ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING

THE PUBLIC THEATER

OSKAR EUSTIS

Artistic Director

PATRICK WILLINGHAM
Executive Director

ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING

presents

R D I N G

ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING

ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING

CAST

(in order of appearance)

ALISON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
MEDIUM ALISON. . . . . . . .
SMALL ALISON . . . . . . . . .
BRUCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
HELEN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CHRISTIAN . . . . . . . . . . . .
JOHN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
JOAN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ROY/PETE/BOBBY JEREMY.

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. . . Beth Malone
Alexandra Socha
. . Sydney Lucas
Michael Cerveris
. . . . . Judy Kuhn
. . . Griffin Birney
. . Noah Hinsdale
Roberta Colindrez
. . . . . Joel Perez

ORCHESTRA
Conductor/Piano/Keyboard: Chris Fenwick
Associate Conductor: Ben Wexler
Violin/Viola: Monica Davis
Cello: Emily Brausa
Woodwinds: Chris Reza
Guitar: Doug Derryberry
Bass: George Farmer
Drums/Percussion: John Hadfield
Orchestrations by John Clancy

TIME & PLACE

The Bechdel Funeral Home, Beech Creek, PA; Oberlin College;
Alison Bechdels drawing studio; late 1960s early 2000s

MUSICAL NUMBERS
1.
2.
3.

5.
4.

6.

7.
.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.

It All Comes Back (Opening). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Small Alison, Bruce, Alison & Company
Sometimes my father appeared to enjoy having children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alison, Bruce & Helen
Welcome to Our House on Maple Avenue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Helen, Alison, Small Alison,
Christian, John, Bruce & Roy
Not Too Bad. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Medium Alison
Just had a good talk with Dad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alison, Medium Alison, Bruce,
Pete, Small Alison, John & Christian
Come to the Fun Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John, Christian & Small Alison
Helens Etude. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alison, Roy, Bruce, Small Alison,
Helen, John, Christian & Medium Alison
Thanks for the care package. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Medium Alison, Joan, Small Alison & Bruce
Al for Short. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Small Alison
Changing My Major. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Medium Alison
I leapt out of the closet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alison, Small Alison, Bruce & Helen
Maps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alison
Read a book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bruce, Small Alison, Alison & Helen
Raincoat of Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bobby Jeremy & Company
I need more coffee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alison, Bruce & Small Alison
Ring of Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Small Alison & Alison
Let me introduce you to my gay dad. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joan, Medium Alison, Alison, Bruce & Helen
Shortly after we were married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Helen & Medium Alison
Days and Days. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Helen
You ready to go for that drive? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bruce & Alison
Telephone Wire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alison & Bruce
It was great to have you home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bruce & Alison
Edges of the World. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bruce
This is what I have of you. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alison
Flying Away (Finale). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alison, Medium Alison & Small Alison

Alison Bechdels graphic novel Fun Home

is a minor miracle, an incredibly detailed and compassionate memoir of a family

whose secrets and pain lurk beneath a seemingly perfect surface. Lisa Kron and
Jeanine Tesori have taken that one miracle and transformed it into another, a
daring yet accessible musical that creates a form as unique as its protagonist.
Lisa Kron has been one of the treasures of New Yorks downtown for a generation.
Fun Home marks her musical theater debut, and it isnt surprising that she breaks
rules; shes never been one for following authority. Jeanine Tesori is one of our very
greatest composers, whose astonishing melodic gifts are matched by a remarkable
literary sensitivity. Watching them work with Alisons life story has been a joy and
a privilege. Over the years of the musicals development, they have consistently
refused easy answers, rejected every solution that felt too pat or easy, insisted on
searching until they got to the heart of this heartbreaking story.
Because it is a heartbreaking story.
Fun Home tells the story of young Alison growing up, discovering herself as a gay
woman and coming out to her parents. Her mother responds by telling her that her
father is gay. Four months later, her father commits suicide.
Fun Home is that story, and the story of Alison trying to come to terms with how
she is both like and utterly different from her father. As Alison says:
My dad and I both grew up in the same small
Pennsylvania town
And he was gay
And I was gay
And he killed himself
And Ibecame a lesbian cartoonist
Bruce Bechdel, Alisons father, is convinced that he needs to hide in order to be
himself. In the world in which he grew up and lived, to be gay was both criminal
and shameful, and so he constructs an identity that depends on secrets and darkness. As the family in Fun Home sing:
See how we polish and we shine
We rearrange and realign
Everything is balanced and serene
Like chaos never happens if its never seen
Alison sees that chaos, and has the courage to tell that story, to see her father
whole. And in that seeing, define the difference between her and her father, which

is both a personal difference (Alison having the courage her father could never
muster) and a historical difference (Alison growing up in a time where the possibilities of what it meant to be gay in America had changed dramatically).
In this story, the personal is the political in the most profound of ways. The act of
being seen, of being recognized for who you are, is both a deeply personal need
and a profoundly political one. Children need to be seen by their parents, need
that mirror to become fully themselves; we all need to be recognized, and valued,
by our society for who we are. Both are impossible in an atmosphere of shame
and secrecy. The recognition of gay rights is not just a political necessity, it is a
profoundly personal demand. The shame that Bruce Bechdel feels about his sexuality, a shame created by an intolerant society, distorts his own ability to see both
himself and his daughter. It is a shame that Alison must understand fully in order
to forgive and overcome.
Lisa and Jeanine have made of this remarkable story a musical which is both
profound and delightful, catching not only the suffering but the joy embedded in
Alisons journey. And the inspired cast who gathered at the Public Theater for the
world premiere, under Sam Golds incisive direction, gave amazing performances
which, thank God, this album captures: I know no song about first love more
beautiful and inspiriting than Changing My Major; Ring of Keys is a breathtaking accomplishment, a catchy, melodic ode to pre-pubescent sexual awakening that is both revolutionary and joyous; Days and Days is a soaring ballad of
lost opportunities and motherly love; Telephone Wire is a heartbreaking duet,
finding tragedy in a simple car ride; and Edges of the World is a masterful
evocation of a man who desperately desires to break his chains and forge a new
identity, but comes up against his own inability to change.
My gratitude to the brilliant staff of the Public Theater, and to Fox Theatricals
(Kristin Caskey and Mike Isaacson) and Barbara Whitman, who were such an
integral part of this journey.
Fun Home is a great family musical, a great lesbian musical, and an extraordinary portrait of our times. It is in the great tradition of Public Theater musicals such as A Chorus Line, Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk, Caroline, or
Change, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and Here Lies Love: it is as formally
inventive as it is broadly accessible, as movingly personal as it is profoundly
political. It is destined to be produced many times in the years to come, but this
beautiful recording of its original incarnation is to be treasured.

Oskar Eustis
Artistic Director
Public Theater

Michael Cerveris as Bruce

Roberta Colindrez as Joan, Alexandra Socha as Medium Alison

Beth Malone as Alison

SO BEAUTIFUL, SO FINE
Musical-theater training programs fetishize the I Want song: the number that
comes soon after the opening of many shows and lays out the protagonists predicament. (Think of Somethings Coming in West Side Story or The Wizard
and I in Wicked.) It says everything about the intelligence behind the new
musical Fun Home that its authors have taken a good look at such musical storytelling traditions and mostly chucked them.

the musical theater, Bruce is unprecedented: more Martha Stewart than Jimmy
Stewart, he is a high-school English teacher, runs the local funeral home (hence
the shows title), and is, in retrospect, quite obviously gay. That Alison learns this
only as she is accepting her own orientation at college is just one of the storys
many wrenching ironies. The flowering of her identity through sexuality coincides
with (and perhaps, she thinks, even causes) the collapse of his.

Or more interestingly, reinvented them, in this case by twisting the I Want

clich into something wholly original: a He Wants song. Offered in the usual
spot, it is sung by the family of Bruce Bechdel, a home-restoration martinet
who has turned his wife and three kids into assistant curators in the museum
of his mania.

