Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to the exclusive Cosmic Curtain interview with Alan Neuwirth. I'm Brian Kitson, head writer of the Cosmic Circus and the Cosmic Circus Broadway. Neuwirth is currently starring in Fun Home, which is running at Ridgedale Players in Troy, Michigan, from October 25 through November 10. In this interview, New Earth speaks on the process of bringing complex characters such as Bruce to life, the challenges of a production such as Fun Home, and the importance of telling stories such as this one. Enjoy. Thank you so much for joining us today and taking time out of your busy schedule for Fun Home, which I know it opens this week.
How have rehearsals been going so far?
[00:00:34] Speaker B: So fun. It's been a great experience. Everyone in the cast is super talented, really committed actors performing this show. The director is super passionate about it, as well as the production team, so it's been a blast.
[00:00:49] Speaker A: I got to see it on Monday during dress rehearsal, and it's quite impressive of a story. It's heavy. It's a heavy story, but it's truly wonderful, and you guys are doing a fantastic job.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: Oh, thank you so much. Yeah, it's a difficult story to tell, but one thing that drew me into it is the variety of emotions, too. Like, every character kind of has positive moments, and then there's some really devastating material at the end that, you know, makes us think.
[00:01:18] Speaker A: Absolutely. So can you tell us a little bit about the story and how you factor into it, your character, at least?
[00:01:25] Speaker B: Yeah. It's based on a graphic novel by Alison Bechdel. She's writing about her past life and looking at sort of. I think the story really centers around the relationship between Allison and her father and the complexities.
I think at a surface level, people could see Bruce as, like, a bad guy or the villain, but I think when you really look at all the points of the story, he's really a human being trying to navigate his life in the 70s and the complex. The complexities of being a closeted gay man who has a family and he has a daughter that he's interacting with throughout the show. And we see three different versions of Allison portrayed. Young Allison, college Allison, and adult Allison. And we kind of see how their relationship evolves over time and how she sort of comes to realize that things may not be what they seem with her father. For Bruce, there's a lot of, like, maintaining an appearance in public that he wants everybody to think he's like, versus what he really has feelings about.
[00:02:27] Speaker A: I was going to say. Yeah. One of the unique things about your character is that it does explore that Gray area. Quite a bit. Like, you start off the show and you're this very likable, like, opening scene, likable dad. And then all of a sudden, as you're kind of rolling through, you're getting these moments of, he's a great man, but he's also.
There's also bad things about him. And you do that. You switch and you do that so flawlessly. How do you approach that as an actor?
[00:02:53] Speaker B: It's hard. It took me a while to. I think you have to, like, A, read the source material and kind of dive in. Then, B, as we did the scenes and you get more comfortable, I started noticing per scene we might eventually do a TikTok on this, but almost every scene seems good on the surface. And then, like, even in that first scene, he's with his daughter looking at, like, an old box of materials he got from a neighbor.
He lets her. She asks about playing with a dead mouse, and he lets her have it. And as the audience, you might laugh at that initially, but if you really think about that, like, what father would let his kid play with a dead, you know, animal that they find in a box? So it's almost like every scene, like, even when there's good things happening, there's something unusual under the surface. Like the second scene, they're all smiling as a family and trying to get ready to impress this woman who comes into the house to view the funeral home and the. The setup they've done to their new house and all the work he's done on it and. But then we were, like, followed up by him kind of staring too long at the gardener boy who comes to help out at the house. So I don't know. Part of my process, I guess, in each scene was, like, finding the goods but also finding, like, what was the unusual moment there. And then it kind of ramps up throughout the show. So, obviously, as the show continues, Bruce gets more and more manic as he's struggling to maintain this grip on what he wants the perfect life to look like. But it's not really as perfect as he wants and never can be.
[00:04:24] Speaker A: And what's interesting, too, is that when he wants the perfect life, it's. It does kind of focus on the house and how everything in the house has to look a certain way and be a certain way. And the photo. The pictures and the photos and the wallpaper, which is a very important scene, you know, and there's. It's interesting how that's like the externalization of his needing everything to be perfect because it Feels so chaotic inside.
