The cast of TheatreSquared’s Fun Home, opening this week at nadine Baum Studios.
Courtesy photo
TheatreSquared is set to kick off their 2017-18 season with a bang.
The company this week will open a brand new show and season with their version of the five-time Tony Award-winning musical, Fun Home.
The show, based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel, traces the author’s childhood memories growing up around the satin-lined caskets in the Bechdel Funeral Home.
From the show’s synopsis:
After her father dies unexpectedly, graphic novelist Alison Bechdel dives deep into her past to tell the story of the volatile, brilliant, one-of-a-kind man whose temperament and secrets defined her family and her life. Moving between past and present, Alison relives her unique childhood and coming-of-age story at the Bechdel Funeral Home. Fun Home is a refreshingly honest, cathartic, and wholly original musical about seeing your parents through grown-up eyes.
The original production, which originally opened at the Public Theatre in New York before its run on Broadway, received universal critical acclaim. The New York Times called it “a rare beauty, extraordinary and heart-gripping.” The Chicago Tribute called it “exquisite. An emotional powerhouse that never lets you out of its embrace for a moment” and New York Magazine called it “something of miracle.”
It’s considered to be somewhat of a turning point in modern theatre.
“Before there was Hamilton, there was Fun Home,” said Robert Ford, Artistic Director for the company. “It was Broadway’s hottest ticket, and it raised the bar for the modern musical. It’s a six-time Best Musical Award winner, but it’s also one of the best works of theatre—period—that we’ve encountered in our twelve years as a company.”
TheatreSquared is the first theatre in the country to acquire the rights to recreate the show, no small feat for a small company from Arkansas, but it speaks to T2’s stellar reputation for producing excellent theatre nationally.
Local director Amy Herzberg (One Man Two Guvnors, Amadeus, Next to Normal, Good People) will direct the show. The cast includes Broadway veterans Rob Sutton and Rita Harvey, along with Christiana Cole, Christina D. Eskridge, Fayetteville native Halley Mayo (Sundown Town), Max Meyers, Alexander Margulis, Nikolai Margulis, and Autumn Rae Shannon.
The show will officially run from Aug. 23 – Sept. 17, with performances scheduled every Wednesday-Sunday at Nadine Baum Studios.
Tickets range from $17-$48 and are available at 479-443-5600 or online at theatre2.org. Through T2’s Lights Up! For Access program, supported by the Walmart Foundation, SNAP benefit recipients can purchase $5 tickets and patrons under the age of 30 can purchase $10 tickets. Season subscriptions are also still available.
For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit theatre2.org.
