Intrepid: An LGBTQ+ Arts Magazine September 2015 | Page 8

Around the World in 50
Gays:
Cool people, good eats, and popular spots

Put on your dancing shoes, ladies and gentlemen, because
this month, our featured spot is on Broadway in New York
City! Fellow writer, actor, and artist Dillon McPherson writes
a review on a new broadway musical: Fun Home. This musical swept the Tony Awards and is based off of the book
this month’s issue reviewed for Reading Rainbow. If you’re
in NYC, make sure you grab a ticket to this wildly popular
new musical!

Fun Home: A Broadway Review
by Dillon McPherson
How can I possibly begin to describe, discuss or review a piece of art so emotionally
shocking that I was rendered speechless at
it’s conclusion? Truly, I’m not sure.
Both fiercely poignant and extremely important, Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron’s Fun
Home, based on Alison Bechdel’s comic-book
style memoir of the same name, is, by Broadway’s enormously commercial standards, a
tiny one-act musial packing a huge punch.
Leaving little to no time for emotional recovery in it’s 100 minute running time, Fun Home
forces it’s viewers to go on a journey rarely
traveled on the Broadway stage. Can anyone
tell me the last time they saw a musical about
a lesbian with a closeted, suicidal father?
Didn’t think so. The material Ms. Bechdel’s life
has provided for this show is both painful to
watch and impossible to turn away from. I had
to constantly remind myself that what I was
watching was non-fiction.
Fun Home would be breaking hearts if it
were staged in the back of a Uhaul van or in a
broken down train car, that’s how emotionally
raw it is. Luckily, it is not staged in either of
those places,
but at Broadway’s Circle in the Square Theater at 1633 Broadway. The smallest of the
Broadway houses, Circle in the Square is the
obvious choice for Kron and Tesori’s chamber musical, masterfully directed by Sam Gold.
The in-the-round seating makes for an intimate night at the theatre, as does the music itself. Ms. Tesori has truly outdone herself
with this score. Woven so intricately into Ms.
Kron’s script, I have trouble recalling whether
some of the things I heard that night were
spoken or sung, part of the book or part of
the score, if you will. The remarkable thing is
the incredible cast members of this show take
the gorgeous score and punctuates the music
rather than letting the music punctuate them.
This makes for a wildly emotional journey as
you follow Allison struggle through her memories first hand— ones that are often painful,
often relatable no matter who you are, and
often heart breaking.

This cast I speak of is comprised of Tony
nominees Beth Malone, Emily Skeggs, and
Sydney Lucas as Allison in three difference
phases of her, Tony nominee Judy Kuhn,
Tony winner Michael Cervaris, and featured
players Roberta Colindrez, Joel Perez, Zell
Morrow and Oscar Williams. It would be a
waste of time to discuss each cast member
individually as I cannot imagine the show
without one of them complimenting the others perfectly. They are truly a perfect onstage family. One thing I must say however,
is I could not BELIEVE what I was witnessing in Sydney Lucas. Just twelve years old,
Ms. Lucas (as Young Alison) possess an immense amount of talent, both musically and
dramatically, and her future is brighter than
the marquee she’s currently performing under.
There were many sequences I found myself checking in to see if I was still breathing.
Both the beauty of the score and the weight
of the story had me holding my breath multiple times. I think the only time I was breathing consistently was when I was sniffling between tears. I cannot speak highly enough,
or at all eloquently as demonstrated in this
jumble of a “review,” about Fun Home and
urge everyone to see it. It does not matter
what race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, whatever you are, this coming-of-age
story is one that will for sure go down in
history. I implore you, if you’re in New York,
spend whatever amount of money you have
to to see this show. You will not regret it.
I’m changing my major to Fun Home
and so should you.
Circle in the Square
1633 Broadway
Midtown West
212-239-6200
Category Broadway, Musical
Credits Music by Jeanine Tesori; Book and lyrics by Lisa Kron, based on the graphic novel
by Alison Bechdel; Directed by Sam Gold
Cast Starrig Beth Malone, Emily Skeggs,
Sydney Lucas, Michael Cerveris, Judy Kuhn,
Roberta Colindrez, Joel Perez, Zell Morrow
and Oscar Williams