[00:04:47] Speaker B: Absolutely. He's a super type A person, and he wants that perfect vision from the outside. But, I mean, he's really quite mean to his wife at times, and he's challenging to his children. And, you know, like, for instance, in the middle, when Allison is trying to show him the drawing she makes before the song maps, he's really critical of her. And it's almost like at the beginning of it, he's barely paying attention. But once he finds out she's showing that in class at school, it, like, triggers him that somebody could judge her and, in a sense, judge her family based on what she presents. So it's got to be the perfect way he wants it to.
[00:05:24] Speaker A: And even with, like, the books, sharing the books with Allison and, like, it has to be his books on his terms and refer. Like, even referring to her as a kiddo, like, she's a teenager in college and you're still referring to her as kiddo, which I know it could also be a sign of the times, you know, but, like, also kind of like, this is the ideal in my head of what a family should be. You're still the kiddo and. But you do. You do a fantastic job at that.
[00:05:46] Speaker B: Thank you so much. Yeah, it's hard. It's a tough role all around.
It's been fun. It's one of my favorite roles I've ever done.
Yeah. Because of the complexity of each scene.
[00:05:57] Speaker A: You mean it. Wasn't Gaston.
[00:06:01] Speaker B: Also fun, but very different. Right? Like, big cartoon versus, like, real dense person with a lot of problems. And, I mean, that's part of it. Like we said at the beginning, this is based on a real life story. So none of us are what we pretend to be in public, nor are we, you know, perfectly good or perfectly bad. I think we all have struggles that we face in our lives. So it's interesting and important to kind of represent Bruce in a real way, I think.
[00:06:27] Speaker A: Do you think that there's, like, an added pressure that this was a real person, like, portraying that or trying to, like, learn more about, like, looking at the source material, looking at the graphic novel, like, do you feel like there's a pressure to. To portray Bruce in a certain way?
[00:06:41] Speaker B: Totally. I mean, you don't want to, you know, create elements that aren't there. Of course, everybody should have, like, the freedom to, like, interpret things as they see it. And I'm sure if the real Bruce were alive today watching it, he'd have all kinds of challenges, to my point. But sort of, you know, the way I'm portraying him, but I don't know. Like, it's up to each of us to interpret, but we have to be sort of respectful to the source material and the people that we're presenting things to. But also, like, it's interesting to think about from our own lives. Like, what would I react, like, if I saw myself being portrayed on stage? Like, we have a different version of ourselves in our heads that, you know, we actually look like to other people. So it's. I don't know. It's. Yeah, it's a complicated challenge to take on, for sure, but it's fun. I mean, that's part of the joy of it. And interacting with, like, a Cora on stage so much, like, as a young Allison has been so interesting because she really takes it super seriously, as does the whole cast. But I think some of the more heartbreaking moments are, like, the interactions we have where she's still got a lot of hope and spirit for the world, and I've, you know, crushed it here and there with my own problems.
[00:07:51] Speaker A: And that has to be tough for you. Like, I can imagine as an actor, that has to be tough when you're, like, playing this role and you're seeing that, like, crushing that child's dreams, you know?
[00:07:59] Speaker B: Yeah. You feel terrible.
You want to. You want to go and hug her after every scene and be like, oh, my gosh, so sorry. But we have a really good relationship off the stage, so it helps us, like, maintain that understanding of it, the professionalism on the front of it and the theater for everybody.
[00:08:17] Speaker A: So you had mentioned about, kind of as the show goes on, you start to see more of that, like, mania, that manic Bruce. And so there is this exploration of mental illness and how it impacts families.
Again, as an actor, how do you approach that? How do you approach the. Like, you. As. I'm a psychologist in my day job, so watching you do that, I was like, this is, like, very Represent. Representative of, like, somebody who is in a manic episode, especially towards the end.
