Fun Home Tour- Page 2

[BrerBear]

Posted: 2/10/17 at 4:13pm

Finally got to see this last night, and it was fantastic. A great reflection of the Broadway staging, and some scenes even played out better, like the house reveal near the end.

The entire cast did a great job, but I have to agree that Abby Coirrigan as Medium Alison really stood out. Keep an eye on her.

Make sure to catch this if you're in the Bay Area!

[Popular]

Posted: 2/10/17 at 7:49pm

I have an extra pair of tickets for the Friday, February 24 show at the Ahmanson in Los Angeles if anyone is interested. $27.50 each face value Send PM thanks

[bear88]

Posted: 2/11/17 at 3:53am

I saw it again on a Friday, bringing along my daughter, and I guess Abby Corrigan has those nights off. But I couldn't complain, because I think Caroline Murrah - her understudy - is utterly charming and believable. She nails "Changing My Major" every time. 

Things that struck me the second time, from the balcony: Kate Shindle (as Adult Alison) and Robert Petkoff (as Bruce) are easy to overlook but they are excellent. There's an emotion and vulnerability in Shindle's performance that I appreciated even more the second time. The final scenes are powerful.

The staging works very well, and I focused on that and the lyrics more this time around. Again, I can't compare it to Broadway and the in-the-round staging, but Adult Alison is certainly not stuck in the corner. She's very present throughout the show, remembering, thinking, and watching. It's a wonderful show.

[PatrickDC]

Posted: 2/11/17 at 10:58am

I've been curious about something, and do not want to sound anti-height, or heightish, or whatever it might be considered. How does Kate's height change the dynamics on stage? Or does it?

I ask because Beth's waifish stature gave her, IMO, a vulnerability that made her struggle and eventual success all the more dramatic to me. This quiet, diminutive person gains the courage to live as she feels is best and right for her. 

A tall person of either gender can be imposing and, again IMO, gain immediate perceptions of strength. 

I don't know if I'm expressing my question as fully as I want. Just something I've been curious about. 

[dmwnc1959]

Posted: 4/16/17 at 6:54pm

Had the pleasure of seeing FUN HOME in Pittsburgh today and thought the show funny, brilliant, quite well done, and incredibly moving, so much so I was moved to tears at parts. The way the three Alisons would be on stage at the same time, the simple sets, and the relationships between the parents and Alison ("Don't come back here) at the various stages of her life are quite complex and heartbreaking. I took so much away from this, so much that I wish that I could apply to my own life, but I'm still afraid to. Even at 57 years old. And that in itself tears me apart. 

There was a couple in front of me that seem to shuffle in their seats quite a few times during the scenes in which Medium Alison has her first act of intimacy and the next morning is walking around in panties and knee high sports socks. But I think that was about the only part in which those who may feel "uncomfortable" with the social aspects of this subject are confronted with it "in their face". 

As many performances as I've seen at the cavernous Heinz Hall, most all of them by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, I can't ever recall a time during a show when there were what seems like long moments of deafening silence ("Telephone Wire), and that the entire audience got so quiet and so still that you could hear a pin drop. 

As mentioned before it's a one-act show that lasted just over 90 minutes. At the end of the show they announced collections and autographed window cards for "Broadway Cares" (I had heard they were going to sell them) so I grabbed one thinking they were $40, they weren't. I missed that part of the announcement. It's for a great cause. :)

I loved this. 

If you're not already booked, don't miss this. 



 

Updated On: 4/16/17 at 06:54 PM

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 7/28/17 at 7:49pm

Saw this here in Seattle and can confirm that it's a stunning production that doesn't feel at all like a "touring" show. The theater was packed (2000 seats) and it felt totally intimate. The New York drop wall rising to reveal the museum-esque house elicited gasps, and the audience was dead silent during a number of key scenes, which I appreciated (Telephone Wire, notably, but also during Pony Girl). Absolutely phenomenal.

