Fun Home ****

Since I first saw this musical adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s revered graphic novel in an early preview at the Public Theater in 2013, it has improved dramatically. Lisa Kron’s book now seems tighter and more coherent and Jeanine Tesori’s songs seem better integrated into the action. Sam Gold has skillfully reworked the staging to play to the audience on all four sides of Circle in the Square’s awkward rectangular stage. David Zinn’s wonderful set has been fitted out with multiple trapdoors that whisk furniture out of sight and back in a flash and his costumes are evocative. The Bechdel family lives in the funeral home that barely closeted father Bruce (the always compelling Michael Cerveris) has inherited. He is much more interested in restoring the home and entertaining handsome young men than in attending to his wife Helen (the wonderful Judy Kuhn). His daughter Alison comes out as a lesbian at college. Her hopes for a closer relationship with her father are thwarted. Alison is played by three fine actresses — Sydney Lucas as a child, Emily Skeggs as a college freshman, and Beth Malone as the 43-year-old cartoonist who is telling the story. Lucas has shot up a bit in two years, which puts a slightly different spin on her role. Skeggs is not quite as good as her predecessor Alexandra Socha, but good enough. Malone seemed more engaged this time out. She is still so thin that I feared for her health, but that’s my problem. Roberta Colindrez is fine as Joan, Alison’s first lover, and Joel Perez is good as several young men Bruce fancies. As at the Public, the audience was primed to enjoy the play no matter what. Fortunately their enthusiasm was deserved. Running time: one hour, 40 minutes; no intermission.

Fun Home **

Alison Bechdel’s 2006 graphic memoir, subtitled “A Family Tragicomic,” made many top ten lists and became something of a cult classic. In it, Bechdel describes growing up in small-town Pennsylvania in a repressed family led by a difficult father with a passion for house restoration. The “fun home” of the title is the family’s affectionate shorthand for “funeral home,” the family business that supplements the parents’ schoolteacher salaries. Alison and her father had a complicated relationship -- their common interest in literature was the closest thing to a bond. Shortly after Alison came out as a lesbian, her father died, perhaps a suicide. Jeanine Tesori (Caroline, or Change) and Lisa Kron (Well) have bravely adapted Bechdel’s memoir for the musical stage, in a production now in previews at the Public Theater. Tesori’s music and Kron’s lyrics have produced several fine songs, but some of the best have little to do with Bechdel’s material. Alison is played by three actors -- Alison as a child (Sydney Lucas), college-age Alison (Alexandra Socha) and 43-year-old Alison (Beth Malone). Lucas and Socha are very engaging, but Malone is a bit of a stick (not helped by the fact that she is frightfully thin). Michael Cerveris as the father and Judy Kuhn as the mother do not get enough to work with to develop complex characters. Griffin Birney and Noah Hinsdale play Alison’s younger brothers, Roberta Colindrez is Joan, her first lover, and Joel Perez plays Ron, the sexy handyman. Musicals must inevitably simplify, but oversimplification is sometimes a hazard. The book’s many literary allusions disappear. David Zinn’s set and costumes are good, but do not compare favorably with Bechtel’s wonderful line drawings. I think the play needs further work, particularly on the opening and the final scene. Sam Gold directed. The audience was clearly made up of fans. It was obvious even before the play began that, whatever transpired, the reaction would be an enthusiastic one. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes; no intermission.

Nikolai and the Others **

(Please click on the title to see the complete review.)
Judging from his new play at Lincoln Center Theater, Richard Nelson does not believe that less is more. He gives us 18 characters to keep track of over a span of 2 hours, 40 minutes, with a ballet excerpt thrown in for good measure. 15 of the characters are Russian emigres involved in the arts, including choreographer George Balanchine (Michael Cerveris), composer Igor Stravinsky (John Glover), conductor Serge Koussevitsky (Dale Pace), actor Vladimir Sokoloff (John Procaccino), set designer Sergey Sudeikin (Alvin Epstein) and, last but not least, Nikolai Nabokov (Stephen Kunken), a minor composer who is working for the U.S. government spreading largess to win the cultural Cold War. They, their wives, ex-wives and admirers are gathered on a Spring weekend in 1948 in rustic Connecticut to celebrate the ailing Sudeikin's name day and view a rehearsal of Orpheus, Balanchine and Stravinsky's current collaboration. The remaining three characters are the dancers Maria Tallchief, Balanchine's current wife (Natalia Alonso), and Nicholas Magallenes (Michael Rosen), and an uninvited guest "Chip" Bohlen (Gareth Saxe), a U.S. diplomat who keeps an intimidating eye on important Russian emigres. The play is most successful in capturing the pathos of those cut off from their cultural heritage, nostalgic for their homeland, clinging together, insecure and fearful in their adopted country. The rehearsal scene gives some insight into the creative process and provides us with some gorgeous dancing. The ballet sequence also provides a welcome respite from the nonstop conversation, table setting and clearing and eating. The role of the wives (Blair Brown, Kathryn Erbe and Betsy Aidem) is mainly to look after their men. The dancers don't get much respect either. During the course of the weekend, Nikolai comes to regret abandoning composing for his job helping fellow emigres and feels the sting of ingratitude. The acting seemed a bit flat, but with such a large cast, there is not much opportunity to develop deep characterization. David Cromer directs with a sure hand. The shabbiness of Marsha Ginsberg's set is deliberate, I assume. Jane Greenwood's costumes seem appropriate. Even though I was predisposed to like the play because of my interest in Balanchine and Stravinsky, I found it less rewarding than I had hoped. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes including intermission.