‘IS THIS A ROOM’: Will Cobbs, Pete Simpson & Emily Davis. Photo: Chad Batka.

IS THIS A ROOM
Conceived & directed by Tina Satter
In repertory with
DANA H.
Written by Lucas Hnath
Directed by Les Waters
Through November 27 & 28, 2021
Lyceum Theatre
149 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), www.thelyceumplays.com

By David NouNou

After seeing most of the fall plays of 2021 so far, I realize that it’s not so much about Broadway coming back to life as it is the industry has transplanted small Off-Broadway ventures (that were meant to be more experimental in nature and give voice to newer playwrights), with casts of one to four people, with minimal expenditures—many of which were successful, more effective and intimate in smaller venues—and have dropped them in these large theaters just so they can be filled and open in time for the fall season. Since no one had planned on new, original plays due to the pandemic that forced Broadway to shut down for 19 months and not knowing when theaters would reopen, hardly any new plays were planned for this season.

Cases in point are Is This A Room and Dana H., both being critical and sold-out shows at the intimate Vineyard Theatre. They alternate performances in repertory now on Broadway at the Lyceum. First, Tina Satter has conceived and directed Is This A Room. The show is based word for word from the original transcript of a true story set in June of 2017 about a 25-year-old former U.S. Air Force linguist named Reality Winner (Emily Davis). Upon arriving home one day after grocery shopping, Reality is confronted by three FBI agents in her driveway. What seems at first an inept, fumbling round of questioning turns into a systematic interrogation breakdown and charging of leaked evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 US elections, all of which led to her four-year prison sentence.

What would have been a claustrophobic and believable setting at the small Vineyard Theatre and made to feel you were witnessing an actual interrogation, in the expanse of the Lyceum Theatre that urgency is lost and the characters are swallowed on that massive stage.  In addition, redactions from the transcript are represented as blackouts, which at first are really distracting and confusing until you witness it a few times and then catch on. The saving grace is Ms. Davis’ heartbreaking, unraveling performance.

Second is a play by Lucas Hnath, best known on Broadway for the brilliant A Doll’s House Part 2 and Hilary and Clinton. Mr. Hnath has now written about and adapted the harrowing true story of his mother, Dana Higginbotham, in Dana H. Her bio in Playbill states that she is a writer, educator and chaplain. For the past 20 years, as chaplain in both hospitals and hospices throughout Florida, she has provided counsel for those who live with the effects of trauma, loss and life-threatening or life-limiting issues. Her story is recorded by Hnath’s friend and fellow writer, Steve Cosson, in 2004 about events that took place in 1997.

Dana H. is portrayed by Deirdre O’Connell, sitting in a chair in a seedy motel room facing the audience, lip syncing to the original but edited tapes about the horrible events that took place in 1997. She relates how she met Jim, a fugitive, a man she was counseling in a psych ward of a mental hospital. He was ultimately set free during the Christmas holidays and has nowhere to go, so she takes Jim in. Soon after Dana is divorced, Jim comes back to abduct her and takes her through a hellish, five-month ordeal traveling throughout the South but mainly in Florida. She encounters many evil deeds and has no chance of escape because Jim is constantly by her side and the moments that she does have, the police side with Jim instead of seeing her pain and ordeal and she is sent back to him.

What you hear is very compelling and riveting and you go along with the lip syncing because Ms. O’Connell captures every nuance and movement in the recordings, but three quarters into the play, in the middle of one of Dana’s experiences in a motel room, a fast-forward effect of the tapes takes place and the whole thing unravels and looks and feels like a gimmick. I couldn’t help but wonder why Mr. Hnath didn’t write the play as a monologue instead of using fast-forward taping methods and tape sound effects. He is an adept writer and could have written it as a riveting monologue for any accomplished actress, which would have made the events more credible and compelling.

The two women in both plays have something in common. They both give brilliant portraits of two women having their normal daily lives uprooted, and both women have strong survival instincts. Both Ms. Davis and Ms. O’Connell deliver heart-wrenching performances and give the plays their plausibility. However, what was once monumental and harrowing at the intimate Vineyard is simply performing a transcript and lip syncing to tapes and now seems both constricting and gimmicky at the Lyceum.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 20, 2021
Reviewed at October 16 & October 19, 2021 performances.

