Alexandra Socha, who originated the role of Medium Alison in the Public Theater's acclaimed new musical Fun Home, has departed the production. Actress Emily Skeggs succeeds her in the cast of the Off-Broadway production.
The Jeanine Tesori-Lisa Kron musical, which dramatizes lesbian cartoonist Alison Bechdel's coming-of-age and her relationship with her closeted gay father, opened to acclaim Oct. 22. It will play an extended engagement through Dec. 29. Read critics reviews here.
According to the Public, Socha (Spring Awakening) departed the production for personal reasons. Skeggs (Take Me Along) joins Beth Malone (Alison) and Sydney Lucas (Small Alison), who inhabit author-narrator Bechdel at various stages of her life.
PS Classics will release a cast album of Fun Home in February 2014.
Read Playbill.com's feature: "An Author's Life Comes to Life: Alison Bechdel on Fun Home."
Directed by Sam Gold (The Realistic Joneses, Seminar), Fun Home began previews Sept. 30. Tesori is the Tony-nominated composer of Caroline, or Change; Shrek; Violet; and Thoroughly Modern Millie. Kron, a Tony nominee for Well, also penned In the Wake and 2.5 Minute Ride. Fun Home features Tony Award winner Michael Cerveris as novelist Alison Bechdel's father, Bruce Bechdel, and Tony nominee Judy Kuhn as her mother, Helen Bechdel. Completing the cast are Griffin Birney (John Bechdel), Roberta Colindrez (Joan), Noah Hinsdale (Christian Bechdel) and Joel Perez (Roy).
Fun Home is described as "a fresh, daring new musical based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Alison Bechdel. When her father dies unexpectedly, graphic novelist Alison 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 playing at the family’s Bechdel Funeral Home, her growing understanding of her own sexuality and the looming, unanswerable questions about her father's hidden desires."
Fun Home has scenic and costume design by David Zinn, lighting design by Ben Stanton, sound design by Kai Harada, projection design by Jim Findlay and Jeff Sugg, wig design by Paul Huntley, music direction by Chris Fenwick and choreography by Danny Mefford.
For further information phone (212) 967-7555, or visit PublicTheater. The Public Theater is located at 425 Lafayette Street in Manhattan.
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