Fun Home Might Find Its Home on Broadway

Fun Home is a work by Alison Bechdel, creator of Dykes to Watch Out For. Described as a family tragicomedy the story is actually a memoir of Alison dealing with her dysfunctional family life. Alison lives with her family at her father's funeral home. As she is struggling with her sexuality she discovers that maybe the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. It covers difficult topics like sexual orientation, gender roles, and suicide. The complex content has proved troubling for some. It was removed from a Missouri public library and challenged in Utah and South Carolina for its use at the university level.

At 240 pages, the graphic novel was originally published 2006 in hardcover format, quickly topping the New York Times’ bestseller list. Months later, was serialized in France by Libération newspaper and then released as a whole by Éditions Denoël . Fun Home was an official selection at the Angoulême International Comics Festival but did not win the award. Italian, Portuguese, German, Hungarian, Korean, Polish, and Chinese translations followed since its release.

It won the GLAAD Media Award, Stonewall Book Award, and an Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work. It also appeared on many best of the year, decade, century book lists- further closing the gap between novels and graphic novels.

A theatrical adaption, “the first mainstream musical about a young lesbian” opened Off-Broadway at The Public Theatre on Sept. 30, 2023 until January 12. 2014. The script and lyrics were written by Lisa Kron(Well) and the score is by Jeanine Tesori (Shrek the Musical).  Beth Malone stars as Alison Bechdel (Sydney Lucas and Alexandra Socha play younger versions in the flashback scenes). Michael Cerveris plays Alison’s father Bruce and Judy Kuhn, her mother, Helen.

The musical has won the Critics Circle Award for Best Musical and the Lortel Awards for Best Musical. Cervaris won the Lortel Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his portrayal as Bruce.

The musical is now being shopped for a run on Broadway.

A sequel to Fun Home: Are You My Mother? : A Comic Drama, focuses on Alison’s relationship with her mother, Helen, was released in 2012.