[canadian fan]

Posted: 7/29/17 at 12:00am

I also saw this in Seattle,  a couple weeks ago.  The theater was maybe 1/2 full at best. Balcony was definitely only about 1/3 full.  There were no gasps, or any such thing during the show that I saw.  While the show was somewhat enjoyable, I wasn't blown away and the music was underwhelming overall. I saw it 2 weeks ago and actually have a hard time remembering specifics. Guess enough said?  The raves on here dont match my experience and from what I can tell that of the rest of the audience

[bk]

Posted: 7/29/17 at 12:19am

canadian fan said: "I also saw this in Seattle,  a couple weeks ago.  The theater was maybe 1/2 full at best. Balcony was definitely only about 1/3 full.  There were no gasps, or any such thing during the show that I saw.  While the show was somewhat enjoyable, I wasn't blown away and the music was underwhelming overall. I saw it 2 weeks ago and actually have a hard time remembering specifics. Guess enough said?  The raves on here dont match my experience and from what I can tell that of the rest of the audience

 

"

Only here do you read about sold out houses, gasps, and viewers in tears because it speaks to them in personal ways.  That I get.  I liked it fine - I probably would have liked it less were it not for Abby Corrigan, who is a real find - subtle, funny, and wonderful.  Kate Shindle is a big old void and this show shouldn't have a void at its center.  When you have someone as quirky, real, and beautiful as Beth Malone, you don't follow that with someone who is basically a poseur, playing AT the part rather than inhabiting it.  The show is coming to Segerstam soon and I can tell you I have never seen them pushing anything this hard, and a simple look at their ticket sales will tell you why.

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 7/29/17 at 12:36am

You're right, I'm sorry, I was misled by my own emotions. In reality, there were only a handful of people in the audience, most of the cast was off-pitch, and everyone walked out halfway through. Really terrible, I wish them the worst.

[ebontoyan]

Posted: 7/29/17 at 4:03am

I wish you could actually walk out of this show but unfortunately there was no intermission! Finally saw it on tour and don't regret not seeing on Broadway!

[persephone88]

Posted: 7/29/17 at 9:28am

Wow, we saw this on tour and were very moved by it! And we liked Kate Shindle just fine. It may not be the show for everyone, but the house in DC was full and responded enthusiastically at curtain.

[gleek4114]

Posted: 7/29/17 at 9:45am

Does anyone know what the schedule is for Small Allison? The show is coming to Nashville in October, and I'm thinking about making it a two show day to see both if they offer rush. 

[MattRVA]

Posted: 7/29/17 at 2:50pm

persephone88 said: "Wow, we saw this on tour and were very moved by it! And we liked Kate Shindle just fine. It may not be the show for everyone, but the house in DC was full and responded enthusiastically at curtain.

I also saw this in DC. Lots of empty seats when I went (Saturday matinee). I get it. The show's not for everyone. That said, it's one of my absolute favorites. The cast was excellent. Ring of Keys, Days and Days, Telephone Wire, Flying Away - the music wrecks me like no other show but Hamilton.

 

[canadian fan]

Posted: 7/29/17 at 6:02pm

Charley Kringas Inc said: "You're right, I'm sorry, I was misled by my own emotions. In reality, there were only a handful of people in the audience, most of the cast was off-pitch, and everyone walked out halfway through. Really terrible, I wish them the worst.

 

"I was in no way trying to diminish your experience. Im glad you enjoyed it so much and of course the audience at the show you attended perhaps was much different than the one I attended.  I wasn't trying to dismiss the show in anyway. For me the most interesting aspect of the show was the adult Allison looking back in retrospect and trying to make sense of what happened, full of guilt perhaps. But as I mentioned for me the musical numbers weren't overly memorable. No one was off key or terrible etc. The middle Allison was very good. I also enjoyed the father. I would have liked to hear more about what happened with the relationship between Allison and her mother and siblings.....that seemed to have been left unsaid.  Maybe I was being to harsh in my first comment. I think part of the issue was we had 2 weeks previously returned from a trip to NY and saw all the big shows this year on Broadway.  Coming home to a touring production maybe wasn't the right timing.   

