Fun Home Tour

[BrerBear]

Finally got to see this last night, and it was fantastic. A great reflection of the Broadway staging, and some scenes even played out better, like the house reveal near the end.

The entire cast did a great job, but I have to agree that Abby Coirrigan as Medium Alison really stood out. Keep an eye on her.

Make sure to catch this if you're in the Bay Area!

[Popular]

I have an extra pair of tickets for the Friday, February 24 show at the Ahmanson in Los Angeles if anyone is interested. $27.50 each face value Send PM thanks

[bear88]

I saw it again on a Friday, bringing along my daughter, and I guess Abby Corrigan has those nights off. But I couldn't complain, because I think Caroline Murrah - her understudy - is utterly charming and believable. She nails "Changing My Major" every time. 

Things that struck me the second time, from the balcony: Kate Shindle (as Adult Alison) and Robert Petkoff (as Bruce) are easy to overlook but they are excellent. There's an emotion and vulnerability in Shindle's performance that I appreciated even more the second time. The final scenes are powerful.

The staging works very well, and I focused on that and the lyrics more this time around. Again, I can't compare it to Broadway and the in-the-round staging, but Adult Alison is certainly not stuck in the corner. She's very present throughout the show, remembering, thinking, and watching. It's a wonderful show.

[PatrickDC]

I've been curious about something, and do not want to sound anti-height, or heightish, or whatever it might be considered. How does Kate's height change the dynamics on stage? Or does it?

I ask because Beth's waifish stature gave her, IMO, a vulnerability that made her struggle and eventual success all the more dramatic to me. This quiet, diminutive person gains the courage to live as she feels is best and right for her. 

A tall person of either gender can be imposing and, again IMO, gain immediate perceptions of strength. 

I don't know if I'm expressing my question as fully as I want. Just something I've been curious about. 

[dmwnc1959]

Had the pleasure of seeing FUN HOME in Pittsburgh today and thought the show funny, brilliant, quite well done, and incredibly moving, so much so I was moved to tears at parts. The way the three Alisons would be on stage at the same time, the simple sets, and the relationships between the parents and Alison ("Don't come back here) at the various stages of her life are quite complex and heartbreaking. I took so much away from this, so much that I wish that I could apply to my own life, but I'm still afraid to. Even at 57 years old. And that in itself tears me apart. 

There was a couple in front of me that seem to shuffle in their seats quite a few times during the scenes in which Medium Alison has her first act of intimacy and the next morning is walking around in panties and knee high sports socks. But I think that was about the only part in which those who may feel "uncomfortable" with the social aspects of this subject are confronted with it "in their face". 

As many performances as I've seen at the cavernous Heinz Hall, most all of them by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, I can't ever recall a time during a show when there were what seems like long moments of deafening silence ("Telephone Wire), and that the entire audience got so quiet and so still that you could hear a pin drop. 

As mentioned before it's a one-act show that lasted just over 90 minutes. At the end of the show they announced collections and autographed window cards for "Broadway Cares" (I had heard they were going to sell them) so I grabbed one thinking they were $40, they weren't. I missed that part of the announcement. It's for a great cause. :)

I loved this. 

If you're not already booked, don't miss this. 



 

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Saw this here in Seattle and can confirm that it's a stunning production that doesn't feel at all like a "touring" show. The theater was packed (2000 seats) and it felt totally intimate. The New York drop wall rising to reveal the museum-esque house elicited gasps, and the audience was dead silent during a number of key scenes, which I appreciated (Telephone Wire, notably, but also during Pony Girl). Absolutely phenomenal.

[canadian fan]

I also saw this in Seattle,  a couple weeks ago.  The theater was maybe 1/2 full at best. Balcony was definitely only about 1/3 full.  There were no gasps, or any such thing during the show that I saw.  While the show was somewhat enjoyable, I wasn't blown away and the music was underwhelming overall. I saw it 2 weeks ago and actually have a hard time remembering specifics. Guess enough said?  The raves on here dont match my experience and from what I can tell that of the rest of the audience

[bk]

canadian fan said: "I also saw this in Seattle,  a couple weeks ago.  The theater was maybe 1/2 full at best. Balcony was definitely only about 1/3 full.  There were no gasps, or any such thing during the show that I saw.  While the show was somewhat enjoyable, I wasn't blown away and the music was underwhelming overall. I saw it 2 weeks ago and actually have a hard time remembering specifics. Guess enough said?  The raves on here dont match my experience and from what I can tell that of the rest of the audience

