About the
show:
Fun Home is a musical adapted by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori from Alison Bechdel's 2006 graphic memoir of the same name. The story concerns Bechdel's relationship with her gay father and her attempts to unlock the mysteries surrounding his life. It has been called "the first mainstream musical about a young lesbian. It is the first Broadway musical with a lesbian protagonist.
The musical was developed at the Ojai Playwrights Conference in 2009 and at the Sundance Theatre Lab and The Public Theater's Public Lab in 2012. It opened Off-Broadway at the Public Theater in September 2013 to positive reviews. Its run was extended several times, and it ran until January 2014. The Public Theater production of Fun Homewas nominated for nine Lucille Lortel Awards (winning three, including Outstanding Musical), two Obie Awards and eight Drama Desk Awards, among others.
The original Broadway production began previews at the Circle in the Square Theatre on March 27, 2015 and opened on April 19, 2015. The original Broadway production was nominated for twelve Tony Awards and won five, including Best Musical. The show's cast album received a nomination for the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
More info on the show: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fun_Home_(musical)
My opinion:
Of course
only one Broadway show wasn’t enough for me, so on my last night I went to see
another show. This tie the way led me to the Circle in the Square theatre,
where they play Fun Home. The musical won five Tonys last year, including the
one for best show. You can imagine my excitement!!!
Well, first
of all let me talk about the theatre itself, it’s awesome! As it says in name
it’s a circle. The audience builds a circle around the stage, which I think is
pretty great. The actors play to all sides and change around.
Now, with
the title Fun Home you might think it’s going to be a hilarious show, but I
have to disappoint you. Fun Home actually stands for a funeral home. There were
some funny scenes and moments, but actually it’s a really emotional show.
It follows
a family, who runs a funereal home. The main character is Allison, who tells us
her story through several stages. First as a child, then at college and also
the age she has now. I loved the girl who played the young Allison. She had a
great voice and a lot of presence on stage. Her acting was on spot. The two
pays who played her brothers were awesome as well.
Well, it
turns out Allison is gay and she discovers this at college. We see what she
goes through and then we also see how her parents react. Then the actual drama
starts, because her dad had affairs with men for years, also some under age.
This changes the dynamic in the family and the dad starts the struggle even
more. We see all this happen through Allison’s eyes.
In the end
it gets very emotional and touching. The actors all did a wonderful job, their
voices fit perfectly well together and the show in a whole is very impressive
and magnificent. Another thing I really liked, was the way the used the stage,
the scene changes and the use of props was done cleverly.
So, all in
all I think this is a marvellous show with lots of highlights. Be ready and
have some tissues with you though, you might need them.
