I didn't expect to like and react to this play the way that I did; so much more than I expected. Whether you're gay or straight, this play is a poignant textured depiction of a father/daughter relationship, especially the parts that were unspoken.
5
40 years of theatre-going has yielded several exceptional highlights I'll never forget: the original Chorus Line, Sweeney Todd, Angels in America - shows that define their era. Fun Home is one of those few. Glorious. Don't miss it.
8
Funny I adore every show you mentioned above and out them in my all-time top 10. But definitely not this one. So confused. It's like I saw a different show.
5
Maybe there is something wrong with me, but as a frequent theatergoer, I absolutely hated this show. I find it draggy, boring, and couldn't wait to get out of there.
3
It wasn't just you. Saw it this weekend with such high expectations after the reviews and Tonys and was thoroughly underwhelmed. It had 3-4 really memorable songs and Sydney Lucas was magical...but I was completely unmoved. And yes, kind of bored.
4
So I have read most of the comments about Fun Home, and it sounds like a really good show. My son is in a theater group and they are planning a trip to go see the show and I was curious about what people think would be the age appropriateness for this show.
It depends on the child, course, but having seen the show I suggest 13-14 as a minimum age. Besides the dark overall theme (suicide), it takes a level of maturity to understand the story.
This musical deftly deal with themes that are universal and will feel personal to anyone who watches it, gay or straight. It also gets being a child in the 1970s precisely right, front he clothes to the way children were treated. Brilliant and incredibly affecting, while remaining spare and unsentimental. Best thing I've seen in years.
3
While I congratulate "Fun Home"'s big Tony wins, I was disappointed when I saw the show last month. Compared to "Next to Normal." which also had adult-themed content, albeit of a different sort, it falls short. The musical's book and score were poorly written but winningly played. I was far more impressed with the cast than the content. Although the show was not that long, I thought it interminable.
5
Sorry, Fun Home has one of the great scores of the last decade on Broadway. Stunningly clear songs for every moment and every character.
1
I agree. An hour after the show, I could only remember 3 or 4 songs. I saw Hamilton a few days before Fun Home. Maybe it spoiled me...but there is just no comparison...not even anywhere near the same league.
2
I just saw Fun Home and thought it was wonderful. Great performances, tremendous staging and lighting. It is one musical that, perhaps, demands that one has an inkling to the subject matter. During one of the scenes when Alison and middle Alison are on stage together, the theatre goer sitting next to me whispered to her companion (loudly) "but, who's that boy? I don't get it?" Apparently the description of dykes and lesbians wasn't enough of a clue.
4
Mr Brantley has never gotten a review more correct. This show can be described by no other word than stunning. I already have tickets to return to New York and see it again.
14
If you are travelling back here dont waste your money to see this again. It was a bore compared to some of the other stunning broadway offerings. I could not wait for this one to end.
3
I am probably in the minority but we hated the show. The acting we felt was weak and songs were awful. We sat right next to the orchestra and had a hard time listening to the dialog or the lyrics. I agree the story is incredibly powerful and extremely painful. I can only imagine what it must been like to be the closeted gay father during and after the war leading an outwardly normal life in Pennsylvania but dealing with sexual urges that overpowered logic (like addiction). I really felt for the wife who had to watch the husband take off with a variety of young men.
6
My only regret is that I have not yet purchased tickets to see it again. It's that good.
3
I loved the book. I was nervous going in to the show - as a rule, I'm not a fan of musicals. This one, however, defied my expectations. It's touching, poignant and entertaining.
6
Not very interesting music or characters or stories. I was bored.
5
When I saw this play at the Public theatre in 2014 I had low expectations as I usually avoid musicals as being too trite or predictable or overdone. FunHome was such a delight; I started talking it up last year and I hope I can convert more people to see it now that I see it made such a great transfer without losing the intimacy of a smaller theatre.