Kron, whose breakthrough plays (2.5 Minute Ride, Well) were themselves
memoiristic, had the daunting job of exploding Bechdels densely interwoven
and often highly literary narrative in order to rebuild it as theater. Among her
most consequential choices was dividing the character of Alison in three, each
played by a different actor: the adult Alison at 43, trying to write her book;
Medium Alison at 19, coming out at Oberlin; and Small Alison, around
eight, desperate for her fathers attention but also chafing under it. (He forces
her to wear girly dresses and barrettes, when all she wants are jeans and a
crew cut.) As the story moves back and forth among the three timeframes, this
approach not only allows us to maintain our bearings but also solves certain
problems of age appropriateness. The 43-year-old Alison would be absurd
singing the hilarious title number, in which the young Bechdel kids create a
funky Jackson 5style commercial for the family business: We got Kleenex
and your choice of psalm ... Think of Bechdel when you need to embalm.
(Has the phrase aneurysm hook ever appeared in a song before?) And the
eight-year-old Alison could hardly be expected to make out with Joan, 19-yearold Alisons hot Oberlin classmate.

He wants the real feather duster used on the bookcase

Find all the books we read and carefully restore
He wants them alphabetized by classification
A volume out of place could start a third world war
Pointedly, Bruce barely participates in the mainstream of this song. Though he is
the motor of the others anxiety, he is elsewhere, both literally and musically, as
he sings admiringly to himself in the mirror:
Not too bad, if I say so myself
I might still break a heart or two
Sometimes the fire burns so hot
I dont know what Ill do
This sideways approach to introducing unusual characters and issues is more
than just an effective way to set up an unusual story; it also signals the shows
radical formal intentions. That Fun Home carried them out so thoroughly, while
retaining the musical theaters unparalleled capability for expressing emotion and
color through song, is something of a miracle.
It shouldnt be a surprise that the authors Lisa Kron wrote the book and lyrics, Jeanine Tesori the music used new tools to build Fun Home. New kinds of
stories demand new tools, and Fun Home is new in so many ways. For starters,
it is based, almost but not quite uniquely, on a graphic novel: Alison Bechdels
2006 memoir of life with father, subtitled A Family Tragicomic. In it, Bechdel,
a lesbian cartoonist, looks back on her youth and young adulthood, trying to
understand the blustery enigma of Bruce. If Alison is a new kind of character for

That this trifocal technique does not result in a blurry drama is partly the result
of Krons pointed lyrics. Tailored directly onto the story instead of struggling to
fill predetermined song slots, they are, like adult Alison, shorn and frank, without an ounce of fat. They are not witty just to show off, but only where wit is
called for. When the bookish, collegiate Alison finally experiences, with that hot
classmate, the all-consuming pleasure of sex, Kron comes up with a song whose
perfectly bookish, collegiate refrain is Im changing my major to Joan.More
commonly, as in Ring of Keys, in which small Alison falls in love with an oldschool butch deliverywoman, the lyrics hew unnervingly close to the halting
thought patterns of the character, even (or especially) when this creates shapes
hitherto unknown in theatrical song:
Someone just came in the door
Like no one I ever saw before
I feel

I
I
I
I

feel
dont know where you came from
wish I did, I feel so dumb
feel

to understand and shape it. As she narrates their final encounters, the twitchy,
anxious phrases of Telephone Wire give way to a soliloquy (Edges of the
World) in which Bruce finally drops the parlando style. In full, passionate voice,
culminating with a glorious, fortissimo G-major breakthrough, he achieves the
distorted greatness that his life otherwise failed to provide.

This expressive inexpressiveness is followed by a rhymed quatrain of a chorus:

Your swagger and your bearing
And the just-right clothes youre wearing
Your short hair and your dungarees
And your lace-up boots and your keys
The brief access to traditional form is joyous; its as if the song itself, like Alison,
were thinking its way into coherence.
Tesori, whose exhilarating music for Caroline, or Change sounded like a ten-car
pile-up of relevant styles, switches gears here to match what Kron is doing.
Except for those numbers that require it, she entirely abjures pastiche, that
Hamburger Helper of contemporary musicals. (The songs that emerge from
the Bechdel kids 1970s childhood do sound like they came from that era:
Raincoat of Love is a trippy fantasy of happy family life that closely tracks
the Partridge Familys Come On, Get Happy.) For the most part she also
abjures traditional song forms, opting instead for yearning fragments and bits
of refrains that clump like cells into musicalized scenes: a smart parallel to the
way Bechdel builds pages from individual panels. And how else would you portray people who cant find their way to happiness? The sound world of Bruces
wife, Helen, for instance, grows from elements of her classical pianism:
Chopinesque figures at first heard in the foreground are later submerged as
accompaniment. Bruce himself is characterized by a parlando style representing the enormous force of the repression holding him together. At times, he
can barely sing, but rather mutters on pitch, in lines exquisitely shaped to the
exact contours of Krons lyrics.
Despite the care obviously lavished on its theoretical underpinnings, and despite
its seriousness, Fun House is neither gloomy nor crabbed. It is, rather, expansively comic and, as the last half-hour hurtles toward the unbearable ending you
already know is coming, expansively sad. That sadness begins quietly enough;
Helens song Days and Days, admitting the waste of her life, is murmurously
devastating. But the final sequence, covering a period of months, belongs in
the company of Sweeney Todds Epiphany and Gypsys Roses Turn: ambitious musical depictions of characters in liminal states, moving permanently
from one condition to another. In the case of Fun Home, two characters undergo
such a transformation. For as Bruce is pushing toward his own fateful choice,
Alison, whose memory provides our only view of the events, is desperately trying

But when the sunlight hits the parlor wall at certain

times of day
I see how fine this house could be
I see it so damn clear
Oh my God!
Why am I standing here?!
Its as if his over-refined taste had finally turned itself on him, and eaten him
alive.
Yet what would he, or the musical, be without such discernment? Early on, as
Bruce sifts through a box hes salvaged from a barn, he holds up a coffee pot
and asks, with annoyance, Is this junk or silver? In the context of the song
(It All Comes Back) and of Alisons story, its a comment on the vagaries of
memory: What parts of the past are valuable, or even real?
Yes, this stamp, you see right here?
Thats how the craftsman leaves a sign
That he was here and made his work
So beautiful, so fine
But its also a reflection of the way gifted artists can pick through the remnants
of a tarnished art form to make a new kind of story shine.

Jesse Green

January 2014

Jesse Green has written about theater (among many other things) for New York magazine
since 2008, and for The New York Times (among many other places) before that.

NOTE
Fun Home is made of scenes that flow back and forth across three periods of time
in the life of Alison Bechdel. The scenes flow unbidden and on their own terms,
as memories do. But though this is a memory play, it is important to note that the
past always understands itself to be the present, and every character is moving
earnestly forward at all times into an unknown and unknowable future. This is
equally true for Alison, for whom looking back is an active journey forward.

SYNOPSIS
Alison, in her studio, begins to draw memories of herself and her father, whose
life and suicide shes trying to comprehend. Her work triggers an unfolding stream
of memory: Small Alison ordering her (unseen) father to play airplane with
her; her father, Bruce, showing Small Alison the haul of treasure and trash hes
rescued from a neighbors barn; a swirling rush of people and places from Alisons
youth, and finally, the single image of Small Alison joyfully lifted by Bruce into a
game of airplane (It All Comes Back [Opening]).
Bruce learns that a lady from the historical society is on her way to look at the
house. Helen takes charge of preparations (Welcome to Our House on Maple
Avenue).
Medium Alison wrestles with anxiety in her first weeks in college (Not Too Bad).
She gets a phone call from her dad, who reassures her that shes fine as she is
its other people who fall short. Alison, reading a journal entry from this time, is
struck by how unsuspecting she was of the tragedy ahead.

