Turns out you can’t judge a musical by its poster.
The only thing I knew about the Broadway show Fun Home before I saw it last night was a) the critics loved it and b) the Tony voters did, too.
It scored 12 nominations earlier this week.
I didn’t know the soundtrack or the book upon which it was based. I walked in the theatre about as clueless as a person could get.
So imagine my surprise when the show wasn’t the singing, dancing Partridge Family parody that I had cooked up in my head.
If you too are in the dark (and wish to remain so), stop reading now.
Have they left? Okay. So the rest of you know why my mind is a bit blown right now.
The musical’s narrator is a lesbian cartoonist. (Yeah, this show’s no Cinderella.) With the help of her very young self and college-aged self — two incredible young performers — she tells her life story. With captions.
(‘Cause she’s a cartoonist.)
How her father was a part-time teacher and part-time funeral director — FUN HOME was the family nickname for the funeral home — and a closeted gay man who slept with lots of boys and committed suicide while she was away at college.
Yeah.
But that’s not to say there weren’t moments of humor and laughter. Her first girl-on-girl experience in college inspired “Changing My Major to Joan,” one of my favorite songs in the show. And the kids did do a little Partridge Family at one point, so the graphic designer gets to keep his job.
The cast is all-around amazing. I do wish I had seen the show off-Broadway before they were plopped down into this in-the-round venue. It has led to a lot of ‘singing to the audience’ staging that seems amateurish for a story of such complexity.
It is quite a ride.
Posted in Broadway, Commentary, dancing, Entertainment, Family, Humor, Music, New York City, Relationships, Singing, theater
Tagged Broadway, captions, cartoonist, cast, clueless, college, critics, dancing, family, Fun Home, funeral director, funeral home, gay, graphic designer, Humor, in the round, laughter, lesbian, life story, mind blown, movie theatre, musical, narrator, Off-Broadway, parody, Partridge Family, performers, poster, review, singing, soundtrack, staging, suicide, teacher, Tony Award, Tony nominations
Cold case
We have had more than enough reasons of late to question our leaders and institutions. So, perhaps you’re not ready for yet another in your entertainment viewing.
This seven-part documentary series examines the unsolved murder of Sister Cathy Cesnik, who was abducted and killed in Baltimore in 1969 at age 26.
The circumstances surrounding her death are just one element of the story. The apparent cover-up by the church and police is even bigger and more disturbing.
And the entire investigation of this ‘cold case’ was led by Gemma Hoskins and Abbie Schaub, retirees and former students of Sister Cathy at Archbishop Keough High School.
The information they bring to light is shocking and sad — even more so because it took this long.
Sister Cathy Cesnik — and all the students at Archbishop Keough — deserve justice.
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Posted in Commentary, documentaries, Entertainment, Religion, Television
Tagged Abbie Schaub, Archbishop Keough High School, Baltimore, Catholic Church, documentary, entertainment, Gemma Hoskins, Netflix, nuns, religion, review, Sister Cathy Cesnik, Television, The Keepers