Based on Alison Bechdel's best-selling graphic memoir of the same name, Fun Home, the 2015 Tony Award-winning Best Musical, features music by Jeanine Tesori, book and lyrics by Lisa Kron, and direction by Sam Gold, all of whom won 2015 Tony Awards for their work on this production. Fun Home began previews March 27, 2015 and opened to rave reviews at the Circle in the Square Theatre (235 West 50th Street) on Sunday, April 19, 2015.
Featuring a cast led by 2015 Tony Award-winner Michael Cerveris, as well as 2015 Tony Award nominees Judy Kuhn, Beth Malone, Sydney Lucas and Emily Skeggs, Fun Home also features Roberta Colindrez, Zell Steele Morrow, Joel Perez, Oscar Williams, Lauren Patten, Gabriella Pizzolo, Marrick Smith, Jim Stanek, and Nicole Van Giesen.
Fun Home introduces us to Alison at three different ages, revealing memories of her uniquely dysfunctional family- her mother, brothers and volatile, brilliant, enigmatic father- that connect with her in surprising new ways. This intimate and emotional theatrical experience is performed entirely in the round, bringing audiences closer to Alison's story than ever before. Hailed as "the best musical of the season" by both The New York Times and New York Magazine, Fun Home "demonstrates how much our world has changed and reflects just how far we've come" (The Wall Street Journal). Fun Home is a refreshingly honest, wholly original musical about seeing your parents through grown-up eyes.
Fun Home was also nominated for 2015 Tony Awards for Best Scenic Design of Musical (David Zinn), Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Ben Stanton) and Best Orchestrations (John Clancy). The creative team also includes Danny Mefford (Choreography), Kai Harada (Sound Design), and Chris Fenwick (Music Direction).
I already thought that Fun Home was the best new musical of the year in 2013, when it opened at the Public Theater. It's hard to imagine that its Broadway transfer, and transformation, will not make it the best of this season as well. I say 'transformation' even though in most ways it's nearly a replica: The librettist Lisa Kron has perhaps cut or tightened a few lines of dialogue, and the composer Jeanine Tesori, apart from excising one charming but redundant little song ('Al for Short'), has made only the kind of changes a fanatic would notice. Fun Home is still basically what it was when I reviewed it in 2013: the story, based on Alison Bechdel's autobiographical graphic memoir, of a lesbian cartoonist trying in middle age to understand her father, who killed himself shortly after revealing to her that he, too, was gay. Back then I called it 'hilarious and crushing,' and it remains so now. Maybe less hilarious and more crushing.
A memory musical, as haunted and haunting as The Glass Menagerie, thanks to Kron's quicksilver script and lyrics and the music by Tesori (Violet, Shrek, Caroline, Or Change), whose work merges the experimentalism and euphony that suffuse the best of Sondheim; the only other contemporary composer in this vein was the late Jonathan Larson (Rent).
2013 | Off-Broadway |
World Premiere Public Theatre Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
2015 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2016 | US Tour |
First National Tour US Tour |
2016 | International Tour |
International Premiere in Manila International Tour |
2017 | International Tour |
Manila Return Engagement International Tour |
2018 | London |
Young Vic London Premiere Production London |
2019 | Immersive |
Quintessence of Dust Theatre Company Immersive Production Immersive |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2015 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Book of a Musical | Lisa Kron |
2015 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Direction of a Musical | Sam Gold |
2015 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Musical | Fun Home |
2015 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Michael Cerveris |
2015 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Judy Kuhn |
2015 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical | Fun Home |
2015 | Theatre World Awards | Theatre World Award | Emily Skeggs |
2015 | Theatre World Awards | Theatre World Award | Sydney Lucas |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Book of a Musical | Lisa Kron |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Musical | Sam Gold |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Musical | Ben Stanton |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | The Public Theatre |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Mike Isaacson |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Kristin Caskey |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Paula Marie Black |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Delman Whitney |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Oskar Eustis |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Patrick Willingham |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | JAM Theatricals |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Elizabeth Armstrong |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Mint Theatrical |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Nathan Vernon |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Fun Home |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | The Forstalls |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Jack Lane |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Terry Schnuck |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Latitude Link |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Tom Casserly |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Carole Shorenstein Hays |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Barbara Whitman |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Fox Theatricals |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Orchestrations | John Clancy |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre | Lisa Kron |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre | Jeanine Tesori |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical | Michael Cerveris |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical | Emily Skeggs |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical | Sydney Lucas |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical | Judy Kuhn |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical | Beth Malone |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Musical | David Zinn |
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