Alumna Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home Wins 5 Tony Awards
The 69th Tony Award for Best Musical was awarded to Fun Home, a groundbreaking new musical adapted from Bard College at Simon’s Rock alumna Alison Bechdel’s celebrated graphic memoir of the same name.
Fun Home also earned victories in Best Leading Actor in a Musical fo
r Michael Cerveris's performance as Bechdel's father, Bruce Bechdel; Best Book of
a Musical for Lisa Kron; Best Direction of a Musical for Sam Gold; and Best Original
Score (Music and/or Lyrics) for Jeanine Tesori (music) and Lisa Kron (lyrics).
Fun Home was nominated for a total of 12 awards, tied with An American in Paris for the most Tonys this year.
The story centers on Bechdel's relationship with her gay father and her attempts to unfurl the mysteries surrounding his life. It has been called “The first mainstream musical about a young lesbian.” It is the first Broadway musical with a lesbian protagonist.
“Our show is about home, it’s about finding who you are,” said Michael Cerveris, who won a Tony for best actor for his role as the closeted gay father in Fun Home.
The New York Times critic Ben Brantley calls Fun Home “A rare beauty. Extraordinary and heart gripping.”
In 1977, at the age of 16, Alison Bechdel entered Simon’s Rock, receiving her associate of arts degree two years later. She then transferred to Oberlin College where much of her memoir takes place.
Bechdel described the experience of turning her life story into a Broadway show: "I haven't really been able to make sense of it yet, even though I've had a lot of time to get used to it. It's incredible. It's a very personal story. I wasn't telling that story for anyone but myself really. I couldn't imagine who the audience for it would be so to find that it has connected with a really big audience is deeply gratifying.”
Originally best known for the long-running comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, Alison came to critical and commercial success in 2006 with Fun Home. She is a 2014 recipient of the MacArthur "Genius" Award. She is also known for the Bechdel test, an indicator of gender bias in film.