FUN HOME coming to Broadway?

[sklabam]

Posted: 10/20/13 at 11:15am

I gotta say that The Public's FUN HOME is one of the best cast, written, sung musicals I have seen, period. I think it's really a play with music, but why hadn't I heard about it? It's closing soon, and such a powerful piece of theater deserves more people seeing it me thinks.

FUN HOME, about which I knew nothing when I walked in last week for Sunday matinee, was a revelation really on shame, blame, resilience and coming into life. It opens with a little girl singing alone, on stage, and I thought, "OH GOD, I'M GONNA HATE THIS..." and in ten minutes I was all in and never once disappointed.

Jeanine Tesoir + Lisa Kron have imagined a spectacularly human world in which celebrations and revelations occur. Brilliantly done!


Updated On: 10/20/13 at 11:15 AM

[macnyc]

Posted: 10/20/13 at 11:25am

I count Fun Home as being my top theatergoing experience of 2013, and I agree with everything you've said! But it's a chamber musical, to my mind, and calls for an intimate atmosphere. I don't see it on Broadway, even in one of the smaller houses. Just my opinion.

I hope it extends again at the Public! The Newman is the perfect home for it.

As to why you haven't heard about it, I don't know. We've been talking about it for weeks here on BWW! I'm trying to get all my friends to go before it closes, and I'm seeing it for a third time.


Edited to add: Here's one of the other threads about Fun Home..

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1065014




Updated On: 10/20/13 at 11:25 AM

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 10/20/13 at 2:43pm

I am so excited to see this on November 7th. It extended through November 17th so it's not exactly closing soon, but perhaps it will be extended further. I wasn't going to see it because I couldn't get good seats but as soon as it extended, I was able to get second row. Is the theater really nice?

[macnyc]

Posted: 10/20/13 at 5:16pm

Sutton, I'm so glad you able to go! The theater is very nice, with seats that are well banked, so you can see from anywhere. There's a new discount code, too! BBOX1. I just tested it, and it worked for seats on Nov. 16. But you need to use the code before 10/27. With the code, seats are $58.

Updated On: 10/22/13 at 05:16 PM

[goldenboy]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 10:52am

thanks for the code. it worked! got two for saturday.. wouldn't have known that.

[missthemountains]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 11:33am

From what I've heard, I would say it is pretty likely it will be making the transfer.

[dreaming]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 11:35am

I adore this show, but it doesn't belong on Broadway-not every show does.

Moving it would be such a big mistake. The audience is so limited for this-plus, it's a very intimate show and moving it to a big theater would be detrimental to its feel and what makes its impact so strong.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 1:54pm

I think it's a small show, but I mean, I was in the last row of the Newman, which is a ways away, and I still throughly enjoyed it. I think it would fit nicely at like the Kerr, the Booth, the Golden. But it was so designed for that specific space, I'm not sure how it would work/look on a Broadway stage.

[Kad]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 2:03pm

Also have to agree this show doesn't need to be on Broadway. It's just not a major commercial type of show.

[gabbym]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 2:07pm

I sat in the third row and it was a great seat. It's a moderate sized theater.
Also, I don't think this show should be on Broadway, but feel that it is of high merit that maybe a commercial off-Broadway run is in its future after the run at the Public is over.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 2:12pm

It's a new, prestige musical by two previous Tony nominees starring another beloved previous Tony nominee. By all accounts, it is terrific (I'm seeing it next week). And putting it on Broadway would make it all the more likely for a show to have a large life in regional theaters. I don't think Caroline, or Change would have had the post-Broadway life it has had if it wasn't on Broadway. Then there's something like Next to Normal. And Grey Gardens. Broadway is still an important imprimatur for shows of this nature.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 2:13pm

Also have to agree this show doesn't need to be on Broadway. It's just not a major commercial type of show.

THIS! ^

I understand Broadway is the pinnacle of live theater, but I don't see why a show has to/should transfer because it's received and selling-well off Broadway. Look at BUYER & CELLAR, a hugely enjoyable show with fantastic word of mouth/reviews. It moved to a bigger off Broadway theater and has had strong ticket sales there. If it moved to Broadway, it would have been swallowed whole. Some shows just work better/sell better off Broadway. For every NEXT TO NORMAL, there's a PASSING STRANGE, LYONS, GREY GARDENS, CAROLINE OR CHANGE, and NEXT FALL.

I find that the best theater in NY is off the beaten path. And most theater-lovers recognize this as well. Updated On: 10/22/13 at 02:13 PM

[jv92]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 7:13pm

BUYER AND CELLAR is a perfect example of a weirdly wonderful Off-Broadway play that transferred and has been a smash Off-Broadway commercially. LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, too. (Though probably more than BUYER AND CELLAR will be.) There is money to be made Off-Broadway. Perhaps not as much as on Broadway, but there's money. If FUN HOME were to transfer to a small, but commercial Off-B'way house, I could see it making some money and running a year to a year and half. I could be wrong. But it would likely suffer the same unfortunate fate as GG and CAROLINE on Broadway.

[Up In One]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 10:35pm

Off Broadway economics are not good for a new nine character musical. The long run off Broadway stuff are all specialty shows like Blue Man or small cast plays or Broadway shows which could no longer fill Broadway houses. Sad,the days of Godspell are gone. Producers realize pretty quickly they might as well go for the extra cush and pray one of the smaller B'Way houses are open. The Public should let it run in place and do what Lincoln Center does, farm out other upcoming limited engagement shows to other spaces.