‘DANA H.’: Deirdre O’Connell. Photo: Chad Batka.

‘IS THIS A ROOM’: Pete Simpson, Emily Davis & Will Cobbs. Photo: Chad Batka.

‘IS THIS A ROOM’: Becca Blackwell, Will Cobbs, Pete Simpson & Emily Davis. Photo: Chad Batka.

‘DANA H.’: Deirdre O’Connell. Photo: Chad Batka.

‘IS THIS A ROOM’: Emily Davis. Photo: Chad Batka.

‘DANA H.’: Deirdre O’Connell. Photo: Chad Batka.

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‘SEA WALL/A LIFE’: Tom Sturridge. Photo: RIchard Hubert Smith

SEA WALL/A LIFE
Written by Simon Stephens & Nick Payne
Directed by Carrie Cracknell
Through September 29, 2019
Hudson Theatre
141 West 44th Street
(855-801-5876), www.SeaWallALife.com

By David NouNou

‘Tis the season when a lot of older Broadway shows have closed (or are about to) and currently lots of theaters are vacant. So, what do you do when you have empty houses? Fill them up with as many Off-Broadway or regional theater two- or three-character shows as you can. If they had a modicum of success somewhere else, now is the time to bring them to Broadway. They are comprised of minimal sets, costumes or changes so the move would not be that expensive to transfer. Sea Wall/A Life is one such example. Having recently closed from a successful run at a smaller venue, the Public Theatre, it was only a matter of time for the show to move, especially since the original stars, Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Sturridge, were available.

Sea Wall/A Life is not so much a two-character play as two-one act monologues. They are connected by the thread of life and death. The first being Sea Wall written by Simon Stephens who gave us the masterpiece The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Here Tom Sturridge plays Alex, a man recalling his life and love of his wife Helen, daughter Lucy, and stalwart father-in-law who now lives in France. The incidents are recalled vividly and intensely, but the recollections are done as unfinished sentences. Every so often, Alex starts remembering an event that took place with a member of the family, gives us a great visual journey but doesn’t complete the story, and goes off on a tangent about another story. After a while this becomes very frustrating because as he gets to the emotional section of the incident, the gears are shifted and we are left stranded. You get the full gist of what’s going on (no spoilers by me), but you have to fill in the gaps.

A Life is written by Nick Payne who gave us such recent works as Constellations at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre and If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet at Roundabout’s Laura Pels, both starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Here, Mr. Gyllenhaal is Abe, a music producer who is caught between the illness of his father and the impending birth of his daughter. Abe can deal with his father’s illness and his obligations to him, but is not prepared for the role of impending fatherhood. He can do son, but he can’t do father; that was his father’s job. Again everything is beautifully narrated but we are dealing with dual narratives.  Abe shifts his narrative between his father’s dilemmas and the birth of his daughter; we are again taken to a certain part of the story and midway shifts to the other story, zig zags back and forth and we have to differentiate.

Due to the intense content of both monologues, the evening is made palatable due to the expert performances of its two stars. Mr. Sturridge as Alex breaks the heart with his rendition of his tale and the sensitivity he emotes. He is this fragile figure that is crumbling before our eyes by the overwhelming grief of his tale.

Mr. Gyllenhaal is one of the most unique actors that Broadway audiences get the pleasure to see every couple of years. He is a huge international movie star, and such a person does not come to Broadway often, but Mr. Gyllenhaal is the exception to that rule. Every appearance becomes a must-see event because he gives so much of himself to the roles. You can see the love and respect he has for the medium and it is always a delight watching him create a new role.

Although as a show Sea Wall/A Life might not be an uplifting theatrical experience, the experience is watching two young talented actors. Mr. Gyllenhaal and Mr. Sturridge, both giving emotionally charged performances.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published August 14, 2019
Reviewed at August 13, 2019 press performance.