Bruce orders Small Alison to put on a party dress. But when he leaves the
room, she ditches the dress, dons a jean jacket and imagines herself as a cool
and gallant hero (Al for Short). When Bruce returns, the fantasy is cut short.
Defeated, she puts on the dress.
Medium Alison triumphantly announces to Joan that shes written to her parents
declaring her lesbianism. She then backpedals into a spiral of self-doubt, which
Joan stops with a kiss. Medium Alison pounces on Joan in an explosion of pent-up
lust. Later that night she wakes up to the miracle of Joan in her bed (Changing
My Major).
Alison starts to think about how and when her fathers trajectory departed from
hers. Small Alison shows Bruce a map shes drawn for school. He insists she
redraw it according to his ideas about art. Their ensuing fight spurs Alison to draw
a newer, more truthful map of her fathers life (Maps).
Bruce gives a local boy a ride in his car, offers him beer and finds out that the
boy is younger than he thought.
Medium Alison writes home to ask her parents if theyre ever going to respond to
her announcement of her sexuality.
Small Alison watches her favorite TV show about a happy singing family. Bruce,
preparing to leave the house, snaps off the TV and tells her that hes on his way
to see a court-ordered psychiatrist. Small Alisons confusion turns to anguish
at the sound of a vicious, screaming fight between her parents. Shutting her
eyes and covering her ears, she transforms herself and her family into the happy
family from her TV show (Raincoat of Love).

At the Bechdel Funeral Home a mourner is unaware the Bechdel children are
hiding inside the caskets. Bruce scolds the kids, but after he leaves they resume
their game (Come to the Fun Home).
Medium Alison hovers at the door of the Gay Union trying to will herself to walk
through, but at the sight of Joan, a charming dyke, she panics and aborts her
mission entirely.
Roy, a young man Bruce has hired to do yard-work, comes by the Bechdel house
for the first time. Alison encourages herself to keep watching this memory:
Bruce takes Roy into the library and plays out his secret desires with him, with
his wife and children in the next rooms (Helens Etude).
Medium Alison writes home, specifically not mentioning her new friend from the
Gay Union, Joan.
Sydney Lucas as Small Alison, Michael Cerveris

Alison reassures herself that memories have no power as she walks through her
memory of a family trip to New York City. Bruce and the kids return to their
borrowed Greenwich Village apartment after a long day of theater, shopping and
museums. He settles them to sleep and is tiptoeing out the door when Small
Alison sits up, demanding to know where hes going. He promises hes just
going for a paper, sings her to sleep and sneaks out into the night.
Medium Alison, enraged by the cavalier tone of the letter her father has finally
sent in response to her announcement, tells Joan that its now clear that she
and her father are nothing alike and they never have been.
Small Alison is sitting with her father at a luncheonette when a butch
delivery-woman walks in and fills her with an incomprehensibly joyful sense
of recognition (Ring of Keys).
When Medium Alison calls home to demand that her parents talk with her about
her letter, she is blindsided by her mothers revelation that her father has a long
history of sex with men.
Medium Alison, overwhelmed by this news, dissociates from her family, while
Alison pieces together the familys creeping disintegration at that time. Medium
Alison returns home, with Joan, for the first time since learning the truth about
her father.
Medium Alison and Helen discuss Bruces increasingly manic behavior,
prompting Helen to reflect on her marriage (Days and Days).
After a disarmingly fun evening around the piano, Bruce asks Alison if she
wants to go for a drive. Medium Alison is gone, and Alison realizes he is talking
to her. Shes in too deep for observation. This memory she must relive. They get
in the car and drive (Telephone Wire).
Alison watches her father struggle to maintain equilibrium as he throws himself
into one last restoration project, followed by his final swaggering push to regain
his footing before he steps in front of a truck (Edges of the World).
Having witnessed the death of her father, Alison draws her way through the
emptiness and finds herself unexpectedly released from the grip of the past.
She flies forward into a life now her own (Flying Away [Finale]).

Lisa Kron

Joel Perez as Roy

IT ALL COMES BACK

(OPENING)
1.

SMALL ALISON:
Daddy, hey Daddy
Come here, okay?
I need you
What are you doing
I said come here
You need to do what I tell you to do
Listen to me
Daddy
Come here, hey right here
Right now, youre making me mad
Listen to me
Listen to me
Listen to me
I wanna play airplane
I wanna play airplane
I wanna play airplane
I wanna put my arms out and fly
Like the Red Baron in his Sopwith Camel!
No wait
Like Superman up in the sky
Til I can see all of Pennsylvania

BRUCE:
Hey, gimme a hand.
SMALL ALISON:
Whatdja get, Daddy?
ALISON:
Right, right, right.
BRUCE:
Its from Clyde Gibbons barn. What a haul.
He said, Take what you want. I said,
Clyde, are you sure? He said, Its all
junk to me, so I said, Okay, Clyde,
okay. Come on, take a look. You go to
auctions, yard sales, comb the dump

and crap, theres crap, theres crap,

theres hey! Whats this?

SMALL ALISON:
More crap?
BRUCE:
No
Linen
This is linen
Gorgeous Irish linen
See how I can tell?
Right here, this floating thread, you see?
Thats what makes it damask
And the weight, the weight, this drape
And the pattern, crisp and clear
See how its made from matte and shine
Its tattered here, but all the rest
How beautiful, how fine

I want to know whats true

Dig deep into who
And what and why and when
Until now gives way to then

ALISON:
Did you ever imagine Id hang onto your
stuff, Dad? Me either. But I guess I
always knew that someday I was going to
draw you. In cartoons. Yes, Dad, I know
you think cartoons are silly, but I draw
cartoons. And I need real things to draw
from because I dont trust memory.

SMALL ALISON:
Ooh. Can I have it?

But God, this thing is ghastly

You were so ecstatic when you found it
At a yard sale no, no, wait in Mr.
Gibbons barn
It all comes back, it all comes back, it all
comes back
Theres you
And theres me
But now Im the one whos 43 and stuck
I cant find my way through
Just like you
Am I just like you?

BRUCE:
Its all yours. Whats this?

I cant abide romantic notions of some

vague long ago

Silver
Is this silver?
Is this junk or silver?
With polish we can tell
I love how tarnish melts away opening to
luster
And the mark, is there a mark?
Yes, this stamp, you see right here?
Thats how the craftsman leaves a sign
That he was here and made his work
So beautiful, so fine

BRUCE:
A sign that he was here and made his work

Okay, okayWhat elseCrapCrap

Dead mouse.

This has traveled continents to get here

And crossed an ocean of time
And somehow landed in this box
Under a layer of grime
I cant abide romantic notions of some
vague long ago

ALISON/BRUCE:
I want to know whats true
Dig deep into who
And what and why and when
Until now gives way to then
SMALL ALISON:
Daddy, hey, Daddy, come here, okay?
I need you
Airplane, I wanna play airplane
BRUCE:
What is true
This has traveled

To get here
Beautiful
Beautiful is
What is true

BRUCE:
Shes on her way over right now. I dont
know what to do. The place is turned
upside down Im not dressed

ALISON:
What is true
I wanna play

HELEN:
Go take a shower.

Caption: My dad and I were exactly alike.

SMALL ALISON:
I see everything!
ALISON:
Caption: My dad and I were nothing alike.
SMALL ALISON:
Im Superman!
ALISON:
My dad and IMy dad and I
SMALL ALISON:
Daddy, come back!

2. Sometimes

my father
appeared to enjoy having
children
ALISON:
Caption: Sometimes my father appeared to
enjoy having children, but the real object
of his affection was his house.
BRUCE:
I just got a call, Eleanor Bochner, Allegheny
Historical Society. She was calling about
the house tour.
HELEN:
Oh. Thats wonderful.

BRUCE:
But
HELEN:
Take a shower, get yourself dressed. Kids?
Kids? Theres an important lady on her
way over to look at the house listen to
me, please. This is one of those times you
need to do what I say, quickly, and without any shenanigans.

WELCOME TO OUR HOUSE

ON MAPLE AVENUE
3.