[dreaming]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 10:39pm

But Lincoln Center sends stuff to Broadway-the Public isn't sending their production of Antony and Cleopatra there I don't think. (Not yet anyway.)

I think they should definitely let it run at the Newman as long as it can. Then, where? Who knows! But, I'm sure it'll be great. (Just kind of hope they steer clear of Broadway. It'll get lost there and finding an audience will be tougher there with a much larger house.)

[Up In One]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 10:53pm

Lincoln Center's main stage is considered Broadway so they open shows on Broadway when their main stage is occupied with something that has legs. Not sure there are many off-Broadway spaces open for the Public to the same on an off-Broadway scale. Where are the great patrons of the arts who should be subsidizing these things and nurturing artists? Some corporation should pay for the transfer, put up an old fashion advertisement show curtain, plaster their name on the Playbills and all the TV and newspaper advertising and charge $25.00 bucks like Signature until it catches on. I love that model. What happened to those thousand points of light from the private sector which was supposed to replace the government arts funding that was stripped away? Don't get me started.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 11:57pm

Alison Bechdel's graphic novel Fun Home is a masterpiece. Kron created Well, which is a masterpiece. Tesori co-created Caroline, or Change, a masterpiece. Fun Home, the musical, is a masterpiece. And it's actually a big show that they have mounted at the Public. Not a steam roller, not mega, but big with its ideas and scope. I really want it to make a splash and have a long life. It breaks ground in musical theater subject matter. Those of us who were out and active when Bechdel was publishing Dykes to Watch Out For already loved her before Fun Home, which really seemed to be the capstone that finally got her the recognition she always deserved. So this, this musical work of art, this accessible, multiple-layered creation, it is just so far beyond imaginable to those of us whose lives she was reflecting back in the old strips. Take it to Broadway if that's what it takes to thrive. I've seen plenty of solid little show that didn't "need" to be on Broadway. Fun Home is in a completely different league.

Updated On: 10/22/13 at 11:57 PM

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 10/23/13 at 9:45am

If a show with the reviews that FUN HOME has today 'shouldn't' be on Broadway, then Broadway should cease to exist.

[Kad]

Posted: 10/23/13 at 10:31am

That's a silly statement. That's the kind of thinking that has all but killed commercial off-Broadway: that if it's not on Broadway, it's some sort of demerit.

[dreaming]

Posted: 10/23/13 at 10:42am

Kad-That is what I was thinking, too.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 10/23/13 at 10:43am

But there really isn't much of a commercial off-Broadway scene left. And my saying what I said isn't what killed it. The economics of off-Broadway is what killed it. BUYER AND CELLAR, which is a one-person show starring an actor that is known from a popular television show, cannot be compared to a nine-actor musical. It's not about demerit. It's about the reality that there is no longer a viable business model for off-Broadway musicals like this. And since this show has been compared to THE GLASS MENAGERIE in the only review that still matters, one has to wonder why it shouldn't be on Broadway. Namo has made a great case that the show is large in scope and emotional heft.

My entire artistic life has been in the off and indie worlds of NY theater. So, please believe me when I say I don't view it as some sort of marker of lesser quality. There just simply isn't an off-Broadway in NY that can support FUN HOME. That sucks...but that's the reality. I'm also someone that disagreed that shows like CAROLINE, OR CHANGE and GREY GARDENS shouldn't have made the move to Broadway. I think they added vital voices and ideas to the world of the commercial Broadway theater, and the pieces (through extended regional lives) and Broadway are better off for having them come.

[dreaming]

Posted: 10/23/13 at 10:45am

Artistically, maybe it's better. However, it's all about the bottom line. And no producer wants to put their money into a flop. (A financial one.) I think maybe this could prove the off-Broadway exception rather than the rule. ("Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812" is running off-Broadway.)

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 10/23/13 at 11:01am

^ True...I think Natasha, Pierre... might be the exception of a new musical finding a life off-Broadway. But it's an immersive event. FUN HOME is very much a traditional musical in the way it's presented. Plus...and this may sound petty, but it's not...if it plays off-Broadway, it has no chance for a Tony. No chance to have national exposure. And a show like this will do very well regionally if it has the Broadway 'stamp of approval.'

Please know that I'm not saying any of this is a good thing. It just is what it is.

[Kad]

Posted: 10/23/13 at 11:11am

Has Broadway been changed by the presence of shows like Caroline or Change, or Grey Gardens? Would the latter have become popular regionally if it wasn't on Broadway? That's really hard to say.

If Fun Home were to move to Broadway, particularly in a very crowded spring, and compete in the commercial horserace that is the Tony, where commercial viability is the prized asset, what will happen? It may very well pick up an award- for Cerveris, or score or book (or both). Or it won't. There really isn't a great song that can be showcased out of context for the performance.

It's not "family friendly" or a spectacle of any kind. Tourists will have no idea what it is. Older audience members will probably balk at spending $100+ on a show with "no set."

Next to Normal was able to cultivate a strong youth audience, which I can't see Fun Home amassing despite its quality. And, really, at the end of the day, Next to Normal is a lot more conventional and showier. It's a domestic drama with a twist.

With Fun Home's strong reviews, female-centric cast, small size, and relatively few design demands, it will show up regionally regardless.

[dreaming]

Posted: 10/23/13 at 11:11am

True, but I think "Natasha" might be a reasonable model for this. I'm not quite sure Fun Home is being made to get a Tony-a Pulitzer maybe-which it can indeed do off-Broadway. Not everyone makes shows to get a Tony.