‘SEA WALL/A LIFE’: Jake Gyllenhaal. Photo: Richard Hubert Smith

‘SEA WALL/A LIFE’: Jake Gyllenhaal (left) & Tom Sturridge. Photo: Richard Hubert Smith

‘SEA WALL/A LIFE’: Jake Gyllenhaal (left) & Tom Sturridge. Photo: Richard Hubert Smith

‘SEA WALL/A LIFE’: Jake Gyllenhaal. Photo: Richard Hubert Smith

‘SEA WALL/A LIFE’: Tom Sturridge. Photo: Richard Hubert Smith

‘SEA WALL/A LIFE’: Tom Sturridge. Photo: Richard Hubert Smith

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‘WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME’: Heidi Schreck. Photo: Joan Marcus

WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME
Written by Heidi Schreck
Directed by Oliver Butler
Through August 24, 2019
Helen Hayes Theater
240 West 44th Street
(212-239-6200), www.constitutionbroadway.com

By Scott Harrah

What the Constitution Means to Me is not traditional theater in any sense. It is a combination of a deeply personal monologue, a political lecture, a symposium for constitutional reform and an interactive civics lesson. The show originated Off Broadway in various forms, and was last produced at New York Theater Workshop in 2018. Now creator and performer Heidi Schreck has brought the show to Broadway. The play’s progressive slant and feminist theme make it timely in the “Me Too” era.

Ms. Schreck, now in her late 40s, recalls how as a 15-year-old in Wenatchee, Washington, she earned money for college by entering contests about the Constitution in American Legion halls throughout the U.S. with other high school students. In these predominantly white, heterosexual male institutions for war veterans, Ms. Schreck would debate other high schoolers about how the Constitution related to their everyday lives and families.

The first portion of the show is often riveting as Ms. Schreck recalls the conservative town she grew up in, an “abortion-free zone,” and the strong, long-suffering women in her family. Best of all, she recreates some of the speeches she gave about the Constitution as a teenager, looking back on them as an adult and making witty observations about them.  Ms. Schreck, who calls the Constitution “a living, warm-blooded, steamy document,” is a gifted storyteller and her enthusiasm for the Constitution and her own progressive politics and feminism shines through her ebullient delivery. She educates the audience on how the Constitution was written by and for white male land owners. The founding fathers of America wrote it to protect the rights of white men. Women, African Americans and Native Americans were not included originally. In essence, the original Constitution was written to protect what we now call “white male privilege.”

The set by Rachel Hauck helps the audience understand just what a “boys’ club” American Legions were in 1987 when Ms. Schreck was a teen. The walls are covered with photos of war veterans, and one senses the isolation Ms. Schreck must have felt at age 15 speaking about how the Constitution related to her. In the first hour of this 100-minute work, Ms. Schreck packs in a lot of heady information about abortion, feminism, racism, discrimination against Native Americans, and more. She also talks about her harrowing experience when she became pregnant while working as an actress in Seattle and decided to have an abortion. With her wry humor and endless passion for the downtrodden, she delivers a scathing polemic on how white men have dominated others and usurped power in America since the country was born. She is such an entertaining speaker that it is easy to overlook the way she sometimes repeats her points as the evening winds down. However, we soon realize repetition is not the show’s only flaw.

What the Constitution Means to Me would have worked great as a one-woman monologue, but unfortunately the remainder of the show becomes jumbled with unnecessary filler. Mike Iveson, in a full military veteran’s uniform, initially plays a moderator for Ms. Schreck’s debates when she reenacts scenes from her teenage tours of American Legions. Yet for some reason, in the latter part of the show Mr. Iveson takes off his uniform and starts talking about his personal life, including his sexuality. It’s a pointless segue and we are left wondering why Ms. Schreck and director Oliver Butler decided to go in this direction.

The show’s final 20 minutes become a debate in which the audience is invited to participate as real copies of the U.S. Constitution are passed out. At the performance I attended, teenager Rosdely Ciprian, a New York City high school freshman, came out to talk about what modern-day teens think about the Constitution. (Ms. Ciprian alternates the role with another actor, Thursday Williams, at different performances). Ms. Schreck decided to debate whether the Constitution should be abolished and what might be the benefits of writing a brand-new Constitution. She picked an audience member to act as a judge.  While this is certainly innovative and creates a dialogue about the Constitution, it will come across as gimmicky to some. If nothing else, the first hour is a compelling “herstory” lesson on American politics and feminism by Heidi Schreck.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 3, 2019
Reviewed at April 2, 2019 press performance.