HELEN:
He wants the Hepplewhite suite chairs back
in the parlor
Move the G.I. Joe., it cant be on the floor
He wants the Dresden figurines back in the
breakfront
A Slinky messes up the period dcor
Get the Lemon Pledge and dust the
These should face the same direction
He wants it vacuumed
The surface gleaming
He wants it closer to the door
He wants
He wants
He wants
He wants the brass candelabra set at an angle
The crayons and the glue should go back in
the drawer
He wants the bust of Quixote square on the
mantel
Sweep that lint away, its what a broom is for

Gently wipe the eucalyptus

Polish up the crystal prisms
When he comes down here
He wants it ready
Weve got to get it done before
He wants
He wants
He wants

BRUCE:
Wheres my bronzing stick?!
HELEN:
Its in the
ALISON:
Welcome to our house on Maple Avenue
See how we polish and we shine
We rearrange and realign
Everything is balanced and serene
Like chaos never happens if its never seen
ALISON/HELEN:
Evry need we anticipate and fill
And still
HELEN/SMALL ALISON:
He wants the real feather duster used on
the bookcase
HELEN/CHRISTIAN:
Find all the books we read and carefully
restore
HELEN/JOHN:
He wants them alphabetized by
classification
HELEN:
A volume out of place could start a third
world war
HELEN/KIDS:
Thats an inch out of position
Watch it, thats a first edition

HELEN:
What are we missing?
What have we left out?
When he comes down here whats in store?

HELEN:
And yet

HELEN/KIDS:
He wants
He wants
He wants

BRUCE:
Not too bad, if I say so myself
I might still break a heart or two
Sometimes the fire burns so hot
I dont know what Ill do
Not too bad, if I say so myself

HELEN/CHRISTIAN/JOHN:
Welcome to our house on Maple Avenue

BRUCE/ALISON:
Not too bad

ALISON/SMALL ALISON:
Welcome to our house on Maple Avenue

BRUCE:
Mrs. Bochner, pleasure to meet you. Come
on in. Obviously still a work in progress.
Yes, yes, I did all the work myself. Thats
how we were able to afford the place.
No no, historic restoration is an avocation but thats flattering. I teach English
at Beech Creek High, and the Bechdel
Funeral Home is our family business. So,
Im also a funeral director.

HELEN/CHRISTIAN/JOHN:
See how we polish and we shine
ALISON/SMALL ALISON:
See how we polish and we shine
HELEN/CHRISTIAN/JOHN:
We rearrange and realign
ALISON/SMALL ALISON:
We rearrange and realign
HELEN/CHRISTIAN/JOHN:
Everything is balanced and serene
BRUCE:
Everything is balanced and serene
ALISON/SMALL ALISON:
Everything is balanced and serene
HELEN/CHRISTIAN/JOHN:
Like chaos never happens if its never seen
BRUCE:
Like chaos never happens if its never seen
ALISON/SMALL ALISON:
Like chaos never happens if its never seen
WHOLE FAMILY:
Were a typical family quintet

HELEN/KIDS:
What is he after?
What are we doing?
Right foot is tapping
That means hes stewing
Stay very still and maybe well please him
Make one wrong move and demons will
seize him
Try hard
What else is family for?
ALISON:
It all comes back. It all comes back.
BRUCE:
You have a keen eye! This I found yesterday at the dump. Isnt it? Actually I
believe Rococo Revival. Absolutely, would
you like one with the family? Kids? Mrs.
Bochner wants to take a photo.
ROY:
Hello! Anybody home?

BRUCE:
Be there in a minute! Young man. Helps
out with the yard work.
HELEN/KIDS:
He wants
He wants
He wants
ALISON:
He wants more
Caption: My dad and I both grew up in
the same small Pennsylvania town, and
he was gay, and I was gay, and he killed
himself, and Ibecame a lesbian cartoonist.

4. NOT

TOO BAD

MEDIUM ALISON:
Not too bad, if I say so myself
This outshines the first one I drew
I dont know which ways up
I dont know what Im supposed to do
Not too bad, if I say so myself

5. Just

had a good talk

with Dad

ALISON:
September 15. Just had a good talk
with Dad and I feel so much better.
(Underline, underline, underline.) Im
going to spend four years reading books
and drawing and I feel so relieved to let
go of the insane idea that Im supposed
to throw myself out into the world.
MEDIUM ALISON:
Its not the world, anyway. Its Oberlin
College!

ALISON:
Wow. I had no idea what was coming.

CHRISTIAN:
Should we start from the top?

KIDS:
In Beech Creek!

BRUCE:
Sorry, the kids must have been cleaning
in here. This is the one we spoke about.
Cherry. Quite popular.

SMALL ALISON:
Yeah.

SMALL ALISON/CHRISTIAN:
The Bechdel Fun Home

CHRISTIAN:
Wait, should we say Fun Home? We only
call it that in the family.

JOHN:
We take dead bodies evry day of the week, so

PETE:
This?
BRUCE:
Also quite popular. Why dont we take
these brochures into the office so you
can look them over.
PETE:
So you say we wont see any of the bruises.
BRUCE:
No, no. We remove all signs of trauma.
Dont worry, Pete. She will look very
peaceful.
PETE:
Thank you. Thanks, Bruce.
BRUCE:
Of course. Shall we
PETE:
No, Ill, Ill just take these home.
BRUCE:
Good idea. Take them home, look them
over, give me a call. Pete, get some rest.
Kids, get out of there. Now.
SMALL ALISON:
You guys, we gotta practice the
commercial.
JOHN:
Yeah, we messed it up before.

SMALL ALISON:
Its our commercial. We can do what we
want.
CHRISTIAN:
I guess its okay. Places everybody!
SMALL ALISON:
Fun Home commercial: take seven million
billion thousand!

6. COME

TO THE FUN HOME

JOHN:
Your uncle died
Youre feeling low
You got to bury your mama
But you dont know where to go
Your papa needs his final rest
You got, you got, you got to give them the
best
Oh
SMALL ALISON/CHRISTIAN:
Come to the Fun Home
JOHN:
Thats the Bechdel Funeral Home, baby
SMALL ALISON/CHRISTIAN:
The Bechdel Fun Home
JOHN:
Next to Johnsons Department Store

KIDS:
Youve got no reason to roam
Use the Bechdel Funeral Home
What it is, what it is
Hoo hoo
What it is, what it is
Now, baby

JOHN:
Ooh
Here come da judge, here come da judge,
baby
SMALL ALISON/CHRISTIAN:
Sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me,
sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to
me, sock it to me, baby
CHRISTIAN:
Our caskets are satin lined
And we got so many models
Guaranteed to blow your mind
You know our mourners
KIDS:
So satisfied
CHRISTIAN:
They like, they like, they like
KIDS:
Our formaldehyde!
Yeah!
Here at the Fun Home
CHRISTIAN:
Thats the Bechdel Funeral Home, baby

Noah Hinsdale as John, Griffin Birney as Christian, Sydney Lucas

KIDS:
Come to the Fun Home
SMALL ALISON:
We got Kleenex and your choice of psalm
KIDS:
Stop by the Fun Home
CHRISTIAN:
Think of Bechdel when you need to
embalm
KIDS:
Youve got no reason to roam
Use the Bechdel Funeral Home
What it is, what it is
Hoo hoo hoo
What it is, what it is
Hoo hoo

CHRISTIAN:
Tell em what we got
Tell em what we got, Tito
What else have we got?
What else have we got, you guys?
SMALL ALISON:
Smelling salts for if youre queasy
JOHN:
Folding chairs that open easy
CHRISTIAN:
These are cool, you know what they are?
Flags with magnets for your car!
JOHN:
These are wire and they hold flowers
SMALL ALISON:
Heres a sign for the names and the hours
CHRISTIAN:
Stand right here when you sign the book

JOHN:
This is called an aneurysm hook
En garde!

BRUCE:
No, I remember from class youre not
much of a reader.

KIDS:
Come to the Fun Home
Ample parking down the street
Here at the Fun Home
Body prep that cant be beat
Youll like the Fun Home
In our hearse theres a backwards seat!
Thats why we made up this poem
Were the Bechdel Funeral Home

ROY:
No. Read some good books in your class,
though.

What it is, what it is

Hoo hoo hoo
What it is, what it is
Now, baby
Hoo hoo hoo!

