Fun Home The Musical Ticket Contest!
September 22nd, 2013 | Uncategorized
So the musical based on my book Fun Home is about to open at The Public Theater in NYC. It will be in previews from September 30 through October 21. October 22nd is opening night, which I am sadly going to miss, but I will be at the October 19th performance just before they “freeze” the show for the official run.
The theater has given me two pairs of tickets to give away. I thought I would make a little contest, a little series of questions about my book, and if you want to play, you can email your answers in and we will pick two winners at random from the people who get them right. I say “we” but I really mean my kind girlfriend Holly who has agreed to manage this since I am a little crazed right now. Also, I know it’s kind of weirdly narcissistic and self-referential to make people answer questions about my book, but I suppose that is the blight memoirists were born for, to paraphrase Gerard Manley Hopkins, so I will embrace it. Here they are:
1. What is the date of my father’s death?
2. What is the name of the family hunting camp where my dad takes my brothers and me camping?
3. What was the line that my father added to my first poem, “Spring”?
4. What was the name of the bar my father tried to take me to when I was 19?
5. What is the phrase my father writes to me in a letter, echoing something Stephen Dedalus says near the beginning of James Joyce’s Ulysses?
If you know the answers, email them to Hollyraetaylor at gmail by 5pm on Friday September 27. And she will pick two winners at random. Assuming that more than two people choose to spend their time in this fashion.
If you don’t want to bother with the contest, you can get discounted tickets to the preview performances with this code: ALISON
Go here to purchase tickets. Full price is 90 bucks, but with the discount code they’re 50.
On another note, today at 4:44pm the earth’s axis is tilting neither toward nor away from the sun.
23 Responses to “Fun Home The Musical Ticket Contest!”
I had the extreme pleasure of seeing this musical in its workshop phase. Don’t miss it. Seriously. It’s a great piece.
Congratulations on the musical!
I am in Singapore, so won’t be able to make it.
Best.
Erin
loved the percussion. already have a ticket for the show… thanks!
so much depends
upon
a black wheel
barrow
plinked with rain
water
beside the blue
trash cans.
Great musical accompaniment to the Equinox! Thanks for that.
Will have to wait for Fun Home the musical to come to Toronto. I rarely leave the country (because I expect the apocalypse is imminent and I don’t want to miss it).
Happy Equinox, indeed! And, as we said back in the day, groovy! 🙂
Btw, Moo U’s new geology dept. chair is arriving soon from Britain. Does anyone know how to charm an Englishwoman? Suggestions, I need suggestions!
Kate L:
The frivolous answer is “with chocolate”, which I suppose works for everyone. You might also try fresh flowers in her office. If you want to make a serious attempt at charming her, wait till she’s settled in a little and the glamour (for her) of working at Moo U. has worn off a little and she’s feeling homesick. Then buy her English chocolate (Cadbury’s Daily Milk, or possibly Bourneville if she prefers dark chocolate). This may take some effort on your part, but that’s what makes the gesture valuable, obviously.
The less frivolous answer is to try to understand the difference between English people and American people. My own experience of Americans is that they are very quick to make friends, but these friendships are very shallow, and often (particularly in a work situation) seem to be driven by the potential uses to which those friendships can be put. In England we don’t open ourselves, our lives and our houses to others quite as fast as Americans do, but I have the impression that when we do this it somehow has more emotional significance. It’s difficult for me to judge this clearly, because I’m not good at assessing emotions, but I have the impression that English people take longer to get to know than Americans, and the resulting friendships last longer. I hope other English contributors will have more to say on this.
Would love to drop into NYC for a performance of FHTM, but…
Mmmm… Well, LondonBoy, four days short of thirteen years in London, coming from the States, and my impression is: Dogs are dogs, cats are cats; both Brits and Yanks, however, are a mix of dogs and cats. Kate L, your new colleague is a foreigner and gets a free pass to be un-American. (When I want a free pass to be un-British I pull out the old vowels from home. Listen to see how fast she drops the “should have done” in faro[u]r of “should have”.) Maybe she’ll be all cat. However, she also may all her life have been a secret dog, constrained by British IT ISN’T DONE to pretend that she has retractable claws and can purr. So throw her a bone and see if she enjoys romping. If she sniffs the bone, walks away, and later vomits across your shoe after defecating into your ficus — well, you know what you’re dealing with, and can go shopping in the catnip aisle.
Alex K – you are officially adorable!