‘WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME’: Rosdely Ciprian. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME’: Heidi Schreck & Mike Iveson. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME’: Heidi Schreck. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME’: Rosdely Ciprian, Mike Iveson & Heidi Schreck. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME’: Heidi Schreck. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME’: Heidi Schreck. Photo: Joan Marcus

The post ‘What the Constitution Means to Me’: A herstory appeared first on StageZine.

‘INDECENT’: The cast. Photo: Carol Rosegg

INDECENT
By Paula Vogel
Directed by Rebecca Taichman
Cort Theatre
138 West 48th Street
212-239-6200, www.IndecentBroadway.com

By Scott Harrah

More than merely a drama about a play that shocked early 20th century audiences, Paula Vogel’s Indecent illuminates a dark period of history when anti-Semitism and anti-immigrant sentiment were rampant in America. No, the year is not 2017 but 1906 to the 1920s through 1940s. There are numerous themes and subtexts in this complex, fascinating and sometimes confusing drama, from the troubled staging of Yiddish writer Sholem Asch’s theatrical potboiler God of Vengeance to the disturbing tide of prejudice toward Jews and their culture evolving from the turn of the 20th century and onward.

This is the proverbial Brechtian epic, immediately grabbing one’s attention and posing questions about art, decency, and the boundaries of morality and faith. It’s exhausting yet riveting to watch from the opening scene, with Yiddish actors onstage speaking as ashes literally fall off their bodies. This is only the beginning of the layers upon layers of symbolism that unfold throughout the 100-minute show.

At first glance, one thinks the story is simply about Mr. Asch’s turgid Yiddish drama, a sensational tale about a brothel owner, his daughter, a prostitute, a lesbian affair and desecration of a Torah. Asch’s play was a hit on the Yiddish theater circuit in Europe, but scandalous indeed when it was translated into English and debuted in New York at the Provincetown Playhouse in 1922. Although the lesbian themes were toned down (and a Sapphic kissing scene cut) for the Broadway transfer to the Apollo Theatre in 1923, the cast and producer were arrested mid-performance for obscenity a few weeks into the run.

Indecent, however, is really less about the puritanical reaction to God of Vengeance in America and more of an homage to the death of Yiddish theater and the tragedy of Jews across the world from the early 1900s up through the Holocaust. In addition, the story shows how America, decades before feminism, could not handle not only homosexuality but anything that depicted women as something beyond wives, daughters or prostitutes.

Despite the heavy subject matter, Indecent is a visually arresting piece of theater. Seven actors portray “the troupe,” from Lemml, the stage manager of Asch’s play (Richard Topol), while others play musicians performing klezmer-style music (with original compositions by Lisa Gutkin and Aaron Halva). The stage features constantly changing projections of Yiddish, Hebrew and English supertitles and scene settings, from Warsaw in 1906 (when Asch first wrote the play) to Berlin, various stages and attics across Europe to New York City. The action jumps around from city to city like a TV miniseries or popular novel (a narrative technique that is always tricky on the stage).

There is a frenetic lyricism to Rebecca Taichman’s direction of the actors, many of whom play multiple roles. It is Ms. Taichman’s manic pacing of the evolving plot, musicians and actors dancing in circles–and the endless projections of the supertitles–that keeps us glued to the action but grows tiresome at times.

Indecent is a show that has quite a backstory itself, with Ms. Taichman basing the chronicle of God of Vengeance (and its obscenity trial over the first lesbian kiss in American theater) as a directing thesis at Yale. She and Paula Vogel worked over a period of seven years to develop the opus, after productions at the Yale Rep, La Jolla Playhouse and an Off-Broadway run at the Vineyard last year.

There are outstanding ensemble performances here, from Richard Topol as Lemml and Max Gordon Moore as Sholem Asch to Katrina Lenk and Adina Verson as the actresses portraying lovers. Musicians Matt Darriau, Lisa Gutkin and Aaron Halva add an eerie, haunting sincerity to the play with their original compositions.

