FUN HOME- previews- Page 4

[dreaming]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 12:53pm

Clyde-So glad you loved it, too! I think it's really amazing. It really makes you feel so many emotions. (I'm praying they do a cast recording! I'd love to see it go on for a longer run somewhere) Did you see it in lab? (I'm asking because the drawing sequences were more prominent there-in fact I wish they'd maintained that consistency with them. It seemed a little out of place that they started later in the show. I seem to recall them as a constant in the lab production.)

No idea about the student tix question-I just read the website and it says one per person, but never does it say one per production. I'd be interested to know that, too!

Updated On: 10/11/13 at 12:53 PM

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 12:56pm

Sadly I never got around to seeing the lab production. There needs to be a cast recording of this right now because there isn't a clunker in the bunch.

[dreaming]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 12:58pm

And I usually am not Janine Tesori's biggest cheerleader-so me saying that score is probably one of my favorites right now is really amazing.

I do wish the show could move to a more permanent home. Clearly, it won't make it on Broadway, but I'd love an extended run somewhere. (I'd love to see this team tackle "Are You My Mother?" as well.)

[macnyc]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 1:26pm

Plus, I am hoping that some of the musical numbers can be placed on the Public's website for streaming. The Public did that for Love's Labour's Lost. I tweeted the Public to ask, but never heard anything back. I'm dying to hear some of the songs again! There must be demos of the songs, at least, right?

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 1:29pm

Just splurged on another ticket for this weekend because I want to know the songs better. I at LEAST want to be able to sing "Changing My Major to Joan" in the shower, if I don't get a CD.

[dreaming]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 1:32pm

^Like this comment about "Changing My Major to Joan". That's a good song.

Hoping to get there tomorrow...

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 1:57pm

I am just getting more and more excited about this! Thank you, Clyde for your thoughtful comments!

This looks to be my best theater weekend in a long time: Mr. Burns tonight, CSC's Romeo and Juliet tomorrow afternoon, and Fun Home tomorrow night!

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 2:16pm

Wow, Play Esq. While I haven't seen CSC's R&J yet (probably next week) I can tell you that your other two choices are exceptional. Hopefully you like them as much as I did.

[ahhrealmonsters]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 2:49pm

RE: Student tickets. I asked at the box office, and they said one ticket per student for the entire run. I don't know how well they enforce it, but that's the rule.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 2:55pm

Thanks for the info.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 9:00pm

"I wasn't familiar with the novel going in, and I thought that it actually was a bit ambiguous as to whether or not Bruce intended to commit suicide. Alison spoke of him as though he did, definitely, but the scene with Bruce's big number at the house left me questioning"

If it's anything like the comic, than that's exactly how it should be -- ambiguous. Rationally it seems like he probably did -- maybe due to his wife asking for a divorce. But Alison both feels guilty that her coming out helped lead to it somehow -- and that if it was an accident she has lost a further connection she thought she had with her father.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 10:07pm

I don't think there's any way to be but ambiguous about it. I mean, she wasn't in his head, she doesn't know why he did it or if he had thought it out or not. I kind of love that she tells you within the first 10mins that he commits suicide.

[darquegk]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 10:15pm

She says he commits suicide, then finds herself doubting and questioning for the rest of the novel. The trucker's testimony suggests that at the edge of the road, he leapt backwards instinctively as if seeing a snake (an image Bechdel connects to her camping trip with him years ago). At that point, she begins to doubt more whether or not it was a suicide.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 11:47pm

Is that whole bit in the show? I don't remember all that, but I like it. The song he sings, to me, is the only true clunker of the bunch. I found it hard to really concentrate on what he was saying because I couldn't really follow the melody as well. But I love how sort of unsure of everything she is throughout the show. I think that's so true of our memories, etc.

[After Eight]

Posted: 10/12/13 at 6:08am

"Is this the first time the story of a gay woman has been told in a musical as the protagonist?"

27 rue de Fleurus, a musical with Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein as its protagonists, was presented at Urban Stages in 2008. Far superior to this dismal opus.

"I'm Majoring in Joan," indeed. Interesting majors colleges are offering nowadays. What ever happened to things like geology, physics or philosophy? Too humdrum, I suppose. Too bad they didn't offer majors in Peggy-Ann, Irene, or Sally back in the day. At least we could have heard some pretty tunes!
Updated On: 10/12/13 at 06:08 AM

[After Eight]

Posted: 10/12/13 at 8:48am

"I wish there was a place on Broadway for it"

"Clearly, it won't make it on Broadway."

Why not? If the show is as rapturously sublime as we're told it is by everyone here except one -- who has no credibility anyway --- why shouldn't Broadway audiences find it equally so, and respond by making it the smash of the century?

Updated On: 10/12/13 at 08:48 AM

[macnyc]

Posted: 10/12/13 at 10:06am

It's not commercial enough. Plus, Fun Home is not a big show and requires an intimate performing space to be most effective.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 10/12/13 at 10:16am

After Eight, the fact that you aren't able to identify with the innocence and beauty of the joy in that song explains an awful lot about your sanctimonious, angry, tasteless outlook on nearly everything.

Updated On: 10/12/13 at 10:16 AM

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 10/12/13 at 10:38am

And that, Scary, is why I blocked him.

[jbm2]

Posted: 10/12/13 at 2:34pm

Everyone keeps referring to this show as GRAPHIC- how so?
I am set to attend this with someone who is rather conservative.... Is this a mistake?

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 10/12/13 at 4:11pm

Did you miss the part where that was explained? It's based on a graphic novel AKA comic. There is really nothing graphic in nature but for someone conservative it might not be the best. There is a lot of gayness in the show.

[jbm2]

Posted: 10/12/13 at 4:30pm

A lot of gayness? What does that mean? Gay sex? Gay characters? Or what?

[karloskar2]

Posted: 10/12/13 at 4:41pm

would it hurt do do a little bit of research about the show you're supposedly attending? The show is based on a a graphic novel by Alison Bechdel which tells the autobiographical story of her childhood growing up in a funeral home, dealing with her own emerging sexuality, and her closeted father's suicide. it took me less than a minute to find out that much information, and i knew nothing at all about the show.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 10/12/13 at 6:35pm

I saw it today and most of the changes since first preview were pretty subtle. I liked them expanding the scene where Alison draws the map to show her father being dismissive of comic strips. However, I have to say I was REALLY disappointed that they cut Bruce saying "Is that what you want to look like?" right before the end of "Ring of Keys." A great moment in the book and very powerfully placed in the song. I guess they just wanted it to flow a little better, let there be more of an applause button...but I really think that the song's reason for being there at all is at least a little compromised. It made the "I know you, I know you" so much more powerful.

Over all, still a terrific show. Didn't cry any less.



Updated On: 10/13/13 at 06:35 PM

[anmiller07]

Posted: 10/12/13 at 6:52pm

My apologies for not going through every page of this thread - can anyone tell me what rush has been like for Sunday matinees? I am headed to the city tomorrow to see Shoshana Bean and am interested in seeing this show after all the glowing reviews on here!