“Fun Home,” the Broadway musical based on Alison Bechdel’s bestselling and beloved graphic memoir, has recouped the $5.25 million investment behind the production.
Earlier this year, the women responsible for bringing “Fun Home” to the stage made history at the 69th annual Tony Awards. Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron became the first all-female writing team to win a Tony for Best Original Score. The production, which first launched at the nonprofit Public Theater before remounting on Broadway, scored a total of five awards, including Best Musical.
Now the critical success is a bona fide commercial hit, too. Deadline notes that there is “an 80 percent failure rate across all Broadway productions that often is overshadowed by such high-profile hits as ‘Hamilton’ and ‘The Lion King,’” and while recoupment is “always an impressive achievement,” “Fun Home” is especially notable because its Broadway run has been a “comparatively brief period” (so far) — and in a small-ish venue, to boot.
The move to Broadway was financed by Kristin Caskey and Mike Isaacson (of Fox Theatrical) and partner Barbara Whitman. The show has broken box-office records at its new venue, Circle In the Square.
“Fun Home” chronicles Bechdel’s childhood and youth in rural Pennsylvania, focusing largely on her complicated relationship with her closeted father, as well as her own sexuality and sexual orientation.
“We’re so proud ‘Fun Home ‘has resonated with audience members in such a profound way,” the producers of the show commented. “We hope that the success of ‘Fun Home’ will inspire others to produce groundbreaking, challenging and exciting new works of musical theater on Broadway.”
[via Deadline]
