Ten Months After Fun Home's Broadway Closing, Michael Cerveris Is Just Starting to Shake Bruce Bechdel

Michael Cerveris is one of the most celebrated theater actors of the past 20 years, known for deeply felt, often dark performances that have earned him a total of six Tony Award nominations and two wins. But is it easy for Cerveris to shake such powerful characters once he leaves the stage door?

While promoting his comedic performance on the upcoming Amazon Prime Video superhero series The Tick on the daily Broadway.com talk show Live at Five on July 24, Cerveris revealed that he’s only recently started to detach from Bruce Bechdel, the real-life character from Fun Home that won him his second Tony Award in 2016.

“I only have begun to feel in the past month or so that I’m really starting to step out of it,” Cerveris told Paul Wontorek. Cerveris played his final performance as Bechdel on Broadway more than ten months ago, on September 10, 2016.

Bechdel, the father of out Fun Home creator Alison Bechdel, was a closeted family man whose suicide sets in motion the story of the Tony-winning musical.

Cerveris added that he’s thrilled the show is living on beyond the Broadway run. “I’ve been delighted to see how successful and popular it’s been on the road,” he said. “And what’s gonna be really interesting now is that it’s opening up and people can do it regionally and schools can do it.”

Watch the clip below and the full Live at Five episode here. Filmed in the Broadway.com Times Square studio, Live at Five features news and star interviews every weekday at 5PM on the Broadway.com Facebook page.