Yes, the show is over-the-top, overly poetic, and perhaps too cerebral and academic for its own good. However, the overall message of Indecent is what makes it so relevant and topical today. Because, much like the political climate leading up to World War II, we also now live in age of xenophobia and prejudice about sexuality, race and religion. It is chilling when one thinks that the censorship, bigotry and fascism that were pervasive in the days of God of Vengeance (and created so much human suffering) could easily be repeated in 21st century America.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 18, 2017
Reviewed at press performance on April 15, 2017

‘INDECENT’: (left to right) Aaron Halva (with accordion), Matt Darriau (with clarinet), Lisa Gutkin (with violin) & company. Photo: Carol Rosegg

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‘INDECENT’: The cast. Photo: Carol Rosegg

‘INDECENT’: The cast. Photo: Carol Rosegg

‘INDECENT’: Max Gordon Moore & Richard Topol. Photo: Carol Rosegg

‘INDECENT’: Max Gordon Moore & Richard Topol. Photo: Carol Rosegg

‘INDECENT’: Katrina Lenk & Adina Verson. Photo: Carol Rosegg

‘INDECENT’: Max Gordon Moore & Adina Verson. Photo: Carol Rosegg

‘INDECENT’: Adina Verson & Katrina Lenk. Photo: Carol Rosegg

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‘DEAR EVAN HANSEN’: Ben Platt. Photo: Matthew Murphy

DEAR EVAN HANSEN
Book by Steven Levenson
Music & lyrics by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul
Directed by Michael Greif
Music Box Theatre
239 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), www.dearevanhansen.com

By David NouNou

Dear Evan Hansen is an original musical that is epic in its universality and its theme is timeless. It is a phenomenon for every parent that has a troubled child, who may be misunderstood, lonely, despondent, troubled, bullied, or even suicidal; it is a musical of our time and for generations to come.

The story centers on an anxiety-ridden teenager, Evan Hansen (Ben Platt) who has to write himself letters of affirmation to build up his confidence and be able to socialize better with fellow students. On the first day of school, his letter is confiscated and read by the bullish outsider, Connor Murphy (Mike Faist). In the letter, Evan expresses his feelings about Zoe Murphy (Laura Dreyfuss) who happens to be Connor’s sister. At the end of the letter, he signs it “me.” Three days pass, and it is revealed that Connor committed suicide and the only thing on him was the letter he confiscated from Evan. Connor’s parents, Larry and Cynthia Murphy (Michael Park and Jennifer Laura Thompson), think it is a letter to a friend and they get in touch with Evan.

At first, Evan is at a total loss of what to say and do because there was never a friendship between him and Connor; but he sees how desperate the parents are and how much they want to know things about their son. With the aid of his cousin, Jared (Will Roland), Evan and Jared start fabricating backdated emails to give the parents some closure. Thus begins the tangled web that Evan has created for himself. At first he enjoys the fact that he is being noticed, that Larry and Cynthia become almost like surrogate parents, and Zoe starts to fall for him. In comes Alana Beck (Kristolyn Lloyd,) who was in a couple of classes with Connor, but never knew him, gets caught up in the hoopla, and wants to preserve Connor’s memory by starting the Connor Project and a website. Evan has to give a speech in school, and also does an online post about Connor. Naturally it becomes a media sensation and goes viral.

Meanwhile Evan’s mother, Heidi Hansen (Rachel Bay Jones), has no clue as what is going on and what her son is doing. Her husband left her and Evan 10 years earlier and she had to raise him alone. She is a nurse by day and taking paralegal courses at night, leaving her little time for Evan. She does her best to help but knows little what is happening with Evan, until she is invited to the Connors for dinner and then finds out through the Internet about The Connor Project and how Evan is co-president.

The web is so tangled and troubling to Evan that he is suffocating and losing himself in his predicament. He has to find his way out. I normally don’t like to give so much of the story, but must in order for the reader to understand the complexity of this piece. I also don’t want the reader to think that the piece is a depressing downer, morose or maudlin; on the contrary, it has a message of hope.

Michael Greif has taken this complicated tale and directed it with the lightest of touches. He knows it’s a heady topic and he treats all the action and movements with the utmost respect. The book by Steven Levenson is brilliant; he combines teenage angst and pains with today’s social media and all its trappings. The score by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul is a marvel. They did an incredible whimsical score for the Christmas classic A Christmas Story but here the score reaches exultant heights that are haunting and riveting.

