The New York smash Baz heading this way
THe household is filling up for the tony award-winning musical Fun Home.
the show — based on american cartoonist alison Bechdel’s graphic coming-of-age (and coming out) memoir about growing up in Pennsylvania with Bruce, her mercurial mortician father; Helen, her actress mother; and two younger brothers — will begin performances at the Young Vic from June 18.
Swedish-born actress Kaisa Hammarlund will portray grown-up alison, who acts as a narrator, trying to make sense of her life, as it unfolds on stage.
two other actors will portray ‘small alison’ and ‘medium alison’ (those parts are yet to be cast), revealing her relationship with her dad (played by Zubin Varla) and mother (Jenna russell).
Cherrelle Skeete, who was in the original London company of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, has got the part of alison’s college girlfriend, Joan.
Fun Home composer Jeanine tesori told me that a lot of people were auditioned ‘but we’ve got the cast we wanted’.
tesori, who created the score for hit show Caroline, Or Change — which opened last week at the Hampstead theatre in North London — said she and Lisa Kron, the production’s book writer and lyricist, will try to be on hand when director Sam Gold begins rehearsals in may.
Fun Home, which originated at the Public theatre in New York five years ago, will mark the last production of former artistic chief David Lan at the Young Vic.
LaN was given Kron’s script by the Public theatre’s boss, Oskar eustis, before the musical opened there. ‘and then i heard the fabulous score,’ Lan said, referring to tesori’s music that is all manner of styles — including a number that’s pure Jackson Five (the motown years).
‘Profoundly deeply felt; hilarious; and tragic . . . just like life!’ Lan said, warming to his theme.
‘the first (to my knowledge) coming-of-age lesbian musical is the warmest, most life-enhancing, “change-the-world-by-singingabout it” show ever!’
i had no clue what to expect when i first caught it at the Public, but i was soon hooked.
i saw it a year later, once it had moved to Broadway. that time i understood better the complex role of alison’s closeted father — taciturn one moment, outgoing the next — thanks to it being re-cast with Broadway veteran michael Cerveris, who captured the essence of Bruce Bechdel’s psyche through his brilliant interpretation of the carefully crafted songs.
i also realised that Fun Home is really about a girl and her dad. Oskar eustis agreed. ‘What Fun Home does, in a way, is what angels in america did 27 years ago. it takes the experience of lesbians — who are proudly and fully complicatedly lesbian — and says: “We can not only present our experience, we can actually present
everyone’s experience. ‘a lesbian daughter’s relationship with her father is also any daughter’s relationship with her father. that’s the ultimate point.’
i loved how the show became a family affair for parents of all stripes, and their children.
i hope the run works out at the Young Vic.
the Broadway producing team, led by Barbara Whitman, will join with top producer Sonia Friedman in any West end transfer.