Is there, like, what do you have to do to get into that mindset?
[00:08:46] Speaker B: I really.
I'm somewhat method in terms of, like, when I get to the theater and, like, get locked in, like, the. I don't. I don't know. I don't want to. I don't talk a lot backstage. I don't want to, like, get out of the scene. I need to, like, think about what's coming up. But I don't know. It's. I really enjoy living in the shoes of the character. So When I go on stage, I really try to center myself ahead of time and, like, in my practicing, too, I try to prepare, thinking about, like, I am this person living through this moment and, like, trying to take it as authentically as I can. It's very hard to do. And you have to be. I think, as an actor, you have to be really willing to open yourself up emotionally and take risks and see how that plays out, you know, I do. And I try to ask for feedback from friends or peers on stage, too. Like, does this come off too strong or too inappropriate or anything? But I think that's part of the feeling out process. You got to take those risks during those scenes to see what works and what seems to be going on.
Again, I'll give credit to our assistant director, Mark and Scott, our director, too, and, like, challenging some thoughts I have on it and us kind of brainstorming after scenes that we went through, like, what did you think about this? Or could we show this a different way? But yeah, a lot of it for me, I guess, comes really trying to. I am Bruce when I'm on stage doing that scene. And then it's very emotionally draining. You know, the end of the show, I come off stage in tears a lot, like, thinking about what happened and, like, sort of reliving that. But I don't know, I guess I.
There's a lot of answers to the same question, but I guess I try to rely on my own emotions, too, in life. And maybe I've not been through all the things Bruce has, but we've all probably pretended to be something we're not at times. We've all had difficult friendships or relationships where we struggled to keep maybe a public appearance up versus, like, what we're going through before or after and that car ride to or from the place we're at, you know, So I don't know, you build on those and kind of grow the intensity to a level that you can imagine that person's going through to that extreme level. And I think that's kind of where I landed on it.
[00:11:05] Speaker A: I mean, absolutely. Bruce is definitely. I think we all felt trapped in situations not quite maybe, like Bruce, you know, but as a. As a product of his generation, he was trapped because of his sexuality, and he did what he thought he was supposed to do and have the family. And you're right, you can pull from different aspects of your life and be like, what would I feel like if I was trapped in that situation?
[00:11:25] Speaker B: Totally.
You know, just as a side note, too, like, I had.
I'm not, you know, gay myself. I've got a lovely wife, Lauren, who's acts in a lot of shows with me. But I've had, like, best friends from middle school that had struggles coming out and maintaining public appearances. And I lived through that. I mean, one of my best friends of a long time ago, we're still good friends today. He lived in my house for six months when his parents changed to a new school district and he wanted to still go to our school. And he kind of came out to me during that time and was worried about sharing a bed with me and what would I think? And I just. It couldn't be further from my mind. I don't know. I guess my parents raised me right, or I'm just compassionate for that. Like, I, you know, I thought of him and his struggles and what a terrible position it would feel like that. You know, the typical response, especially in the 90s and 2000s when I went to school, might not be so accepting, but, boy, you know, you try to put yourself in the shoes of somebody dealing with that and imagining the fear of judgment from everyone around you. And I just. My heart goes out to those people and to anybody going through situations like that. So, I don't know, I guess I play off some of that too. In this, you just really want to empathize with the people that and the struggles they go through in life. And I think that's a big part of it, too.
[00:12:53] Speaker A: I love that you do that because that's real. That's real world experience. And that makes, you know, it makes for a better performance. And there, again, you are unbelievably convincing as Bruce. Like, I mean, you are. There's a scene, and I don't want to give it away, but where you do, like, raise your voice at one of the characters and it is like, granted, I've never had parents to parent relationship trauma, but I was like, oh, that gave me chills. And I bet you there's going to be somebody in that audience or many people in the audience that are gonna. That's gonna hit home for them. And. But there's also that kindness, you know, because Bruce is very abusive in his, you know, emotionally abusive to his family.