7. HELENS

ETUDE

ALISON:
I want to know whats true
Dig deep into who
And what and why and when
Until now gives way to then
ROY:
Whoa. Nice room.
BRUCE:
Heres the wallpaper. Not William Morris
but its close. Its pretty close.
ROY:
You read all these books?
BRUCE:
Working on it.
ROY:
That is not something I can imagine.

BRUCE:
My job is to make it interesting.
ALISON:
Its like a 1950s lesbian pulp novel. Their
tawdry love could only flourish in the
shadows.
SMALL ALISON:
I like Roy. Hes funny.
HELEN:
Alison, find something to do. Im practicing.
SMALL ALISON:
Did Chop-In write Chopsticks?
HELEN:
Its Sho-PAHN. Alison, stop bothering me.
ROY:
This place is like a museum. Whats that
stuff?
BRUCE:
Sherry. Want some?
ROY:
Is it any good?
BRUCE:
Yeah.
ROY:
Sure. I remember this house before you
moved in. We used to ride our bikes here
all the time when we were kids. Youve
done a shit-load of work.

Sydney Lucas, Judy Kuhn as Helen

BRUCE:
I did. By myself, most of it.
ROY:
You must be in good shape, old man.
BRUCE:
Not too bad, if I say so myself
I might still break a heart or two
Youd be surprised just what
A guy my age knows how to do
Want it?

ROY:
Yeah.
BRUCE:
Unbutton your shirt.
ROY:
Is that your wife playing the piano?
BRUCE:
Dont worry about her.
HELEN:
La la la la
Maybe not right now
Maybe not right now
La la la la

BRUCE:
I want, I want, I want, I
ROY:
I know this type
This type of married guy
I could just give him the slip but why
Its not a big deal
I know he wants me
I know this type
This type of married guy
I could just give him the slip but why
Its not a big deal

I know he wants just

Me and him
Me and him
Me and him

HELEN:
I want, I want, I want, I
La la la
Me and him
Me and him
Me and him
BRUCE:
I might still break a heart or two
I want just
Me and him
Me and him
Me and him

8. Thanks

for the care

package
MEDIUM ALISON:
Dear Mom and Dad, thanks for the care
package. I was running out of granola
bars so it came right in the nick of time.
They sell a kind here but I swear theyre
made out of paste.
JOAN:
Hey, Alison.
MEDIUM ALISON:
Nothing else worth writing home about
(har har). Al.
JOAN:
That would be great except its tomorrow
night.
MEDIUM ALISON:
I could do it by then.
JOAN:
Really?

MEDIUM ALISON:
I could do it now.
JOAN:
You could?
MEDIUM ALISON:
Yeah, its just some simple drawing, right?
Sure. So you want it to say
JOAN:
We just need some really good No Nukes
posters.
MEDIUM ALISON:
Right, okay, so Im thinking maybe something like
JOAN:
Oh, thats funny. Thats really good.
MEDIUM ALISON:
This? No. This is just quick and stupid.
JOAN:
Whos this in the photo?
MEDIUM ALISON:
My dad.
JOAN:
Thats your dad?
MEDIUM ALISON:
Yeah.
JOAN:
He looks cool. Did he teach you how to
draw cartoons?
MEDIUM ALISON:
Definitely not.
JOAN:
Whys that funny?

MEDIUM ALISON:
Its not funny, its just, hes moreI dont
know. Refined.
JOAN:
I think its amazing that hes cool with you
being a dyke.
MEDIUM ALISON:
What? No. I dont think so.
JOAN:
Hes not?
MEDIUM ALISON:
No. I dont know. I can we talk about
something else?
JOAN:
Okay. Why?
MEDIUM ALISON:
My parents dont know because I just figured it out myself.
JOAN:
Oh.
MEDIUM ALISON:
About two weeks ago.
JOAN:
Huh. With who?
MEDIUM ALISON:
With who what?
JOAN:
Who were you with?
MEDIUM ALISON:
Nobody! Oh my God, Im so embarrassed. I
was in a bookstore.
JOAN:
In a bookstore? Nice.

MEDIUM ALISON:
What? No! Two weeks ago I was downtown
and I wandered into the bookstore, I was
just browsing around and I picked up
this book
JOAN:
Ah, Word Is Out.
MEDIUM ALISON:
And I was like, Oh, interviews. This looks
interesting. And then I was like, These
people are all
JOAN:
Gay?
MEDIUM ALISON:
Yes. And then I was like, Oh my God!
Ima les
JOAN:
A dyke.
MEDIUM ALISON:
Yes. A dyke. Yes. And I totally flipped out
and shoved the book back onto the shelf
and I left. And then I went back the next
day and bought the book. And then I
went back the next day and bought all
the other books in that section. And then
I made myself go to the meeting at the
Gay Union. And then, and then, well, its
now. Hi.
JOAN:
Hello. Thats a powerful book.
MEDIUM ALISON:
It is.
JOAN:
So. I should probably go.
MEDIUM ALISON:
Okay.

JOAN:
Will I see you at the Union meeting tomorrow afternoon?
MEDIUM ALISON:
Yeah Ill be, uh, yeah, I will be at the
meeting. Ill bring these posters. Finish
em up.
JOAN:
Cool. Ill see you then. Bye, Alison.
MEDIUM ALISON:
Bye, Joan.
SMALL ALISON:
Daddy, please dont make me wear the
dress. Tami made her cat wear a dress
and everyone laughed at it and the cat
was so humiliated, Daddy. Thats what
its like when I put on a dress. Everyone
can see its wrong. Its humiliating.
Daddy
BRUCE:
Enough. I want you dressed in five
minutes.

9. AL

FOR SHORT

SMALL ALISON:
Hey
Hey, how ya doin?
Alison
Yeah sure
Al for short
Hey
Yeah
Oh yeah
This is my Mustang convertible
Yeah, I found it at the dump
Pow!
I fixed it up myself
Blam!
Want a ride?

Im going to Paris
No?
Alright, see you later, yeah
Im in Paris in my stang
On the boo-lay, boo-lay-var
Oh no, did that man just shove that lady?
Did he make her cry?
Pardonnez moi, mademoiselle
Je voudrais to make sure everything is, uh,
daccord here
Mindez-vous your own beezness
I grab his arm and twist it behind his back!
Excusez-moi, monsieur, but I believe I was
talking to the mademoiselle
Merci! Merci!
You are tres, tres gallant
What is your appel?
Im Alison
Alison
Aaahleesohn
Sil vous plait, cood I ride wees you een your
Mastang?
I dun know what eet ees about you bat you
mek me fil so safe
I dont know what it is about you, but you
make me feel so safe
Yeah, sure
Oh yeah, sure
Alison
Alison
Alison
Al for short

10. CHANGING

MY MAJOR

MEDIUM ALISON:
What happened last night?
Are you really here?
Joan Joan Joan Joan Joan
Hi, Joan
Dont wake up, Joan
Oh my God, last night
Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my
God, last night
I got so excited
I was too enthusiastic
Thank you for not laughing
Well, you laughed a little bit
At one point when I was touching you
And said I might lose consciousness
Which you said was adorable
And I just have to trust
That you dont think Im an idiot
Or some kind of an animal
I never lost control
Due to overwhelming lust
But I must say that Im
Changing my major to Joan
Im changing my major to sex with Joan
Im changing my major to sex with Joan
With a minor in kissing Joan
Foreign study to Joans inner thighs
A seminar on Joans ass in her Levis
And Joans crazy brown eyes
Joan, I feel like Hercules
Oh God, that sounds ridiculous
Just keep on sleeping through this
And Ill work on calming down
So by the time youve woken up
Ill be cool, Ill be collected
And Ill have found some dignity
But who needs dignity?
Cause this is so much better
Im radiating happiness
Will you stay here with me for the rest of the
semester?

