyu
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Re: Fun Home

Post by atreyu »

On a similar note, my theatrical experiences include Jersey Boys, Motown the Musical, If/Then, Gentleman's Guide, Dreamgirls, Victor/Victoria, Newsies, Shrek the Musical, The Little Mermaid, Something Rotten, The King and I, Saturday Night Fever, Waitress the Musical, A Little Night Music, Spring Awakening, Beautiful, Sister Act, Allegiance, Elf the Musical, etc. This particular list would be just the last 12 months, an unusually busy period admittedly. I enjoyed plenty of those, did not like others. For me, Fun Home fits in the latter category. Perhaps I am just not sophisticated enough to appreciate that work, but it is not a matter of being fixated on Billy Elliot.
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angelenroute
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Re: Fun Home

Post by angelenroute »

*I was projecting some annoyance at other fans onto this discussion unnecessarily, and I apologize. I've just been seeing some wink-wink, nod-nod comments elsewhere on the forum and on Facebook over the past few months, as well as things as a mod here that have just made me more knee-jerk and suspect than usual. I apologize! All reviews/opinions of Fun Home always welcome here, good or bad. Still disagree with those of you didn't appreciate this show, but I'm sorry for jumping as I did unnecessarily.*

Sean

"Good writers define reality; bad ones merely restate it." -Edward Albee
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CJ-Rochester
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Re: Fun Home

Post by CJ-Rochester »

Fun Home will close its Broadway run September 10th, a few weeks before launching its national tour.

http://funhomebroadway.com/
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