fun-home:

“Last year, Alison Bechdel’s comic-book memoir Fun Home became an extraordinarily moving musical at the Public. To mark its transfer uptown to Circle in the Square (where it opens on April 19), we asked Bechdel about seeing herself, her parents, and their difficult relationship portrayed on a Broadway stage. Here’s how she responded.”

[image description: a comic by Alison Bechdel “Play Therapy”. Full image description below the Read More.] 

[The first panel shows Alison at a production of her book, Fun Home. “A book I wrote has been turned into a musical that’s opening on broadway. This has been as exciting and glamarous as you might imagine.” A figure says “Your parents would be so proud!” / Alison rubs the back of her neck uncomfortably. The text box says “But given that my book is about my coming out as a lesbian, my father’s homosexuality, and his likely suicide…” She responds “Uhh… well… they would be a lot of things… But I’m not sure "proud” would be on of them.“ / ”… There is also a certain dissonance to it.“ / "The ‘fun’ home of the title is the family home by dad ran. The production of Fun Home show two kids sitting in a coffin, with one crawling under the table its on. Bechdel’s father says "Kids! Get out of there! Now!” / “It would be strange enough seeing fictional characters one had created brought to life onstage. But this is my actual family.” / "Another dissonant thing about the musical has been trying to understand my relationship to it. It’s not mine. But it’s my life.“ Alison sits, arms crossed in the audience as the play version of herself sings "Dad was born on this farm. Here’s our house. Here’s the spot where he died…” / “The playwright Lisa Kron and the composer Jeanne Tesori worked for years before I saw the script or heard any of the songs.” 2010: Alison holds the script, delivered by FedEx and slots the CD into her computer. / "I guess I had been expecting that a musical version of the book would be a bit artificial–a lighter, arm’s-length take on my childhood.“ Alison props her head on one hand, holding her glasses as she reads the script and listens as the computer plays "Daddy, hey Daddy, come here, okay? I need you!” “I was not prepared for the opposite impact.” / “Here was my distant, repressed family brought close. I listened to the score over and over again.” Alison drives, crying and hitting the steering wheel as “He wants the Heppelwhite suite chairs back in the parlor…” plays. / “It seemed to get to the emotional heart of things more directly than my book had, and certainly more directly than my parents and I ever had in real life.” Workshop, 2011: Alison belows her nose in the front row as the actors bow on stage. “If you can get some brilliant artists to make a musical about your childhood, I highly recommend it. It’s very cathartic.” / "My parents met in a play, in college.“ Alison’s mother and father face each other, both wearing Shakespearan costumes and smoking against a brick background. They smily slightly at each other. / "Mom acted in Summer stock, and Dad was on the theater’s board of directors. They made regular pilgrmages to Broadway.” They sit in theater seats, both grim-faced and not looking at each other. Alison’s father holds a Playbill for “Private Lives”. / "I can’t help wondering what they would make of seeing themselves turned into characters on the stage.“ An usher hands Alison a Playbill for "Fun Home.” / “But of course, if my parents would see theplay, there would be no play.” Alison sits in the second row beside a woman. Alison is holding her Playbill and looking up at that stage, empty except for her drawing desk. / "For the occasional, flickering moment, though, I’m able to see past this paradox and image them in the audience. They scan the crowd. The house lights go down. My mother and father are rapt, excited to be in the theater.“ The seats are all filled now. A spotlight is on the desk. "My impossible wish is that the play can heal them, too.”]