We wont need any food

Well live on sex alone
Sex with Joan
I am writing a thesis on Joan
Its a cutting-edge field and my
mind is blown
I will gladly stay up every night
to hone
My compulsory skills with Joan
I will study my way down her
spine
Familiarize myself with her wellmade outline
While she researches mine
I dont know who I am
Ive become someone new
Nothing I just did
Is anything I would do
Overnight everything changed
I am not prepared
Im dizzy, Im nauseous
Im shaky, Im scared
Am I falling into nothingness
Or flying into something so sublime?
I dont know, but Im
Changing my major to Joan
I thought all my life Id be all
alone
But that was before I was lying
prone
In this dorm room bed with Joan
Look, shes drooled on the pillow
so sweet
All sweaty and tangled-up in my
bed sheet
And my heart feels...complete
Lets never leave this room
How about we stay here til finals
Ill go to school forever
Ill take out a dementedly huge
high-interest loan
Cause Im changing my major
to Joan

11. I

leapt out of the

closet

ALISON:
Caption: I leapt out of the closet
and four months later my father
killed himself by stepping in
front of a truck. While I was in
college, exploding into my new
life, you were sitting here reading a book.
SMALL ALISON:
Daddy, you saw the Leaning
Tower of Pisa one time, right?
BRUCE:
I did. Whats that?
SMALL ALISON:
Its for school. Were learning
maps and globes, and Miss
Schenck said draw a map to
show in class tomorrow.
BRUCE:
Map of what?
SMALL ALISON:
Places people in our family have
lived.
BRUCE:
And whats this?
SMALL ALISON:
Okay, so: This is a keystone
because Pennsylvania is the
Keystone State. Inside this
square? Thats Beech Creek, see?
Bridge, ford, creek, school, Fun
Home, our house, Aunt Jane
and Uncle Randys house. This
is Germany. Oh! John, Christian,
me. See? Floating in bubbles
because were not born yet

BRUCE:
Okay, that is very interesting. Now let me
show you how you can make it better.
Listen to me, you have the potential to
become a real artist. Do you know that?
You do. But you have to study the forms,
you have to learn the rules. Lets talk
about composition. This is all over the
place. Pick one area.
SMALL ALISON:
The Keystone State.
BRUCE:
Thats still too much. Watch this. Im
going to draw our mountains. See that?
How Im shading them? That gives them
dimension.
Make this part look rugged
Mm mm
Allegheny Plateau
This dark shaded stripe bum bum bum is
the front
Paint the long ridges and valleys below
Mm mm

SMALL ALISON:
I want the whole state.
BRUCE:
Im trying to explain to you that you cant
do that.
SMALL ALISON:
Let me try.
BRUCE:
Alison, this is the way it should look.
SMALL ALISON:
But I liked the way mine was.
BRUCE:
But you cannot do it like that unless you
want to ruin it. I am trying to teach you
something important.

HELEN:
Bruce, its a drawing. It doesnt matter.
BRUCE:
It doesnt matter? Shes taking it into
school. Shes showing it in class. You
know what, never mind. You want to take
some half-baked mess to school, you
want to embarrass yourself, it doesnt
matter to me. Do what you want. I dont
care.
SMALL ALISON:
I like the one you did, Daddy.

12. MAPS
ALISON:
Make this part look rugged
Mm mm
Allegheny Plateau
This dark shaded stripe bum bum bum is
the front
Paint the long ridges and valleys below
Mm mm
Our townis this dot
Quick dashes mark the property ends
Beech Creek, a rope that turns and bends
Little squares for houses strung along
roads
The land transfigured into topographic
codes
Maps show you what is simple and true
Im laying out a birds eye view
Where did he travel, what did he see?
A sweeping atlas of my dads mythology
Dad was born on this farm
Heres our house
Heres the spot where he died
I can draw a circle
His whole life fits inside
Four miles from our door

I-80 ran from shore to shore

On its way from the Castro to Christopher
Street
The road not taken
Just four miles from our door
You were born on this farm
Heres our house
Heres the spot where you died
I can draw a circle
I can draw a circle
You lived your life inside

13. Read

a book

BRUCE:
Thats inane.
SMALL ALISON:
I was watching it!
BRUCE:
That shows awful.
SMALL ALISON:
Its the best show! Its about a family that
BRUCE:
I know what its about. Read a book.
ALISON:
Slam. Crash.
BRUCE:
Who fucking left these here? I just varnished this table!
HELEN:
Bruce Bruce, what are you doing! Those
are library books! Stop it!
BRUCE:
Take these back to the library, you crazy,
stupid bitch!

HELEN:
Go! Go! Just go! Youre going to be late for
your appointment. Just go.
BRUCE:
Dont fucking tell me what to do!
HELEN:
Bruce, if you miss this appointment we are
in a lot of trouble. Do you understand
that?
BRUCE:
Thank you for the lecture. I can handle my
own business!
HELEN:
If youre not home for dinner Im throwing
it in the toilet!

14.

RAINCOAT OF LOVE

BOBBY JEREMY:
Today I woke up with a feeling that I did
not recognize
KIDS/MEDIUM ALISON/JOAN:
Strange feeling, yeah
BOBBY JEREMY:
Our happy life seemed far away and everything was made of lies
KIDS/MEDIUM ALISON/JOAN:
Lies, yeah
BOBBY JEREMY:
The sky was turning dark when, baby, I
looked in your eyes
And thats when I knew
KIDS/MEDIUM ALISON/JOAN/BRUCE/
HELEN:
Everythings all right, babe

BOBBY JEREMY:
When were together
ALL:
When were together
BOBBY JEREMY:
Cause you are like a raincoat made out of
love
ALL:
You are like a raincoat
Keepin me dry
Magic shield of love
BOBBY JEREMY:
Protecting me from bad weather
ALL:
Rain from the sky
You are like a raincoat!
BOBBY JEREMY:
Made out of love
A raincoat of love
ALL:
Everythings all right, babe
BOBBY JEREMY:
When were together

ALL:
Rain from the sky
You are like a raincoat!
BOBBY JEREMY:
Made out of love
A raincoat of love
HELEN/KIDS:
Love love love love love
Together, together
Raincoat of love
Raincoat of love
ALL:
Everythings all right, babe, when were
together
Everythings all right, babe, when were
together
BRUCE:
Everythings all right, babe, when were
together
Everythings all right
Everythings all right

15. I

need
more coffee

ALL:
When were together
Cause you are like a raincoat

ALISON:
Its only writing, its only drawing. Im
remembering something, thats all.

BOBBY JEREMY:
Made out of love

BRUCE:
I need more coffee. Wheres Betty?

HELEN/KIDS:
Keepin me dry

SMALL ALISON:
She went home. Lornas on now.

ALL:
Magic shield of love

BRUCE:
Where is your barrette? Put it back in. It
keeps the hair out of your eyes.

BOBBY JEREMY:
Protecting me from bad weather

SMALL ALISON:
So would a crew cut.

BRUCE:
If I see you without it again Ill wale you.
Go get Lorna. I need coffee.

16. RING

OF KEYS

ALISON:
You didnt notice her at first but I saw
her the moment she walked in. She was
a delivery woman. She came in with a
handcart full of packages. She was an
old-school butch.
SMALL ALISON:
Someone just came in the door
Like no one I ever saw before
I feel
I feel
I dont know where you came from
I wish I did, I feel so dumb
I feel
Your swagger and your bearing
And the just-right clothes youre wearing
Your short hair and your dungarees and
your lace-up boots
And your keys
Oh, your ring of keys
I thought it was supposed to be wrong
But you seem okay with being strong
I want
Youre so
Its probly conceited to say
But I think were alike in a certain way
I, um
Your swagger and your bearing
And the just-right clothes youre wearing
Your short hair and your dungarees and
your lace-up boots
And your keys
Oh, your ring of keys
Do you feel my heart saying hi?
In this whole luncheonette why am I

The only one who sees youre beautiful

No, I meanhandsome
Your swagger and your bearing
And the just-right clothes youre wearing
Your short hair and your dungarees and
your lace-up boots
And your keys
Oh, your ring of keys
I know you
I know you
I know you

17. Let

me introduce you
to my gay dad

JOAN:
Oh my God. Your dad? Are you okay?

thing that was happening at home.

