Why did 'Fun Home' Close- Page 2

[BroadwayRox3588]

Posted: 12/23/16 at 12:54am

Jiaroony said: "it was a perfect show.

 

"

Also, false. I love Fun Home, and I consider it a masterpiece. But it is not a perfect show. One of the best things about art, in my opinion, is that it can always be improved, and keep getting better. No show is perfect, and the sky is the limit for a theatrical work, or any other work of art. If Leonardo da Vinci was still with us, I'll bet he would, every now and then, look at the Mona Lisa and find something he could tweak to make it better.

[¿Macavity?]

Posted: 12/23/16 at 5:57am

Why does any show close? Not every season is going to have a hit like Phantom, Lion King, or Wicked. It's just not what people were into.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/23/16 at 7:35am

NC- you did NOT open this thread to find interesting conversation. No thread with this kind of title is ever interesting as the answer is always the same 99% the same: they didn't sell enough tickets to keep it going.

I do think it's funny that the person you thanked is the one that stirred the pot....no one else had even fanned the flame of your name being mentioned. The comment was pretty much being ignored. 

 

Updated On: 12/23/16 at 07:35 AM

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 12/23/16 at 8:18am

Honestly, did you expect a long run. This is like "Next To Normal" , show about a serious subject. These type of shows for the most part do not have 10 year runs.

[kdogg36]

Posted: 12/23/16 at 8:38am

Add me to the list of those who found it to be a minor miracle that Fun Home found the success it did. I'm grateful to have seen it at the Public and three times on Broadway. It made the impact it needed to make.

[Dfgtoronto]

Posted: 12/23/16 at 10:31am

I have to agree that it was very sad. As much as I loved it, I did leave the theater feeling a bit stunned. But I also feel that way after a good performance of La Boheme which is my favorite opera. My wife had no interest in seeing Fun Home -- so even in one household there were differing opinions about this show. But I thought it was outstanding. 

[Fosse76]

Posted: 12/23/16 at 10:47am

BroadwayRox3588 said: "Jiaroony said: "it was a perfect show.

 "If Leonardo da Vinci was still with us, I'll bet he would, every now and then, look at the Mona Lisa and find something he could tweak to make it better."

 

You're right, if only for the fact that the painting is actually unfinished. But most artists back then simply would paint another version if they wanted to make improvements to a finished work.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/23/16 at 12:39pm

It's one of those existential questions that have no discernible answer.  Like how many past screen names does Jiarooney have?  Or how many babies fit into a tire?

[Auggie27]

Posted: 12/23/16 at 1:05pm

I'm old enough to remember when people said of "Annie," "It will never close!"  And "The Producers," at the beginning the "Hamilton" of its day, remember the scramble for tickets?  But things wind down. Someday, even "Hamilton" will.  Runs come in every length but every show closes.

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 12/23/16 at 1:20pm

I also disagree with the notion of it being "a perfect show", also since few are. 

My issue with Fun Home was with the backbone of it being a graphic novel, there wasn't enough that made me feel like that construct was utilized creatively besides Allison just shouting out "Caption". I wanted to understand WHY tell this story of your life in this specific artistic way? There was so much more room for concept staging wise and the storytelling.

Also, it plays its cards right away. She's gay, he's gay, he commits suicide. And then you just watch that play out, and it plays out pretty standardly and episodically. There are no red herrings along the way that twist the audience's expectation with that initial outset, so to me it ended up feeling a tad emotionally manipulative. "Changing my Major" is the best moment in the show and legitimized. I found the rest of it never hits emotionally the way that song does. 

 

And as for throwing Wicked under the bus, no matter how you feel about the music or subject matter, that musical is fantastic in regards to pace as well as musical theatre plot structure and injecting humor without having "jokes". Shortest and breeziest two and half hour musical I've ever seen. 

Updated On: 12/23/16 at 01:20 PM

[OrchardAndRivington]

Posted: 12/23/16 at 2:32pm

The tour is pretty phenomenal. I was able to see it in Chicago in November and cried as hard as I did when I watched it in NYC last year.. 

I loved the show in NYC and the staging at the Circle was very special, but I actually think the tour's traditional staging tells the story more effectively. The cast is fantastic and I was not left missing anyone from the Broadway production, though I had expected to. I also heard every line and lyric more clearly than I did in NYC.

If you loved the show in NYC and have the opportunity to see it, I would recommend seeing it, especially if you can see it at the Curran in SF, where the energy of the LGBT and LGBT friendly audience will only heighten the experience. 