When the new department chair interviewed for the job, she used the word, “gobsmacked”. Was that a good sign? Moo U and Smallville can have a big effect on newcomers. Also, I suppose I could take her to the new English restaurant in the Aggieville shopping district just off campus (a block away from the new Asian Fusion restaurant that should be opening, soon). Although, the English restaurant doesn’t even serve freshly-made steak and kidney pie with mayonnaise on the side! Seriously! We might have to order the mashed bangers, or whatever they are.
There are any number of “American-to-British Translation” sites on the web. For example, you might ask if she’d like to come over and watch the movie “Free Willy” some evening. Or you could pop into her office and ask if she has a rubber you could borrow.
(Come to think of it “pop into her office” is pretty good as well.)
Bangers and mash–sausage and mashed potatoes. You could try making them: Recipe from Ina Garten for bangers and mash
I’ll have a two-hour meeting with the new chair on Monday, but I think we’ll talk about what I do for the department. We are all having these private meetings with her, and one of the senior faculty just told me that I should look forward to it as an “opportunity to justify your existence”. Blimey! Something to look forward to all weekend! How do I set up A.B.’s raindrop percussion on continual loop to get thru the weekend? 🙂
Kate L, in world cricket, the comment one of the senior faculty made to you would be called “sledging” – the practice whereby one player seeks to gain advantage by insulting or verbally intimidating an opposing player or team.
Ignore that person.
Two days ago you were an asset to your workplace, right? Well that hasn’t changed. Best wishes for leaving an assured first impression.
(And a pox on all toxic people)
@9 / Fi — Aw, shucks! British: Give over! (But with a happy smile.) **grin**
Dang! A day late for the contest. I’ve lost the habit of checking this site daily.
We had a Brit postdoc use the phrase “hurts like buggery” in a seminar, to the shock and embarrassment of the largely-southern faculty.
Except for one prof, who rather enjoys buggery.
You probably already know this Kate, but any reference to a fanny pack is likely to be quite startling to your new British chum.
(And thanks for the reminder about not using that other expression, Dr Empirical. I’m guessing the affectionate use of the word “sod” might also cause consternation?)
Kate L: Just talk about what you do, and how it relates to what other people do. I agree with Fi’s assessment that someone may have been trying to upset your internal equilibrium in advance of your meeting. Be yourself, play fair, and you’ll lay the foundations for a good working relationship well into the future.
Incidentally, who needs a recipe for bangers and mash? It’s like giving a recipe for a glass of water.
I just got back from seeing the musical! Still processing, but I will say that I found it very moving. It was magical to see parts of the book that have been so meaningful to me actualized on stage. I plan to see it again this month.
I had the pleasure of attending a performance of Fun Home Tuesday night, and I loved it. I think they succeeded in capturing the complexity and nuances of your book and translating it to the stage. Awesome performances all around too, especially from the girl playing young Alison!
Show was stopped about 10 minutes into last night’s performance. Announcement was made that they need a moment. Curtain closed!
Adult Allison was singing about her work as her father had in the mirror moments before. It was abrupt and unexpected. None of us ( three) saw anything detectable. After sitting few a few minutes with houselights up, another announcement: technical difficulties.
After another few minutes ( can’t know time…the experience was unique, startling, upsetting) announcement: it will be another ten minutes.
Next announcement, not sure when, ” an actor is sick we have to stop the show.” It was surreal. We sat in shock. I’m in my 50s, an active theater goer, I never had this happen.
I bought these tickets for my daughter ( and friend) for my daughter’s birthday. I paid for them to travel to NY from Baltimore. (They are in school together…MFA in creative writing.) What happened to, the show must go on? Was it technical AND illness?
Most upsetting was knowing the tremendous review in the times and the impossibility of getting tickets for later this weekend. Not to mention a short taste of Fun Home’s wonder and tossed out.
Wow, Lucy! I have heard nothing about this…I can’t imagine what happened. I know that there are no understudies, that actors are counted on to work even when they’re sick. But if someone is really debilitated…then what? I hope very much that the theater reimburses everyone somehow.
Thank you so so much for your personal response!
They will refund the tickets, but it was more important to get new tickets. I have now purchased new tickets for a later date.
Back story:
My daughter and this same friend went to AWP in March, and my daughter, most of all, was looking forward to seeing you on your panel.
Another announcement:
“Unfortunately, Allison Bechdel will not be able to make it due to flight cancellation.”
My real name is Robin. Sorry. I rarely post things and using my cat’s name seemed appropriate in the moment. Would it be ok if my daughter emails you?