Posted: 4/19/15 at 1:38am
Today is Sunday, April 19, marking the official OPENING NIGHT of FUN HOME, on Broadway! The critically acclaimed musical, of course, is an adaptation of Alison Bechdel's graphic memoir, which parallels her own coming of age as a lesbian and the suicide of her closeted gay father. Performances run at the Circle in the Square in a new in-the-round staging, having begun previews March 27.
The show, according to press notes, is "a fresh, daring new musical based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Alison Bechdel. When her father dies unexpectedly, graphic novelist Alison dives deep into her past to tell the story of the volatile, brilliant, one-of-a-kind man whose temperament and secrets defined her family and her life. Moving between past and present, Alison relives her unique childhood playing at the family’s Bechdel Funeral Home, her growing understanding of her own sexuality and the looming, unanswerable questions about her father's hidden desires."
Having previously been staged at The Public, many members of the original Off-Broadway cast return for the uptown transfer, including stars Beth Malone, Judy Kuhn, Sydney Lucas and Michael Cerveris. Malone (Alison), Lucas (Small Alison) and Emily Skeggs (Medium Alison) portray author-narrator Bechdel at various stages of her life. The principal cast also features Joel Perez, Roberta Colindrez, Zell Morrow and Oscar Williams.
FUN HOME has music by Tony Award nominee Jeanine Tesori and a book and lyrics by Tony Award nominee Lisa Kron, under the auspice of director Sam Gold.
Here's to ample broken limbs!
