I had the opportunity to see Fun Home on Nov. 11. I enthusiastically second its surprising Tony Award win as 2015’s best musical. (It beat out the odds-son favorite, An American in Paris.)
Based on cartoonist Alison’s Bechdel’s “graphic memoir,” the show has been brought to the stage using Lisa Kron’s wise and insightful script and Jeanine Tesori’s melodic, heartfelt music. Fun Home is an insightful, often amusing coming-of-age story about a young woman who slowly realizes she’s a lesbian.
Three actors portray Bechdel, a MacArthur “genius grant” winner. Gabriella Pizzolo portrays her as a spirited eight-year-old. Emily Skeggs represents Bechdel as a nervous student at Oberlin College, struggling to come to terms with her sexual orientation. Beth Malone is the show’s narrator, the established cartoonist at age 43. All three are often onstage simultaneously, interacting with Alison’s family and friends.
The story is clearly Bechdel’s personal voyage, but it’s also a story about her family, a quirky but engaging group of people. Most central is Bruce (Tony Award winner Michael Cerveris), a domineering father who teaches English at the local high school, collects antiques and manages a funeral home (“Fun Home” is the family’s shorthand for the business). He’s also a closeted gay man who frequently fails to control his impulses. His wife Helen (Tony nominee Judy Kuhn) is dutiful if self-deluded, pained by their complicated relationship, but unwilling to confront it.
Three kids round out the family: Alison (Pizzolo) and her brothers Christian (Oscar Williams) and John (Zell Steele Morrow). They’re some of the most believable kids you could ever hope to see onstage, talented without being precious scene-stealers. The scene in which they stage an upbeat television commercial for the funeral home is a charming delight.
Roberta Colindrez is Joan, Bechdel’s first college hook-up, a pragmatic and mature young woman. Joel Perez plays a variety of young men in Bruce’s troubled life of brief encounters.
The show is a painful exploration of growing up and understanding oneself, especially focused on how parents impact their children for better or worse. In Fun Home, it’s for better and worse, as Alison’s close relationship with her father — who committed suicide — is inextricably linked with her understanding of her own existence. The show is not always upbeat — there are a lot of conflicted characters — but it’s ultimate effect is both reassuring and moving: No matter how difficult things seem, they can be part of a whole and happy life — perhaps in a “fun home.”
FUN HOME is now onstage at Circle in the Square Theatre in New York. More info: FunHomeBroadway.com.
This article appears in Dec 2-8, 2015.
