Changing My Major

When I originally booked this, I didn’t realise just how short of a gap it would be before I’m back in London Town, even if it was for only 1 night - note to self, leave it a couple of months now before your next trip! What could have taken me back here: Fun Home. The 2015 Tony winning Best Musical is currently making its debut at London's Young Vic, which is in the Waterloo area just south of the river. I mentioned in one of my previous London blogs that there was a show I couldn’t see then (as the tickets at that time were all sold out!), but that I would definitely be seeing in another trip: 50 points to anyone who guessed Fun Home!!

The show is based on the life of cartoonist Alison Bechdel and her tragicomic (as she calls it), Fun Home. The story is non linear, with an older Alison looking back at her life from her childhood, to as a student and her coming out, flicking back from one timeline to another. The story has a particular focus on her relationship with her closeted gay father, who committed suicide just months after Alison herself came out (oh, and that’s no spoiler).

Fun Home is lead by Kaisa Hammarlund (Sweet Charity) as Alison and Zubin Varla as her father Bruce, who are outstanding - but it is the supporting cast who really shine: Harriet Turnbull as Small Alison along with her version of Ring of Keys, as Alison struggles to keep her excitement at being attracted to a woman for the first time: Eleanor Kane as Medium Alison, experiencing similar excitement, confusion and fear in losing her virginity in Changing My Major: and finally the phenomenal Jenna Russell as Alison's mother, Helen - a hard part to pull off as she stays in the background during the show, desperately, and in vain, trying to keep her family together. Her Days and Days breaks your heart.

To be honest guys, this review is kind of hard to write; and that's not due to writers block like many other times. This is because I came out of the theatre, after 2 hours sans interval (make sure you go to the loo beforehand as you won't be re-admitted), I was pretty speechless. It was a standing ovation, and while I stood too, I couldn't cheer.
The best way to put it is that Fun Home is so beautifully written in so many ways (it's kind of hard to believe that this was written by the same woman who wrote such light-hearted shows as Thoroughly Modern Millie and Shrek!); it makes you laugh at Alison's embarrassment looking back at her first relationship, it makes you want to reach out and hug Small Alison as she struggles to understand her father; it is possibly one of the most emotional pieces of theatre I have ever seen - very different emotionally to the big Boubil and Schonberg hits, but it makes you feel raw inside. My response to it was to call my parents once I got back to the hostel where I was staying and tell them about my day and the show.

Oddly enough, I was listening to Lady Day on the way back home from London - and I looked back in my notebook to find my notes on that play. While looking back, I realised that seeing Fun Home was a similar feeling to Lady Day - other than while with Lady Day you knew that this was an inescapable downward spiral for Billie Holliday, the truly remarkable thing about Fun Home was that even after all you've seen and experience, it ends on such a hopeful note: it truly throws you off guard.

I hope after all that, it persuades you to see it - because of course I recommend it. It's not the easiest watch, but it is definitely worth it! Fingers crossed it will transfer to the West End, though even if it doesn't it would be interesting to see how it fares during awards season - even though the Young Vic isn't technically in the West End, I'm sure it is still eligible for Oliviers! Just like The King and I, it will be interesting to see what happens with it.....!!!!!