Again, a product of what happened, you know, being feeling trapped and that. That's a common response, even if it's not good. But.
And you. You portray that fantastically.
[00:13:43] Speaker B: Thank you. So, I mean, that's super kind of you to say, I'm doing my best. It's. It's a tough role. I mean, I Think it's one of the hardest roles out there because you're trying to make him still be a likable person. I hope at the end of the show, people walk away, like, feeling terrible for everybody a little bit and also feeling connected to the people.
Yeah, I never had parent trauma to this level either. But we've all had some of those fights and you can imagine where those go and how that kind of grows. And again, a lot of it's having trust in the people you work with too. Like my costar Alexa, who plays my wife Helen, is, like, fantastic in her role and super understanding when we have some of those horrendous arguments towards the end of the show where we say some terrible things to one another, particularly me towards her. And, boy, you just walk off stage feeling awful and hoping that it's not real. And only through her kindness and openness to work and jokes after, you know, you feel more comfortable as you go. But, yeah, I feel like the audience, they come to see this will really be able to associate with some of those scenes and find their own struggles in it.
[00:14:53] Speaker A: I was gonna say, there's one scene where you guys are fighting off stage and I actually.
Kylie, who does the props, she was kind of laughing at me because my jaw was like, on the floor because I was just like, I've been to so many shows and I've never heard some of that language before. And, like, it sounds like you guys are really going at it off stage. And I'm like, oh, wow, that's like. That's intense. But, like, that's also real for somebody, especially getting to see Cory react to that in the scariest.
[00:15:18] Speaker B: It's one of the scariest. I don't know, most twisted moments of this show because that's one of. Raincoat of Love going into this show is one of my favorite songs of it. And it's so happy and sunny on the surface. But if you listen to the music or the dialogue before and after the scene, oh, my gosh, you realize this is a daughter's fantasy while she's avoiding the real conflict her parents are having in the next door room at her house and finding, like, her life might be falling apart. So she's jumped into this imaginary scene where sort of the TV show comes to life and we're all taking on a facade. But then as happy as it is, it comes back to, like, this really messed up dark place at the end of the song and leaves you thinking like, boy, what is everybody going through and what are they hiding here? And what's going on.
[00:16:07] Speaker A: Absolutely. So what themes of this show do you feel like resonates most with you? There's so many.
[00:16:12] Speaker B: I know, right? I think identity is huge.
And in terms of the freedom to express yourself to the world the way you want to be, as we talked about a few times already, like, Bruce is trying to hide himself from the world, but he's. Because of all that feelings, he's cramming down inside of himself. He's also taking it out on his family and the people he cares about in ways I don't think he even realizes all the time. And then when he, like, wakes up from it, sometimes he feels even worse about it.
Meanwhile, like Cora, who plays young, Allison is growing up in life knowing she wants to be different and challenging her dad. Many times in the show, like, I want a shorter haircut. I don't want to wear these dresses. I want to act this way. And she goes away to college, and she grows into herself and being her true self, and she writes letters home, and then dad and mom are ignoring them or challenging her on it. Yet Bruce is sending her books, like Colette, that make her challenge what sexuality is and think about being a lesbian and identifying in those ways. And really, once dad starts to accept and see Allison grow into her own person, it crushes Bruce's own needs to do that, too, and his struggle to ever having lived through that. So it's really quite devastating. You can see how their paths, like, diverging completely, fork off in completely different directions as the show goes on, because one person could find their identity and express themselves the way they wanted to and had that courage, and the other either grew up during a time where it was so shot down that he couldn't ever find that freedom or realize, like he says, I'm envious of the freedom that exists on campuses today. He never had that when he was going to school and growing up, and it crushes him. It takes him a completely different direction.
[00:18:11] Speaker A: Absolutely. I love that you said that about the identity, because that is such an essential theme to this story. It's just, who are you, and who do you want to be, and who do you want to be seen by your family? And everybody has a different opinion.