 

[Willy Loman2]

Posted: 8/5/17 at 4:55pm

Just saw it in Costa Mesa.  Cried through the whole thing.  Extraordinary!  Loved it Broadway as well but I think it works slightly better on the proscenium stage.  The Broadway cast was amazing but I liked the touring cast even more.  I LOVE THIS SHOW!

[South Florida]

Posted: 8/5/17 at 5:14pm

Fun Home is awesome.  It's historical which makes it more appealing to me.  We would be bored with a closeted gay man in 2017.  This show refreshed our memory of the mental torture of people living in that era.

 

[SarahNYC2]

Posted: 8/5/17 at 7:15pm

Glad to read these reviews. I am in Orlando and it's it's touring in Tampa. Think I will go see it. I missed it in NYC.

[wish i were here2]

Posted: 8/6/17 at 7:13pm

Just caught the tour and I had a question. I've seen the show on Broadway as well and I was wondering how the house reveal happened at the Public. Was it like the tour? 

[VotePeron]

Posted: 8/6/17 at 7:38pm

Unfortunately haven't seen the tour so I can't exactly say how it compares, but at the Public, a curtain was pulled very close to the edge of the stage after Raincoat of Love. This worked because there were two set doors on either side of the proscenium, facing inward, the entire show. The curtain stayed there until the house revealed, where the brick wall of the Newman Theater had been "transformed" and the space was set up and decked out to look like an extremely realistic house. I believe they also had a staircase. (Fun fact, on Broadway they originally had Bruce enter up a staircase through a trap door during early previews, but it looked weird and cut it before opening.)

[OlliesDad]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 12:52pm

Has anyone heard if they plan to extend this tour past the end of the year? The website says 'additional dates to be announced soon' but I'm worried it will close. If it is closing I need to make a plan to travel to one of the remaining venues. 

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 1:03pm

The house reveal is similair to what VotePeron describes but a bit more involved; rather than a curtain coming in, the end of rainbow of love features a wall flat that lowers from the flies.

[3GamesToLove]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 2:00pm

I'm not seeing the tour, but I am seeing Victory Gardens in Chicago put on the first-ever regional production of this in a few weeks. Going in blind; I know the basic premise but that's it. Really looking forward to it.

[JBC3]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 7:32pm

I think it is getting a lot of regional theatre play this fall. It opens here in Indianapolis on 9/22 and I know there is a Portland, Oregon production as well.

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/12/17 at 10:16am

JBC3 said: "I think it is getting a lot of regional theatre play this fall. It opens here in Indianapolis on 9/22 and I know there is a Portland, Oregon production as well."

There are multiple upcoming productions at prominent regional theaters. In addition to those already mentioned, it will be done in the next year at Arden Theatre Company (Philadelphia), SpeakEasy Stage (Boston) and Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma (Oklahoma City), among others.

[gleek4114]

Posted: 10/15/17 at 12:46am

Caught the tour today in Nashville. I ended up getting $25 rush seats in the first row for the marinee and was absolutely blown away. After having seen the show last summer in New York, it's clear to me that this show is absolutely brilliant and can lend itself to infinite stagings. I actually agree with those who think it loses nothing by being in a triditional proscenium staging. I may actually prefer the tour set up to what I saw at Circle in the Square. I had heard mixed/mostly postitive things about Kate Shindle as Adult Allison, but she absolutely memorized and enraptured me. Her voice is brilliant, and her performance is extremely heartfelt. She really was the standout to me. However, the entire cast (in my opinion) is very much on par with their Broadway counterparts. All around I was blown away, and I HATE that this tour is likely concluding in Decemeber. So happy I spent the time to go see it. If you haven't caught this yet, rush to one of the remaining cities. Even if you think you've seen Fun Home, this is a completely different experience that I think is worth having.