3
I saw FUN HOME for $20 bucks at the Public. And for free on Bdwy(an
extra tkt). I had problems with the show downtown. The music was too syrupy and started to sounded too similar song after song - except for the 2 best numbers(the parody TV songs. The book had no edge - way too sentimental. And I really never embraced Alison. Her story was the Me-Me-Me musical. And I didn't really find the journey of "Me" that interesting. Also what really got to me about Alison and her family(mother) was the fact that they didn't bat an eye when she was told by her mother that her father was gay and that involved young boys. No outrage. No confrontation. Nada. Both she and her mother were too self involved to care about anything more than the next song. And self-involved does not make for a fun Broadway musical for me.
extra tkt). I had problems with the show downtown. The music was too syrupy and started to sounded too similar song after song - except for the 2 best numbers(the parody TV songs. The book had no edge - way too sentimental. And I really never embraced Alison. Her story was the Me-Me-Me musical. And I didn't really find the journey of "Me" that interesting. Also what really got to me about Alison and her family(mother) was the fact that they didn't bat an eye when she was told by her mother that her father was gay and that involved young boys. No outrage. No confrontation. Nada. Both she and her mother were too self involved to care about anything more than the next song. And self-involved does not make for a fun Broadway musical for me.
3
It was the era, no one talked about this subject. Women were just coming into the workforce they were still oppressed, thoughts, opinions, you were seeing the numbness of the times. It was shock, denial, and the me me me which is not looked at until an age when you cannot look away. This is not self involvement but examination and finally facing the truths and making peace. It is a picture of life so beautiful and personal, how can this be a bore? It is life
1
Considering the subject matter of this show and the cast, I really wanted to like Fun Home. Ben Brantley fell hard for this show when he saw it at the Public Theater. I saw the same production. I was left with an impression of a show that had way to many problems with perhaps only an almost complete re write could fix. He does say this production has improved but as I first stated, he love loved the original. I don't mean to be negative but I can't imagine it improved that much and the best thing about the Public's version was Alexandra Socha who unfortunately is not in the Broadway cast? Judging from this review and the comments I am very much in the minority. Maybe I'll give it another chance? Hmm.
2
I wanted to like the show on the basis of its premise, its difficult subject matter, and its interesting take on the process of remembering. But the music is very uneven, there are only a few truly great songs, and for some reason, it just left me emotionally unmoved. I know others were very moved though. Wanted to love it but just don't get the hype. You are not alone.
2
Every line of this makes me cringe... so clearly something I would hate! Useful, then.
1
Loved the book -- now want to see the show…if I can get tickets before I die!
3
Just when you think that everything in musicals has been done and done again, a show comes along that makes the genre seem fresh again. This show is it. I cannot think of a single moment Fun Home when the acting, writing, music or production felt anything less than real. The best musical I have seen on Broadway in years.
28
A recommendation to anyone thinking of seeing the show: read the book, and preferably before you see the show. I say this because (a) the book is a groundbreaker in itself and deserves to be widely read in its own right; and (B) reading the book will only enhance your experience of seeing the show.
As one reads the book, and watches this wrenching story unfold in a series of graphic, cartoon vignettes, it is largely left to the reader to infer the intense, overwhelming emotions that the reader knows _must_ have been present at the time. The book unfolds through the filter of Alison Bechdel's very dry -- and very literary -- wit. But the book also provides, in a way the musical cannot, a level of detailed observation by the author. By contrast, the musical gives life to the intense, often overwhelming emotion of the story.
Even though the book and the musical were separate creations by separate creators, and indeed either one stands, and stands brilliantly, on its own, I find I cannot help but see each as an indispensable component of a single artistic statement. What an incredible, and extraordinary, experience!
As one reads the book, and watches this wrenching story unfold in a series of graphic, cartoon vignettes, it is largely left to the reader to infer the intense, overwhelming emotions that the reader knows _must_ have been present at the time. The book unfolds through the filter of Alison Bechdel's very dry -- and very literary -- wit. But the book also provides, in a way the musical cannot, a level of detailed observation by the author. By contrast, the musical gives life to the intense, often overwhelming emotion of the story.
Even though the book and the musical were separate creations by separate creators, and indeed either one stands, and stands brilliantly, on its own, I find I cannot help but see each as an indispensable component of a single artistic statement. What an incredible, and extraordinary, experience!