The Broadway production was a special little jewel of a show, and now Alison's story is a bigger, just as bold, beautiful and impeccably staged and directed production.

If you didn't like it in NY or haven't been able to get into the CD, you will probably still not enjoy it. But if you did, catch the tour, I honestly don't think you will be disappointed.

 

 

Updated On: 12/24/16 at 02:32 PM

[Cupid Boy2]

Posted: 12/23/16 at 3:03pm

rattleNwoolypenguin said: "My issue with Fun Home was with the backbone of it being a graphic novel, there wasn't enough that made me feel like that construct was utilized creatively besides Allison just shouting out "Caption". I wanted to understand WHY tell this story of your life in this specific artistic way?" 

Allison's journey to overcome the shame she was made to feel for taking pleasure in her art form is such a prominent theme in the show, and given the role her father played in that, taking ownership of her family's story with what she was once embarrassed by lays the foundation for such rich and complex storytelling. Reducing the choice to tell this story through a graphic novel to a gimmick is an insult to the author and how selflessly she opened up her past for exploration. 
 

Updated On: 12/23/16 at 03:03 PM

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 12/23/16 at 3:23pm

Did we also completely miss the thread of Alison becoming an artist like her father hoped for her, but in this form that was too free and modern for him to understand? See where this ties in to the way they live as queer people? 

 

I also don't understand why this show would be improved by having a "twist"? It's a personal story, not a Shyamalan movie. 

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 12/23/16 at 3:42pm

rattleNwoolypenguin said: "I also disagree with the notion of it being "a perfect show", also since few are. 

My issue with Fun Home was with the backbone of it being a graphic novel, there wasn't enough that made me feel like that construct was utilized creatively besides Allison just shouting out "Caption". I wanted to understand WHY tell this story of your life in this specific artistic way? There was so much more room for concept staging wise and the storytelling.

Also, it plays its cards right away. She's gay, he's gay, he commits suicide. And then you just watch that play out, and it plays out pretty standardly and episodically. There are no red herrings along the way that twist the audience's expectation with that initial outset, so to me it ended up feeling a tad emotionally manipulative. "Changing my Major" is the best moment in the show and legitimized. I found the rest of it never hits emotionally the way that song does. 

 

And as for throwing Wicked under the bus, no matter how you feel about the music or subject matter, that musical is fantastic in regards to pace as well as musical theatre plot structure and injecting humor without having "jokes". Shortest and breeziest two and half hour musical I've ever seen. 

 

"

Fun Home isn't a mystery.  It's someone's actual story and I think that the material would be weakened by a "plot twist" gimmick.  The simplicity of the staging with Alison yelling out "caption" creates an enviroment where instead of watching her physically draw out her entire graphic novel, you are instead sharing a place in her brain as she writes.  I've always felt that Gold's direction made me feel as if I were floating in Alison's thoughts and memories.  I see the staging as a personification of what she feels as she writes.

 

[South Florida]

Posted: 12/23/16 at 3:43pm

For the same reason there are no tours, no audience.

Great show, intelligent, and certainly worthy of all the praise.The first I heard it I cried, then I heard it again and cried.  It's a fascinating experience that stopped before I saw it live.  You're asked to understand Bruce which takes a lot of work if you're not inclined.  I thought the music was outstanding, the staging at the Circle great.  I would have preferred younger actors engaged in the adult roles since they were both about 15-25 years older than the parts they played.  Glad that was the last show I saw, about to do it big in NYC, see ya soon NY.

 

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 12/23/16 at 4:55pm

I recognize it's someone's actual life, and I didn't mean some "Shyamalan Twist" I just felt from a narrative perspective you were just watching something play out, that they primed you for in the first couple minutes. As an audience member I felt a little spoon fed. As well as the graphic novel thing done well wouldn't necessarily feel gimmicky and an insult. Is the staging of "Sunday in the Park" an insult to George Seurat's story?  

I'm happy this show resonated with a lot of you, but I felt not as emotionally engaged as the show wanted me to be. Where as in comparison her actual graphic novel was much more moving and subtle. As well as funnier. 

Updated On: 12/23/16 at 04:55 PM

[kdogg36]

Posted: 12/24/16 at 11:28am

I remember reading that, during the development of Fun Home, the creative team had played with the idea of using Bechdel's art more prominently throughout the show. In the end, they felt it was better to tell the story in theatrical terms rather than try to replicate the effect of the graphic novel on stage. They did keep the one "airplane" image at the end of the show (more prominently at the Public than on Broadway).