The entire cast is outstanding but the star of the show, Ben Platt, is a revelation. He has the acting chops, the singing voice, the looks, the charm, and the personality to make the star of tomorrow. His Evan Hansen is a performance for the ages.

Guess what, folks? Get your tickets while you still can, because come Tony time I see at least six major awards going to this masterpiece.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published December 9, 2016
Reviewed at press performance on December 8, 2016

‘DEAR EVAN HANSEN’: Mike Faist & Ben Platt. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘DEAR EVAN HANSEN’: Ben Platt & Rachel Bay Jones. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘DEAR EVAN HANSEN’: Ben Platt & Laura Dreyfuss. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘DEAR EVAN HANSEN’: Ben Platt, Jennifer Laura Thompson & Michael Park. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘DEAR EVAN HANSEN’: The cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy

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‘ECLIPSED’: (Left to right). Pascale Armand, Lupita Nyong’o & Saycon Sengbloh. Photo: Joan Marcus

ECLIPSED
Written by Danai Gurira
Directed by Liesl Tommy
Through June 19, 2016
John Golden Theatre
252 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200),www.EclipsedBroadway.com

By David NouNou

Freedom, loss of identity, sexual servitude, dignity, self-worth, guilt and anonymity are only some of the issues that Danai Gurira presents in her brilliant play Eclipsed. Caught up in the brutal violence of Liberian civil war, we meet five remarkable women.

Four have been torn from their families, childhood and innocence at an early age only to become known through their anonymity as Wife #1, Wife #2, Wife #3 and the Girl. Wife #1 (Saycon Sengbloh) is the eldest and has been in servitude to the master known as the C.O. for over 10 years, since she was 15, and is now the protector. Wife #2 (Zainab Jah) has escaped sexual servitude and has taken up arms and is fighting alongside the rebels. Wife #3 (Pascale Armand) has managed to retain her self-esteem and slight vanity and is carrying the C.O.’s. baby. The fourth is simply known as The Girl (Lupita Nyong’o), and she has wandered into the camp after her village has been ravaged and she has lost her family.

The Girl is bright and knowledgeable and meets her fate the hard way one night while having to relieve herself and the light of her innocence is gone.

The fifth woman, Rita (Akosua Busia), is the mediator with the C.O. for the release of the women and a salvation for them, depending on each woman whether she feels there is anything left to salvage.

We have read in the papers and seen on television the plight that has befallen the women and especially the young girls who have been taken from their families in Liberia, Nigeria, and Somalia, to name a few. In this instance, Ms. Gurira is literally placing us in the midst of all this chaos and horror that has befallen these countries and especially the misery these women endure on a daily basis.

The performances are brilliantly nuanced and paced by Lisel Tommy. She hits every emotional peak and devastating defeat to the maximum effect that the play offers. This effect is that it is an ensemble piece and each woman is given her due identity. Lupita Nyong’o as The Girl has the most complex part. The Girl’s transformation from the bright and eager young girl we first meet to the guilt-ridden rebel she has become, and the way she must grapple with the choices she has made, is fascinating.

Saycon Sengbloh, as the older Wife #1 and earth mother who ultimately finds salvation, is sensational. Pascale Armand as Wife #3 provides the humor needed to lighten the evening and she is sheer perfection. Zainab Jah is beautiful, fascinating and frightening as Wife #2, the rebel fighter using her ingenuity for survival. Akosua Busia brings dignity to Rita as the mediator for these women.

Eclipsed is not lighthearted fare but it is certainly a night for enlightenment and the power of women.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 11, 2016
Reviewed at performance on April 10, 2016

‘ECLIPSED’: (left to right) Saycon Sengbloh, Lupita Nyong’o & Pascale Armand. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘ECLIPSED’: (left to right) Zainab Jah, Saycon Sengbloh, Pascale Armand & Lupita Nyong’o in ‘Eclipsed.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

‘ECLIPSED’: (left to right) Lupita Nyong’o, Saycon Sengbloh & Pascale Armand. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘ECLIPSED’: (left to right) Akosua Busia, Lupita Nyong’o, Saycon Sengbloh & Pascale Armand. Photo: Joan Marcus

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THE THREE ALISONS: (left to right) Sydney Lucas, Beth Malone & Emily Skeggs. Photo: Joan Marcus