26
I have spent my entire adult life, post college, in New York, some 32 years. I grew up in the same small town of Beech Creek, PA, and sill have family there whom I visit regularly. I knew Alison Bechdel and her family (Alison is less than a year older than me). Her brother, Christian, was in my Boy Scout troop. During the summers in high school, I would work in the local sommerstock theater, thee-quarter round theater in a barn, often appearing in productions in which her mother, Helen, also appeared. On occasion, I even spent time in the house that features so prominently in this show. And last but not least, Bruce was one of my high school English teachers (and a brilliant one at that), and when he died, a year after I graduated from high school, I attended the wake. In fact, I learned about the book at my niece's wedding reception in 2006, from one of the guests, who happened to be Alison's very proud aunt (Bruce's sister). And there is yet another parallel for me. While Alison was coming to terms with herself as a lesbian at Oberlin, I was also coming to terms with the fact that I was gay, as a freshman at Westminster Choir College in Princeton.
Let me say simply that I think every last word of this review is spot on. I saw both the off-Broadway production and, on Saturday, the Broadway production. I had many of the same worries as Mr. Brantley about how the show would fare as it transitioned to a different theater And I agree: it is even better.
Let me say simply that I think every last word of this review is spot on. I saw both the off-Broadway production and, on Saturday, the Broadway production. I had many of the same worries as Mr. Brantley about how the show would fare as it transitioned to a different theater And I agree: it is even better.
42
FUN HOME should be billed as " the quietly astounding musical." It moves and weaves its spell as it progresses seamlessly through scenes that unfold like musical vignettes. The music has this incredibly subtle range of emotion which unveils insights into its characters and their personal dilemmas in searching for their identity and their place in the world. The show builds layer upon layer through its 140 minutes and before you know it, you're sitting there misty-eyed and moved beyond comprehension. The performances are first rate. FUN HOME delivers an honest, pure emotional wallop. It is sort of unique among musicals See it.
16
Actually, it's 100 minutes (an hour and forty minutes). 140 minutes with no intermission will scare people away!
3
One of my neighbors is a wealthy octogenarrian still producing very successfully Broadway shows. When she asked me last year what I like, I said "you know, there is this great show about a lesbian comic artist whose closeted-gay father killed himself...but that kind of great theater won't go to broadway."
She agreed... \ut here we are! Thank you to those who are not afraid to bring such theater to Broadway.
She agreed... \ut here we are! Thank you to those who are not afraid to bring such theater to Broadway.
17
I saw Fun Home in preview at Circle in the Square about five weeks after my father died, the funereal visit to the small Pennsylvania town I’m from still fresh. The main street mortuary I used to pass on my bike did up my dad in his casket. Neighbors I hadn’t seen in ages all came, collapsing time, and the life I led before leaving didn’t seem as far away that day.
The Fun Home feel for the ‘70s is, if you’ll excuse the expression, right on – but what devastated me ultimately is taking the parallel trip back to my unseasoned self. Coming of age at that time, going places where I could get clear about how I felt about other guys, and very clear about how I didn’t want to end up. Flashing back on the time I showed up at a friend’s house, waiting for her to come down from her room when her father called as he stood next to me discretely squeezing my butt.
Thank God for the kids dancing on the Fun Home casket. What could have been morose was instead wrenching, and maybe for me extra cathartic. I didn’t know any closeted people in my town who committed suicide – well, who would have known? But I do know how it felt to get out and get my bearings. And to look back and cringe, as we all do.
The Fun Home feel for the ‘70s is, if you’ll excuse the expression, right on – but what devastated me ultimately is taking the parallel trip back to my unseasoned self. Coming of age at that time, going places where I could get clear about how I felt about other guys, and very clear about how I didn’t want to end up. Flashing back on the time I showed up at a friend’s house, waiting for her to come down from her room when her father called as he stood next to me discretely squeezing my butt.
Thank God for the kids dancing on the Fun Home casket. What could have been morose was instead wrenching, and maybe for me extra cathartic. I didn’t know any closeted people in my town who committed suicide – well, who would have known? But I do know how it felt to get out and get my bearings. And to look back and cringe, as we all do.
21
I really liked this musical when I saw it in previews but I love it in my memory. Somehow, this show has gotten better as it has been replayed in my mind. I have been to other shows since then, and when my mind wandered away from the action on stage, I heard Judy Kuhn singing Days and Days. Funny how a show about memory has affected my memory so. I can't wait to get back to New York to see it again. Memorable, haunting, beautiful, human.