[00:18:24] Speaker B: And I think Scott did something special. Not to give away what we do at the ending, but in the finale song, that's the first time we've ever at least seen it staged that way between Bruce and Allison. And it goes back to the original heart of the story, which I really think Bruce and Allison do love. Each other. And I really think their relationship as father and daughter is a good one. In spite of all the challenges. I think. I don't know. I think throughout the show, there's hints throughout it that, like, with him giving her the books he does, with him calling her up at college and encouraging her to do her best and not listen to other people think, trying to get her to live the life that he wished he could and just never. I mean, that's the best part of a good story. There's, like, that tragedy of never being able to overcome that final hurdle, that we need to communicate properly. And, like, what would have happened if this slight thing had changed? Or I just spoke up here, or he did one thing differently, or he was honest here. And it's just. I don't know. It's very, very moving experience in that sense.
[00:19:31] Speaker A: Absolutely. So how has Fun Home challenged you as an actor?
[00:19:34] Speaker B: How is it not right? I have to sing, I have to dance. The music's really good to me. But it feels much like a Sondheim musical where there's, like, discordant chords and unusual patterns and rhythms. A lot of what our wonderful music director, Dennis Penny, is doing with his band in the background is almost, like, jazzy in a sense, because everything's a little off tempo and unusual. And there's songs where we overlap each other in four or five different. Like, different rhythms.
So that's a real challenge to maintain. And we're super lucky that the cast can hold up. Like a lot of community theater productions, you have some weak points. You want to bring in everybody and represent all of that. But with a small cast like this, really everyone's got their own individual part, and it's so tough to keep on. Like, if you miss a harmony, it's going to be very noticeable when only one person sings each part. So that's been a challenge. Certainly, acting and making sure you have trust and faith in one another, too, is challenging because some of the content is so dark or difficult or disturbing at points. You certainly don't want anyone to walk away feeling devastated from the way you've treated them.
Yeah. So I don't know. It's been interesting sort of all around the paths we go on and some of the challenges there. Then dancing. I mean, all of it. Holding up Cora in an airplane fashion. There's a lot of.
[00:21:03] Speaker A: I don't know how you did that.
[00:21:05] Speaker B: Yeah, A lot of practice, especially with.
[00:21:08] Speaker A: Your microphone pack in the back.
[00:21:10] Speaker B: Yeah, I know. Oh, it's been wild.
[00:21:13] Speaker A: And I was gonna say about the music that you mentioned, there's the song that you sing when youn're in New York, which, again, I won't say too much, but it's actually, it's. It was very interesting from an outward perspective because it's a lullaby, but it's. The music behind it is slightly off putting. Like, you feel slightly like there's, like, an uneasiness to it as you're singing this lullaby, but the music is just like.
It, like, matches, but it does. I don't know how to explain it, but it's just very, like, almost like an eeriness to it.
[00:21:39] Speaker B: No, it's happy and sad at the same time, and that's a lot of the show. It's like, how do you get both emotions from the same spot?
[00:21:46] Speaker A: Final question for you is what are you hoping audiences take away from Fun Home?
[00:21:49] Speaker B: I hope they see that people can be presented in a lot of different ways, but that we all have a heart and we all have feelings and we all have a voice that we need to. We all have an internal.
We all have things we hide about ourselves. And we also all have a need to be heard and be seen in the way we need to be. And I hope by the end of the show, not only do they care about the characters, but maybe it challenges their thinking on life and what they want to be and who they are as people. And maybe it encourages someone to have the confidence to speak up for themselves in a way that they might not have considered before.
[00:22:27] Speaker A: That's a perfect answer. So thank you so much for speaking with us, Alan. Fun Home opens this weekend and runs through November 10th at Ridgedale Players. So we are excited to see it, and we hope that people turn out to support this incredible show.
[00:22:43] Speaker B: Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Yeah, it's my pleasure. And thanks so much for coming to support us.
[00:22:48] Speaker A: Absolutely. Take care.
[00:22:50] Speaker B: All right, you too.