BRUCE:
Where the hell are John and Christian?
HELEN:
Johns at Cosgroves probably.
BRUCE:
Why?
HELEN:
Becausehe works there.
ALISON:
I should have been paying attention.
Caption: I should have been paying
attention.
BRUCE:
Since when?

MEDIUM ALISON:
Im fine.

HELEN:
Hes been working there for almost a
month.

JOAN:
Are you sure? Do you need to talk about it?

BRUCE:
Oh.

MEDIUM ALISON:
No. I dont want to talk about it, I dont
want to think about it. I want toI dont
know. Lets go see whats happening at
the Gay Union.

ALISON:
And I caption: I was, I guess I was mad
at you.

JOAN:
Do you wanna go to my room? Smoke this
joint?

BRUCE:
Well, wheres Christian?
HELEN:
At Dougs probably. What do you need?

MEDIUM ALISON:
Yes, I do.

BRUCE:
Nothing. Nothing. Ill do it myself.

ALISON:
Caption: My newfound queerness was no.
Unable to process the tsunami-like revelation that my father tsunami-like?
No. Caption: I leapt into my new life
with both feet and I blocked out every-

ALISON:
My life had just started to open.
BRUCE:
Dammit! Goddammit!

ALISON:
I didnt know, Dad, I had no way of knowing my beginning would be your end.
HELEN:
Oh my God. The Brinley. Oh my God, what
happened? Did it fall? Bruce, the painting. What happened?
BRUCE:
I threw it down the fucking stairs.
HELEN:
Why?
BRUCE:
I dont know why!
HELEN:
I dont know whats
BRUCE:
Because no one fucking helps me around
here! Because I cant stand the sound
of your hectoring, shrewish voice, your
histrionics, your
HELEN:
You stop. Youre blaming me? After what
youve put me through? Im on edge
every minute. Youre so

MEDIUM ALISON:
This is it. Oh my God, I dont wanna go in.
JOAN:
Its going to be okay.
MEDIUM ALISON:
Hows it going to be okay? Everything is
who knows? Who knows? Come on in,
let me introduce you to my gay dad. Its
only been three months since I left here!
What happened in three months? Lets
go.
Hello? I dont know where they are. Hey!
Were here!
JOAN:
Oh my God!
MEDIUM ALISON:
What?
JOAN:
You described it, but I had no idea!
MEDIUM ALISON:
Oh, yeah.
HELEN:
Oh, youre here.

BRUCE:
Every single person in this town knows
what kind of man I am. Youre the one
with the problem.

18.

HELEN:
I have to be at school. Ill be at meetings
until late.

HELEN:
You know, shortly after we were married we
took a drive from Germany, where we
were living, to Paris. He wanted me to
meet an army buddy of his. We had a
beautiful drive. And then, just outside
of Paris, he just went crazy. Just started
screaming at me. Why couldnt I read
a simple fucking map? I was a stupid,
worthless bitch. I was dumbfounded. I

ALISON:
Im drawing. Im drawing. Im just drawing.
Im remembering something, thats all.

Shortly after we were

married

was terrified. It came out of nowhere as

far as I knew. Of course I learned later
this man had been your fathers lover.

MEDIUM ALISON:
I dont know how youve done it.

19. DAYS

AND DAYS

HELEN:
Welcome to our house on Maple Avenue
See how we polish and we shine
We rearrange and realign
Everything is balanced and
And
Days and days and days, thats how it
happens
Days and days and days
Made of lunches and car rides and shirts
and socks
And grades and piano and no one clocks
The day you disappear
Days and days and days, thats how it
happens
Days and days and days
Made of posing and bragging and fits of
rage
And boys, my God, some of them underage
And, oh, how did it all happen here?
There was a time your father swept me off
my feet with words
We read books, strolled through Munich at
night
Drank beer with friends, discussed the
places we would go
And he said I understood how the world
made him ache
But no
But no
Thats how it happens

Days made of bargains I made because

I thought as a wife
I was meant to and now my life
Is shattered and laid bare
Days and days and days and days and
days and days and days
Welcome to our house on Maple
Avenue
See how we polish and we shine
We rearrange and realign
Everything is balanced and serene
Like chaos never happens if its never
seen
Dont you come back here
I didnt raise you
To give away your days
Like me

20. You

ready to go for
that drive?...
BRUCE:
You ready to go for that drive? Alison?
Kiddo. Are you ready?
ALISON:
Yes.
BRUCE:
You wanna drive?
ALISON:
No, thats okay, you can drive.
BRUCE:
SoIYou, uhIs that too much air?
ALISON:
No, its good.

21.

TELEPHONE WIRE

ALISON:
Telephone wire
Run and run
Telephone wire
Sun down on the creek
Partly frozen, partly flowing
Must be windy, trees are bending
Junction 50, field needs mowing
Feels like the car is floating
Say something
Talk to him
Say something
Anything
At the light, at the light, at the light,
at the light
At the light, at the light, at the light,
at the light
Like, you could say:
So how does it feel to know that you
and I are both

BRUCE:
Hey.
ALISON:
Yeah?
BRUCE:
Wheredya wanna go?
ALISON:
Oh. I dont know.
BRUCE:
I know a bar
Its kind of hidden away
Seedy club
For folks like, you know
Could be fun
ALISON:
But Dad
Im not twenty-one

BRUCE:
Oh yeah. Right.
ALISON:
Telephone wire
Long black line
Telephone wire
Finely threaded sky
Theres the pond where I went wading
Theres the sign for Sugar Valley
On the mountain light is fading
I go back to school tomorrow
Say something
Talk to him
Say something
Anything
At the light, at the light, at the light, at
the light
At the light, at the light, at the light, at
the light
Doesnt matter what you say
Just make the fear in his eyes go away

BRUCE:
There was a boy
In college
My first year there
Norris Jones
He had black wavy hair
Norris Jones
Where is he now?
Fourteen years old
In Swensens barn
It was cold
Lots of boys messed around, you know
For them it was a game they outgrew
But I always knew

ALISON:
Dad, me too!
Since, like, five, I guess
I preferred to wear boys shirts and pants
I felt absurd in a dress
I really tried to deny my feelings for girls
But I was like you

Dad, me too

BRUCE:
Norris Jones
ALISON:
Dad?
BRUCE:
Norris Jones
ALISON:
Dad?
BRUCE:
Did I mention that new project Ive taken
on? Youve seen it. That old house out on
Route 150! Its been standing out there
empty for 40, 50 years at least.
ALISON:
Telephone wire
Stop, too fast!
Telephone wire
Make this not the past
This car ride!
This is where it has to happen
There must be some other chances
Theres a moment Im forgetting
Where you tell me you see me
Say something!
Talk to me
Say something!
Anything
At the light
At the light
This cant be our last

BRUCE:
That was fun. Its earlier than I thought.
Are you comin in?
ALISON:
Telephone wire
That was our last night

22. It

was great to have

you home

ALISON:
Whats this? Table in the living room with
jack in the pulpit. Oh. Oh. I was going
to draw that in this panel.
BRUCE:
Dear Al, it was great to have you home.
ALISON:
What was I? Whats this?
BRUCE:
Ive been flying high since you were here.
ALISON:
I dont want to.
BRUCE:
Dear Al
ALISON:
I dont want to. What did it feel like to
step in front of a truck, Dad? What did
it feel like to see it coming right at you
and not move? And just let it hit you?
Why? Was it because of me? Im afraid it
wasnt. Thats the crazy thing, Dad. Im
afraid it wasnt.
BRUCE:
I have to confess, Im somewhat envious
of this new freedom that exists on campuses today.
Dear Al, did you receive that Winogrand
article I was telling you about? You
should have gotten it by now. Do you
know I was never even in New York until
I was about twenty?
Dear Al, I re-read Araby. That could have
been me I was rather sensitive when I
was younger
Dear Al, Ive been working like mad on
that house I told you about. Cant think

about much else. I cant sleep

Dear Al

23. EDGES

OF THE WORLD

BRUCE:
I fucking love beginnings
Flying high
Hard to know where to start
Its all so fast Im trying not to spin
I guess Im older
And its harder when youre older to
begin
Peeling plaster, sagging roof
Two missing stairs, a buckled wall
Im fired up to do this
But on my own, it all
So much damage, broken windows
Pipes are shit, crap veneer
Its hours later Jesus!
Im still standing here
Still standing here
But when the sunlight hits the parlor
wall at certain times of day
I see how fine this house could be
I see it so damn clear
Whats the matter?
Why am I standing here?
Bad foundation, twisting floorboards
Shoddy pipes, a gaping hole
Its a lot, its a lot
To keep under control
Something cracking, something rotting
Piles of ruin and debris
Killing me, crushing me
Pushing me
But when the sunlight hits the parlor
wall at certain times of day
I see how fine this house could be
I see it so damn clear
Whats the matter?