14
Ben couldn't have said it better. While I think he tends to rave or skewer shows, Fun Home deserves all the raves. I saw this last week along with Finding Neverland. Two completely different shows. Neverland was fluff, but entertaining and didn't deserve being ripped apart by Mr. Brantley. Fun Home, however, is muscial theater at its best. The score, staging, cast, set, and every other detail that went into the production proved that all involved are at the top of their game. Do not miss this show!
7
I didn"t see this at The Public. I saw it cold in previews.
Yet it took only about a minute and a half to see what this magnificent creative team was up to and no more than another 30 seconds for this straight, middle-aged guy to dissolve into tears.
Just one glance at "The Alisons," especially grown up Alison, amused and profoundly curious as she surveys her life & grapples with her younger selves, and it was clear: If I could keep myself in one piece, nothing less than the universal struggle we wage with all our "selves" for meaning & identity was about to unfold.
Which would have been hard enough to handle, but when I saw that the ghosts of our parents and family would also have front seats at this reckoning with memory and its sly tricks, I was thrilled AND ready to find a fire exit.
But I held myself together, hand on hanky, & proceeded to watch the most profound work of art I have ever seen dealing with the crowd of "thems" and "mes" that are our constant companions whether we embrace or scorn them, those ghosts living and dead whose greatest gift -- I now see -- has been their willingness to spend a lifetime fighting on the contested terrain where I still struggle with them about how much we there is in me.
I waited over 60 years, but now -- thanks to one work of genius -- I see that had I just looked around, had I more freely shared reports from the war-zone of self, I would seen just how many of you have also been crowding the battlefield the whole time.
Yet it took only about a minute and a half to see what this magnificent creative team was up to and no more than another 30 seconds for this straight, middle-aged guy to dissolve into tears.
Just one glance at "The Alisons," especially grown up Alison, amused and profoundly curious as she surveys her life & grapples with her younger selves, and it was clear: If I could keep myself in one piece, nothing less than the universal struggle we wage with all our "selves" for meaning & identity was about to unfold.
Which would have been hard enough to handle, but when I saw that the ghosts of our parents and family would also have front seats at this reckoning with memory and its sly tricks, I was thrilled AND ready to find a fire exit.
But I held myself together, hand on hanky, & proceeded to watch the most profound work of art I have ever seen dealing with the crowd of "thems" and "mes" that are our constant companions whether we embrace or scorn them, those ghosts living and dead whose greatest gift -- I now see -- has been their willingness to spend a lifetime fighting on the contested terrain where I still struggle with them about how much we there is in me.
I waited over 60 years, but now -- thanks to one work of genius -- I see that had I just looked around, had I more freely shared reports from the war-zone of self, I would seen just how many of you have also been crowding the battlefield the whole time.
48
Very beautifully put. Thank you.
1
Mr. Dewey
Yours was perhaps the most thoughtful, moving comment about the power of the theater I have read in a long time. It (along with Mr. Brantley's incredible review) has convinced me I must make one last trip to NYC just so I can see this play. Thank you. You have reawakened what I had long forgotten. . .and so missed in my life. . the power of the theater not just to fill us with joy, but to let us rexamine our lives for the better.
Yours was perhaps the most thoughtful, moving comment about the power of the theater I have read in a long time. It (along with Mr. Brantley's incredible review) has convinced me I must make one last trip to NYC just so I can see this play. Thank you. You have reawakened what I had long forgotten. . .and so missed in my life. . the power of the theater not just to fill us with joy, but to let us rexamine our lives for the better.
10
A stellar and stunning comment. worthy of the stellar and stunning production it describes. Thank you!
5
The book is wonderful; I bought it when Alison Bechdel did a book tour when it came out and got her to autograph it. Even though I'm heterosexual, I still could understand what it was like discovering that I was the "other" (in my case, leaving my very-Jewish world for college and a city where my faith made me exotic and where I first experienced in-my-face antisemitism).
I'm glad that "Fun Home" successfully made the transition form the Public Theater to Circle in the Square and look forward to it coming to Seattle. ACT--how about it? You have the theater-in-the-round space already...
(For those who have not bought the book yet, just do it!)
