Casting has been announced for Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron’s five-time Tony Award-winning musical Fun Home, playing at the Young Vic’s main house from 18 June to 1 September 2018 (press night is 27 June 2018). The line-up features Kaisa Hammarlund as Alison; Eleanor Kane as Medium Alison; Jenna Russell as Helen; Ashley Samuels as Roy, Mark and Jeremy; Cherrelle Skeete as Joan and Zubin Varla as Bruce, Alison’s father.
Director Sam Gold makes his Young Vic debut with Fun Home, based on Alison Bechdel’s celebrated 2006 graphic novel. With music by Tesori and book and lyrics by Kron, the musical made a sensational debut at The Public Theater in New York in October 2013, followed by a triumphant Broadway run and a successful US national tour.
Fun Home explores the memories of Alison’s uniquely complicated family at three different stages in her life – her volatile, brilliant, enigmatic father, mother and brothers – that connect with her in surprising new ways. It is a refreshingly honest, wholly original musical about seeing your parents through grown-up eyes.
Choreography is by Danny Mefford, set and costume design by David Zinn, light by Ben Stanton, sound by Kai Harada, music supervision by Chris Fenwick, music direction by Nigel Lilley and casting by Julia Horan CDG. The associate director is Portia Krieger. The Jerwood assistant director is Leo J Skilbeck.
Casting for Small Alison, John and Christian will be confirmed at a later date. The production is produced in association with Sonia Friedman Productions, Fox Theatricals and Barbara Whitman and is the final show in David Lan’s last season as artistic director of the Young Vic.
Bios
Kaisa Hammarlund (Alison). Theatre includes: Cockpit (Lyceum Edinburgh); Sweet Charity (Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester, Theatre Awards and UK Theatre Awards nomination for Best Actress); Bakkhai (Almeida); As You Like It (Southwark Playhouse); Sleeping Beauty (Park Theatre); The Captain of Kopeknick (National Theatre); The Tempest (Theatre Royal Bath); Can I Be Straight With You / Courting Drama (Bush Theatre); The Boys from Syracuse (Union Theatre); The Three Musketeers (Rose Theatre Kingston); A Day Before Spring (Sadler’s Wells); Cabaret (Lyric Theatre); Sunday in the Park with George, They’re Playing Our Song, A Little Night Music, Take Flight (Menier Chocolate Factory); Mamma Mia (Prince of Wales theatre and touring); Legally Blonde (Nöjesteatern, Malmö Sweden).
Eleanor Kane (Medium Alison). Theatre includes: Assassins, Wondertown, Barefoot Gen, The Merchant of Venice, Three Days in the Country, Rhinoceros, Three Sisters (Rose Bruford); Threeway (Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Fringe Festival); Werther (Scottish Opera); Now’s the Hour (Scottish Youth Theatre); Joan and Jim R&D (Told By An Idiot).
Jenna Russell (Helen). Theatre includes: Di and Viv and Rose (Vaudeville theatre); Urinetown (Apollo and St James Theatre); Mr Burns (Almeida); Merrily We Roll Along (Menier Chocolate Factory / Pinter Theatre); That Day We Sang (Opera House, Manchester); Seasons Greetings (National Theatre); Into The Woods (Regents Park); Sunday in the Park With George (Wyndhams / Studio 54 Broadway); Amy’s View (Garrick Theatre); Guys and Dolls (Picadilly Theatre); Into the Woods (Donmar Warehouse); Three Sisters (Royal Court).
Ashley Samuels (Roy/Mark/Jeremy). Theatre includes: Motown the Musical (Shaftsbury Theatre); The Book of Mormon (Prince of Wales Theatre); The Toxic Avenger (Southwark Playhouse); The World Goes Round (Stephen Joseph Theatre); Olivier Awards 2014 (Royal Opera House).
Cherrelle Skeete (Joan). Theatre includes: The Seagull, Jack and Beanstalk (Lyric Hammersmith); Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Palace Theatre); Three Days in the Country, The Amen Corner (National Theatre); Wind in the Willows (Royal & Derngate); And I and Silence (Finborough Theatre); The Lion King (Lyceum Theatre) The Edge, Sold, King Lear, Love’s Last Shift, There’s No Place Like Home, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Three Sisters (Central School of Speech and Drama); Joey Boy (The MAC).
Zubin Varla (Bruce). Young Vic includes: Measure for Measure, The Changeling. Theatre includes: Poison (Orange Tree Theatre); The Unknown Island (Gate Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare’s Globe); Dara, War Horse, Attempts on Her Life, The Enchantment, The Life of Galileo and Cyrano de Bergerac(National Theatre); The El Train (Hoxton Hall): Don Juan Comes Back from the War (Finborough); Troilus and Cressida (RSC/Wooster Group); Chess (UK tour); Into Thy Hands(Jericho House); Amadeus (City of London Sinfonia/Barbican); In the Soliyude of Cottonfields (ATC) Hello and Goodbye (Treatment Theatre Company); Julius Caesar (RSC/Lyric Hammersmith); Faust (RSC); The Painter of Dishonour (RSC); Midnight’s Children, Roberto Zucco, Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest (RSC); Jesus Christ Superstar (Lyceum); Paradise Regained (Royal Court); Teeth n Smiles (Sheffield Crucible); and Twelfth Night (Donmar West End), Antigone (Old Vic/Donmar); Beautiful Thing (Duke of York’s); In the Heart of America (Bush Theatre); Romeo and Juliet (Regent’s Park).