 

"

Only here do you read about sold out houses, gasps, and viewers in tears because it speaks to them in personal ways.  That I get.  I liked it fine - I probably would have liked it less were it not for Abby Corrigan, who is a real find - subtle, funny, and wonderful.  Kate Shindle is a big old void and this show shouldn't have a void at its center.  When you have someone as quirky, real, and beautiful as Beth Malone, you don't follow that with someone who is basically a poseur, playing AT the part rather than inhabiting it.  The show is coming to Segerstam soon and I can tell you I have never seen them pushing anything this hard, and a simple look at their ticket sales will tell you why.

[Charley Kringas Inc]

You're right, I'm sorry, I was misled by my own emotions. In reality, there were only a handful of people in the audience, most of the cast was off-pitch, and everyone walked out halfway through. Really terrible, I wish them the worst.

[ebontoyan]

I wish you could actually walk out of this show but unfortunately there was no intermission! Finally saw it on tour and don't regret not seeing on Broadway!

[persephone88]

Wow, we saw this on tour and were very moved by it! And we liked Kate Shindle just fine. It may not be the show for everyone, but the house in DC was full and responded enthusiastically at curtain.

[gleek4114]

Does anyone know what the schedule is for Small Allison? The show is coming to Nashville in October, and I'm thinking about making it a two show day to see both if they offer rush. 

[MattRVA]

persephone88 said: "Wow, we saw this on tour and were very moved by it! And we liked Kate Shindle just fine. It may not be the show for everyone, but the house in DC was full and responded enthusiastically at curtain.

I also saw this in DC. Lots of empty seats when I went (Saturday matinee). I get it. The show's not for everyone. That said, it's one of my absolute favorites. The cast was excellent. Ring of Keys, Days and Days, Telephone Wire, Flying Away - the music wrecks me like no other show but Hamilton.

 

[canadian fan]

Charley Kringas Inc said: "You're right, I'm sorry, I was misled by my own emotions. In reality, there were only a handful of people in the audience, most of the cast was off-pitch, and everyone walked out halfway through. Really terrible, I wish them the worst.

 

"I was in no way trying to diminish your experience. Im glad you enjoyed it so much and of course the audience at the show you attended perhaps was much different than the one I attended.  I wasn't trying to dismiss the show in anyway. For me the most interesting aspect of the show was the adult Allison looking back in retrospect and trying to make sense of what happened, full of guilt perhaps. But as I mentioned for me the musical numbers weren't overly memorable. No one was off key or terrible etc. The middle Allison was very good. I also enjoyed the father. I would have liked to hear more about what happened with the relationship between Allison and her mother and siblings.....that seemed to have been left unsaid.  Maybe I was being to harsh in my first comment. I think part of the issue was we had 2 weeks previously returned from a trip to NY and saw all the big shows this year on Broadway.  Coming home to a touring production maybe wasn't the right timing.   

 

[Willy Loman2]

Just saw it in Costa Mesa.  Cried through the whole thing.  Extraordinary!  Loved it Broadway as well but I think it works slightly better on the proscenium stage.  The Broadway cast was amazing but I liked the touring cast even more.  I LOVE THIS SHOW!

[South Florida]

Fun Home is awesome.  It's historical which makes it more appealing to me.  We would be bored with a closeted gay man in 2017.  This show refreshed our memory of the mental torture of people living in that era.

 

[SarahNYC2]

Glad to read these reviews. I am in Orlando and it's it's touring in Tampa. Think I will go see it. I missed it in NYC.

[wish i were here2]

Just caught the tour and I had a question. I've seen the show on Broadway as well and I was wondering how the house reveal happened at the Public. Was it like the tour? 

[VotePeron]

Unfortunately haven't seen the tour so I can't exactly say how it compares, but at the Public, a curtain was pulled very close to the edge of the stage after Raincoat of Love. This worked because there were two set doors on either side of the proscenium, facing inward, the entire show. The curtain stayed there until the house revealed, where the brick wall of the Newman Theater had been "transformed" and the space was set up and decked out to look like an extremely realistic house. I believe they also had a staircase. (Fun fact, on Broadway they originally had Bruce enter up a staircase through a trap door during early previews, but it looked weird and cut it before opening.)