Fun Home's sound design and orchestrations.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 7/5/15 at 1:56pm

It's by Kai Harada, and attention must be paid. Among the less discussed pleasures of this sublime production: the subtle (by the standards of the day) amplification of voices.  I noticed it yesterday afternoon. Unlike almost any other show, the voices actually seem to come from the singing actors.  Wherever you're sitting (see many other threads), you turn to the character or shift your gaze because the sound guides you as the focus shifts.  The generally lowered volume contributes to the intimacy and also to the strategically planned and realized scale of the staging.  Even when characters are voicing the most heightened emotions, the singing feels life-sized.  I was also struck that the show's one lullaby, sung late from Bruce to young Allyson in a truly appalling circumstance, is daringly hushed.  Instead of the usual full-throated "Bring Him Home" approach, we get the actual equivalent of a father singing his young child to sleep. The song is tender and beautiful, and the moment is all the richer because it doesn't sound like, well, musical theater in 2015. Two people waiting in the rest room line afterwards remarked at how refreshing it was to hear a musical in which voices had range, from softly spoken dialog to full-out arias of unleashed torment.  We weren't subjected to the wall of sound that too often makes musicals sound like concert stagings, even when they are not.   

Updated On: 7/6/15 at 01:56 PM

[weaselprince71]

Posted: 7/5/15 at 9:41pm

Hear, hear.

Nothing to add to your observations -- just that I entirely agree.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/5/15 at 9:45pm

Auggie, every time you post a new observation I find myself thinking, "So THAT'S why I loved it so much!"

[Auggie27]

Posted: 7/6/15 at 7:53am

I will end my FUN HOME summer staycation adding briefly to the above: The sublime orchestrations of John Clancy.  Only seven players, but creating an exquisite aural landscape.  

As is sometimes the case in musical theater arrangements (to my, a layman's, ears:) the emotional colors, even weight of a song can be carried through counterpoint in the instrumentation, not only via the melody.  In this show, every song has been given an added dimension via the instruments used.  "Maps" has a folk-rock sensibility that perfectly captures the Vermont-ensconced adult Allison. Helen's music has a semi-classical, almost cerebral aloofness. And the already much-discussed "Ring of Keys" has in its arrangement an overlay of something akin to sadness. For lack of a better word.  The song is a paean to a moment of self discovery. But when I listen to it, I hear how Clancy has grounded the revelations within a bittersweet context. Because a startling epiphany in childhood can mean years of secrecy, and with secrecy comes loneliness.  This makes the song work on two levels at once: it's about the glory of recognition, and about the understanding that children are powerless to fully own their lives; they know in their hearts who they are but don't yet possess the agency to present themselves fully. Somehow, mysteriously, Clancy's textured work on this song captures both the elation and isolation.  It seems so simple, its artistry is anything but. 

Updated On: 7/6/15 at 07:53 AM

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 7/6/15 at 9:12am

Nothing to add, but I was blown away by Kai Harada's work on Fun Home as well.

In addition, shout out to his work on making the sound design intimate for On the Town--- a very difficult thing to do in the Lyric.