Robert Cohen - Theatre, Brief Version-McGraw-Hill Education (2016)

318 Chapter 11 The Critic
One of the surprise hits—certainly from the New York critics—was the 2015 Broadway musical Fun Home, a tragicomedy
adapted from the best-seliing memoir by American graphic novelist Alison Bechdel; the work describes, sometimes comically
and sometimes heartrendingly, Alison’s growing up in a very odd family. Performed in Broadway’s only “in the round”
theatre (in which the audience surrounds the action) and set in a funeral home (the source of the play’s title), the musical
tells of its author’s growing up and, when in college, becoming a lesbian—all under the eye of her secretly gay father,
who was a funeral director, high school English teacher, and fanatic admirer of Victorian homes all at the same time. The
role of Alison was played by three actresses: Sydney Lucas and Emily Skeggs performing her early years and Beth Malone
representing her throughout the play, sometime as its central character and at other times (as shown), as the narrator and
recorder of her family’s lively but peculiar lives. The complexity of the Bechdal family, and the brilliance of the production’s
music and lyrics (by Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron, respectively), won virtually unanimous praise from the New York critics,
and the show received—opposite far more expensive productions of that season—the 2015 Tony Award for “Best Musical,”
while Ms. Malone was Tony-nominated as “Best Actress in a Musical.” © Joan Marcus
To be an observant critic, we need only go to the
theatre with an open mind and sharply tuned senses.
Unfettered thinking should be a part of every theatrical
experience, and provocative discussion should be its
aftermath.
To be an informed critic, we need sufficient background
to provide a context for opinion and evaluation.
A play may be moving, but is it as moving as The Three
Sisters? as passionate as Prometheus Bound? as romantic
as Romeo and Juliet? as funny as The Bourgeois Gentleman?
as intriguing as Happy Days? An actor’s voice
may be thrillingly resonant, but how does it compare
with the voice of Patrick Stewart? If our opinions are to
have weight and distinction, they may do so only against
a background of knowledge and experience. If we are
going to place a performance on a scale ranging from
one to ten, our friends (or readers) must know what is our
“one” and what is our “ten.”
To be a sensitive critic, we must be receptive to artistic
experience and to life itself. The most sensitive criticism
comes from a compassionate approach to humankind
and expression. When we attune ourselves to the world
around us, it provokes a more compassionate and personalized
response to dramatic works. Sensitive criticism