Last year was when I first saw Fun Home the musical live. I had previously watched it as a bootleg (illegal recording) on YouTube. The show is inspired by a book written and illustrated by Alison Bechdel, who is also the creator of a popular comic titled Dykes to Watch Out For. Both the musical and book share with the audience Bechdel’s life of growing up in a small Pennsylvania town with her mother, father, and two brothers.
The score is comprised of soft melodies and ‘caption speak’, essentially as the musical goes on the book is being written by the main character, Al, as she looks back on her life and her relationship with her father. She is working to try to find her connection with him besides the fact they were both born and raised in the same town.
The link she finds is the fact that they were both in some way LGBT, Her father is presumed to be gay or bisexual, but he ends up killing himself as he can no longer cope with the idea that his daughter is not straight. The show is a very heavy musical filled with elements that almost anyone can relate to. Such as not fitting in and fighting with parents.
The show was on Broadway in 2015 and won 5 TONYs during its run. It is also the first Broadway show to have a lesbian protagonist and two women write the shows score. A huge win for the theatre community for representation and inclusion. The show is simplistic but elegantly done. It is much more speech heavy, so it is not recommended if you are looking for a show full of huge dance numbers.
Pictures are of myself in November 2017 at Proctors in Schenectady NY and November 2018 in Burlington VT meeting Alison Bechdel