Why am I standing here?

Dear Al
Im scared
I had a life I thought I understood
I took it and I squeezed out every bit of life
I could
But the edges of the world that held me up
have gone away
And Im falling into nothingness
Or flying into something so sublime
And Im a man I dont know
Who am I now? Where do I go?
I cant go back
I cant find my way through
I might still break a heart or two
But when the sunlight hits the parlor wall
at certain times of day
I see how fine this house could be
I see it so damn clear
Oh my God!
Why am I standing here?!

24. This

you

is what I have of

ALISON:
Caption. Caption. Caption. Caption.
Caption. Im the only one here. This is
what I have of you. You ordering me to
sweep and dust the parlor. You steaming
off the wallpaper. You in front of a classroom of bored students. Digging up a
dogwood tree. You working on the house,
smelling like sawdust and sweat and
designer cologne. You calling me at college to tell me how Im supposed to feel
about Faulkner or Hemingway. You standing on the shoulder of Route 150 bracing
yourself against the pulse of the trucks
rushing past. You succumbing to a rare
moment of physical contact with me.

25.

FLYING AWAY (FINALE)

ALISON:
Daddy (comma) hey Daddy
Come here, okay (question mark)
I need you
SMALL ALISON:
Daddy, hey Daddy
Come here, okay?
I need you
MEDIUM ALISON:
At the light, at the light, at the light, at the
light
ALISON:
What are you doing (comma) I said come
here
You need to do what I tell you to do
SMALL ALISON:
What are you doing, I said come here
You need to do what I tell you to do
Listen to me, Daddy
Come here, hey right here, right now,
youre making me mad
Listen to me
Listen to me
Listen to me
I wanna play airplane
I wanna play airplane
I wanna play airplane
Like the Red Baron in his Sopwith Camel!
No wait
Like Superman

MEDIUM ALISON:
At the light
How does it feel to know
That you and I
That you and I
I was like you
Say something

Say something

ALISON:
I wanna put my arms out and fly
Up in the sky
Til I can see all of Pennsylvania
SMALL ALISON:
Put your feet here like this, Daddy, do what
I say
ALISON:
There you are, Dad
SMALL ALISON:
Take my hand, give me yours, bend your
knees, not that way
ALISON:
There you are
SMALL ALISON:
When I say go you start pushing me up,
okay?
MEDIUM ALISON:
Dont let go yet
ALISON:
Dont let go yet
SMALL ALISON:
Okay, higher, just a little
ALISON:
And now Im flying away
MEDIUM ALISON:
Look at me fly away
SMALL ALISON:
In my wristband and cape
ALL:
Fly
SMALL ALISON:
Up so high

Our house is over there, and theres our

car
The Fun Home I see it
Im up so far
Daddy, theres your school! And theres
Grandmas house. Theres Uncle Petes
farm!

MEDIUM ALISON:
So far
SMALL ALISON:
I can see all of Pennsylvania
MEDIUM ALISON:
Pennsylvania
ALISON:
I can see all of Pennsylvania
SMALL ALISON:
I can see all of Pennsylvania

ALL:
Fly away
SMALL ALISON:
This is the best game. Up in the air.
ALISON:
A picture of my father
SMALL ALISON:
And I dont even care that it pushes my
stomach in.
ALISON:
Made of little marks
Beautiful
Fly
Fly

MEDIUM ALISON:
Fly
Fly

SMALL ALISON:
Fly
Up so high
Fly
Up so high
I can see all of Pennsylvania

ALISON:
Caption: Every so often there was a rare
moment of perfect balance when I
soared above him.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

For PS Classics, LLC:

Produced by Tommy Krasker & Philip Chaffin

Recorded and Mixed by Bart Migal
Executive ProducerS: Fox Theatricals (Kristin Caskey and

Tommy Krasker, Executive Producer

Philip Chaffin, A&R Director
Bart Migal, Staff Engineer
Derek Bishop, Art Director
Allan Stein, PRODUCT Manager
Robert Edridge-Waks, Editorial Coordinator
Mark Bakalor, Web Designer

Mike Isaacson), Barbara Whitman

Recorded December 3, 2013 at Avatar Studios, New York, NY
ProTools Engineer: Victor Mancusi
Assistant Engineers: Tyler Hartman & Nate Odden
Keyboard Programmer: Billy Stein
Music Coordinator: Antoine Silverman
Music Copying: Kaye-Houston Music/Anne Kaye & Doug Houston
Stage Manager: Johnny Milani
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER: Sara J. Grady
Company Manager: Rebecca Sherman

Celebrating the heritage of Broadway and American popular song

www.PSClassics.com

Art Direction & Design: Derek Bishop

Production Photography: Joan Marcus
Cover ART: Alison Bechdel
Publishing Credits:

Thats Music to My Ears, LTD. (ASCAP) / Lisa Kron (ASCAP)

The role of Medium Alison was also played by Emily Skeggs.
Fun Home was developed, in part, at the 2012 Sundance Institute
Theatre Lab at White Oak and the 2012 Sundance Institute Theatre
Lab at the Sundance Resort.
THE LUESTHER T. MERTZ CHARITABLE TRUST
provides leadership support for The Public Theaters year-round
activities.
The World Premiere Production of Fun Home was produced by
5

RDING

Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director Patrick Willingham, Executive Director

in New York City on October 22, 2013. Generous support for Fun
Home was provided by Ted and Mary Jo Shen.

THE PUBLIC THEATER

OSKAR EUSTIS

Artistic Director

PATRICK WILLINGHAM
Executive Director

JEANINE TESORI
Book and Lyrics by LISA KRON
4
Based on the ALISON BECHDEL book
Directed by SAM GOLD
Music by

ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING

ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING

presents

with

Scenic and Costume Design

Casting

Associate Producer

MARIA GOYANES

JORDAN THALER
HEIDI GRIFFITHS

General Manager

Director of Communications

SENIOR DIRECTOR OF MARKETING

CANDI ADAMS

TOM McCANN
O R I G I N A L

Production Executive

RUTH E. STERNBERG

ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING

Recorded & Mixed bY

Tommy Krasker
Bart Migal

& Philip Chaffin

Executive ProducerS

Fox Theatricals
(Kristin Caskey and Mike Isaacson)
& Barbara Whitman

www.psclassics.com

R E C O R D I N G

Recording Produced by

STEVEN SHOWALTER

C A S T

Associate Artistic Director

MANDY HACKETT

R E C O R D I N G

Lighting Design

ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING

DAVID ZINN
BEN STANTON
Sound Design KAI HARADA
Projection Design JIM FINDLAY and JEFF SUGG
Wig Design PAUL HUNTLEY
ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING
Music Director CHRIS FENWICK
Orchestrations JOHN CLANCY
Music Contractor ANTOINE SILVERMAN
Choreographer DANNY MEFFORD
Production Stage Manager Johnny Milani

ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING

GRIFFIN BIRNEY
MICHAEL CERVERIS
ROBERTA COLINDREZ
ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING
NOAH HINSDALE
JUDY KUHN
SYDNEY LUCAS
BETH MALONE
1
4
JOEL PEREZ
ALEXANDRA SOCHA