FUN HOME
Music by Jeanine Tesori
Book and lyrics by Lisa Kron
Based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel
Choreography by Danny Mefford
Directed by Sam Gold
Circle in the Square Theatre
1633 Broadway
(212-239-6280), www.FunHomeBroadway.com

By Scott Harrah

Home is where the hurt is in this Broadway transfer of the hit Off-Broadway musical adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s autobiographical graphic novel Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. The show, which played a successful run at the Public Theater, is hardly your standard Broadway musical fare. This dark, often disturbing story is essentially a “memory play” with songs woven into the narrative, but it’s not exactly a modern-day Glass Menagerie with music.

Narrated by lesbian cartoonist Alison Bechdel (played at age 43 by Beth Malone), with Small Alison (Sydney Lucas) and Middle Alison (Emily Skeggs) representing the protagonist at different stages of her life, Fun Home is about growing up in a dysfunctional family in a Pennsylvania town in the 1970s. The Bechdels live in an old Victorian mansion, adding to the creepiness of the setting. Dad Bruce (Michael Cerveris) is an English teacher and also the town undertaker, running a local funeral parlor that the kids nickname the “fun home.” Dad has a passion for classic literature, antiques, decorating and renovating the family home—and underage teenage boys. Mother Helen (Judy Kuhn) is the typical wife in denial about her husband’s secret sexuality.

The dramatic conflict mostly centers on Alison’s volatile relationship with her parents. Her father is often critical of young Alison, chiding her for not liking to wear dresses and critiquing her budding art talent as she develops a passion for drawing cartoons. Unfortunately, most of the songs in this nontraditional musical seem strained, unnatural and silly—from ditties about polishing the furniture to a rousing number, “Changing My Major,” by Alison as she discovers lesbian love after a libidinous night with Joan (Roberta Colindrez) while a freshman at posh Oberlin College.

Despite a few funny moments, such as Alison’s dad sending her “lesbian books” like one by Collette, the subject matter in Fun Home is somber indeed, at times downright lugubrious, and doesn’t exactly lend itself to musical theater.

In addition, the story of Alison’s troubled parents is often more compelling than Alison’s own coming-of-age trajectory. However, there just isn’t enough detail about the parents and their sham marriage. Helen Bechdel tells of being stationed with her husband in Germany while he was in the military and traveling to Paris to meet a man who turned out to be his lover, but the significance of this anecdote is never explained. We know that the father is a self-loathing man unable to be true to himself, and the mother is a long-suffering woman who is sick of all the lies and deception, and Fun Home would be a far more interesting show if the parents’ backstory was explained better.

Director Sam Gold gets outstanding performances from the cast, despite the awkward in-the-round staging that is always tricky at Circle in the Square, with audiences having to watch the back of actors’ heads at times. Mr. Cerveris’ Bruce is consistently heartbreaking, portraying a man overwrought with guilt about his double life. Judy Kuhn is also outstanding as wife Helen, giving a searing portrait of a woman breaking down from years of marital discord. The three actresses playing Alison are all superb as well.

Fun Home already has a cult audience that enjoys it as a musical, but one wonders if the show might be more satisfying and solid as a straightforward drama because the Bechdel family suffers from enough adversity and emotional mishaps to make the story stand by itself, without any need for songs. Regardless, Fun Home is a powerful saga that puts a different spin on stage epics about maladjusted families and the pain of growing up feeling out of place and misunderstood.

MOM & YOUNG ALISON: Judy Kuhn & Sydney Lucas. Photo: Jenny Anderson

THE BECHDEL FAMILY: (left to right) Judy Kuhn, Oscar Williams, Zell Steele Marrow, Sydney Lucas & Michael Cerveris. Photo: Joan Marcus

GROOVING AT THE ‘FUN HOME’ FUNERAL PARLOR: Oscar Williams, Zell Steele Marrow & Sydney Lucas. Photo: Joan Marcus

ALISON & MIDDLE ALISON: Beth Malone & Emily Skeggs. Photo: Jenny Anderson

YOUNG ALISON & HER DAD: Sydney Lucas & Michael Cerveris. Photo: Joan Marcus

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 23, 2015
Reviewed at press performance on April 22, 2015

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