I'm glad that "Fun Home" successfully made the transition form the Public Theater to Circle in the Square and look forward to it coming to Seattle. ACT--how about it? You have the theater-in-the-round space already...
(For those who have not bought the book yet, just do it!)
7
I read a half-dozen reviews of this wonderful production (which I have see twice in its new home) and was struck by how they all treated the work with the same respect, intelligence, and warmth that the show extends to its audiences. The music and book are wonderful, the performances are uniformly excellent, and the entire production flows seamlessly. It represents the best of what theatre can be: enjoyable, challenging, humorous, provocative, and more. Yes, we all may need a mindless Mamma Mia night out now and then, but those shows are easier to come by. Musicals that touch your soul ... that make you both laugh and cry ... are quite rare. Don't fail to visit the Fun Home.
18
When will theater mnagers and directors get it? Older people cannot be comfortable for 90 minutes without visiting the rest room!!!! And who make up the bulk of the audience? None other than ----older people! So for that reason I and my two theater loving pals will,have to skip,this play.
5
Surely, you are kidding!
My mother is 90 and sits comfortably through the endless previews and then the main feature at the multiplex — usually about 2 hours all together.
1
Sorry, but in this case, you need to suck it up. The story unfolds in a non-chronological series of vignettes (much as the book does). Pausing for an intermission would have made it harder to follow the story as it unfolded. This was a correct decision that preserved the artistic integrity of the show.
9
It's brilliant. After being dragged to the sinking 'Last Ship",
the cliched "Honeymoon in Vegas", and finally, "Finding Neverland"
with Kelsey Grammer singing in a pirate suit with a joke about Cheers
I was sure new musicals were dead. Until this gem resurrected from
the Public Theater. a homegrown musical hit me. I haven't seen an audience
react to something like this , tears of laughter and sorrow, since A Chorus
Line. Of course, you will be hearing the true story behind the musical
all over soon ,but if I were you just go and wait to be astonished and you
will be humming a tune as you leave with tears.
the cliched "Honeymoon in Vegas", and finally, "Finding Neverland"
with Kelsey Grammer singing in a pirate suit with a joke about Cheers
I was sure new musicals were dead. Until this gem resurrected from
the Public Theater. a homegrown musical hit me. I haven't seen an audience
react to something like this , tears of laughter and sorrow, since A Chorus
Line. Of course, you will be hearing the true story behind the musical
all over soon ,but if I were you just go and wait to be astonished and you
will be humming a tune as you leave with tears.
5
having recently revisiting "fun home" at the circle-in-the-square, having seen it at the public, my response was the same as a neighbor's -- i liked it then, i loved it now. i mentioned this to my friend with whom i saw the current production, and he asked me if i knew why -- what came to me is the difference pointed out by ben brantley in his review -- previously, proscenium, currently, in the round. the audience now becomes another character, observing along with alison. and as for sydney lucas -- i was much taken with her/her performance at the public, very much likewise now, and mentioned to a couple friends that i'd like to start a campaign to get the tony folk to nominate her for one (i'd better hurry, having recently read that announcements will be april 28(!)) -- and this i mentioned even before my second viewing, and learning that she'd won an obie for the role! (i hope some of those tony folk read this (!!!).)
8
After seeing FUN HOME last week, I recommended it to the high school tour group. The teacher, parent and students who saw the show loved the show.
Since returning to Los Angeles, I have been telling my friends and colleagues what a wonderful show and certainly not to be missed.
Circle in the Square is a perfect venue for this show. I certainly believe FUN HOME may be the musical of this year's Tony's even though SOMETHING ROTTEN has not opened as yet. After seeing both, I give my nod to this show because of the impact of the show on those who are fortunate to see it.
Since returning to Los Angeles, I have been telling my friends and colleagues what a wonderful show and certainly not to be missed.
Circle in the Square is a perfect venue for this show. I certainly believe FUN HOME may be the musical of this year's Tony's even though SOMETHING ROTTEN has not opened as yet. After seeing both, I give my nod to this show because of the impact of the show on those who are fortunate to see it.
4
Dying to see this! I couldn't get a ticket when it was off-broadway last year, and need to plan a trip to NYC soon! I've been a fan of the graphic novel for years, and the idea of taking a very personal memoir that was in graphic novel form and turning it into a musical is very intriguing.
5