Fun Home Previews — Page 15

But at least with Next to Normal, though it's a great show, it lost to a show that got a great deal of critical acclaim. At this point I think Fun Home's biggest competition will be Something Rotten!, and though the reviews haven't come out yet, I can't imagine that show will get raves from critics. I know that critical reviews can't really predict Tony wins, but I'd imagine a lot of Tony voters would have a hard time saying Something Rotten! is a better show than Fun Home.

Exactly.

Seating Question for all those who've gone: Section 200 Row A on either side, too close? I was looking at those because they're not listed as Premium.

Thanks. :)

Alison Bechdel has drawn a short comic describing her reaction to Fun Home's Broadway engagement.

Alison Bechdel Draws a Fun Home Coda

Thanks Kad

I hope After Eight responds to let Ms. Bechdel know what her parents’ reactions would be – the same reactions he had or that any reasonable person would have – boredom, revulsion, depression, irritation, and feeling nauseated, appalled, horrified, and insulted.

Those were his feelings, as he expressed them.

And for fun, for those who were asking or are just curious, here’s the very first FUN HOME thread, in which he commented four times. Strangely, these comments, to which he’s recently directed other posters rather than restating his opinions, have all been deleted. Now how will we ever know what he really thinks?

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1052352&mobile=on

Never fear, Monsieur Growlers--A8 has liberally peppered a wide variety of threads on this forum with random comments about that "sickening show with the sexualized toddler singing about her lesbian lust."

Yeah, that "coda" truly is perfection in how she just gets it, so simply.

I don't think anyone here is implying that they connect to Fun Home so emotionally strongly JUST because they find it adventurous. This seems to be a concept that you can not wrap your mind around A8.

Of course even you would admit some of it is subjective. And I think you would have to admit that many people ARE more willing to throw down a cool $125 for a show that they have some idea what to expect--or have heard about. That tends to mean more traditional shows (which does not equal, IMHO anyway, "bad," just as the reverse is true.)

I am sure there are many brave shows that simply don't work. Again some of that is subjective--what works for one person doesn't work for another. But a brave idea for a show can be just as ineptly executed as a more traditional idea. These are not difficult concepts--well for most of us because we don't live in a world of black and white extremes as you seem to do (yes, that's presumptuous of me to say but I am merely going on the basis of your posts--the way you find me pretentious because of how you read my posts. I happily accept that.)

That said, I suppose there is a natural (for most theatre lovers) tendency to be more forgiving of most "adventurous" shows when they fail than an incompetent show with no aspriations to try anything new. *shrug* Weird, isn't it? Thank God, as you repeatedly claim, that this forum is the only place where the majority of posters feel this way. Thank God we have you hear reprimanding people's opinions like a cronichita old school marm who takes away her students books and forces into their hands the books she thinks are the only ones to be considered.

As for adventurous shows that don't work for me and I have no intention of playing again? Meh, I thought The Adding Machine was a valiant attempt but it does nothing for me. Neither does RIcky Ian Gordon's My Life with Albertine (too bad because I love the three sections I've read of À la recherche du temps perdu and the section chosen for was perfect for the stage I felt.) I wanted so much to love the score for Far From Heaven--I love the film. But it feels shockingly wrong headed to me. Those are off my head--your mileage on how adventurous they are or not may vary.

Updated On: 4/11/15 at 11:59 PM

Why might this show struggle with a mass tourist audience? Oh, I don't know. Maybe because of this thing called homophobia that infects so much of this country. Look at Indiana and Arkansas. As wonderful as some of the support was (e.g. Audra, Zac Braff) the pizza place raising a million dollars was truly heartbreaking.

There have definitely been hit shows about gays before, but none that have looked at them through such a human lens. These aren't the ministrel gays of La Cage. Alison feels like a real person, and not just because the creators used an autobiographical text as their source material. It is because of Alison's authenticity that so many of us (I assume) have become so emotional watching Fun Home. The creators have captured a universality of the modern gay experience and these things are no doubt very scary for those closed minds not ready to deal with it.

^

Again, I ask you for specifics in this show.

Why is that such a hard concept for you?

Incidentally, have you seen it?

^ Concur wholeheartedly, Whizzer.

"And knowing exactly what is going to happen to Bruce allowed me to really watch for the cues of his conflicted psyche throughout the show, particularly during his final number."

Knowing the arc of the entire show in the first minute was actually a weakness of FUN HOME for me. Once Allison says that line, the whole evening is a countdown to the fatal event itself. I absolutely wished I HADN'T known what Bruce's fate would be. Each time he put himself in a dangerous path I was taken out of the show, thinking THIS is the moment he's gonna die. No, wait, NOW is the moment.

Just because adult Allison knows the end of the story at the top of the evening doesn't mean we the audience should. I'd have much preferred to be in the dark.