‘Fun Home’ deals with universal truths
The riveting modern musical “Fun Home” provides a fresh point of view on what Hollywood might label “a coming-of-age” or a “coming out” story. It’s both, plus a family drama with a sense of humor as we tag along on a daughter’s personal journey.
Alison Bechdel is the reallife out-and-proud lesbian cartoonist who set out to unearth truths about her past and those of her father, a closeted gay man who committed suicide in his 40s — shortly after she came out to her parents.
The Bechdel family story became the best-selling graphic novel “Fun Home,” which was reimagined as a theatrical work that made Broadway history in 2015: Composer Jeanine Tesori and lyricist/librettist Lisa Kron became the first women to create a musical that took home Tony Awards for best musical, book and score. Director Sam Gold and Michael Cerveris as Bruce Bechdel also won Tonys.
The national touring production at Heinz Hall upholds the benchmark set by that heralded Broadway troupe, while also bringing its own considerable gifts to a tuneful, multi-genre score.
In the opening song, the adult Alison declares her intentions much as an investigative journalist: “I want to know what’s true / Dig deep into who / And what, and why, and when / Until now gives way to then.”
The musical jumps back and forth in time as Alison explores moments in her life as a child and as a teenager. She is played by three actresses — Kate Shindle, a former Miss America, is Alison at 43, our guide as she drops in on herself as “small Alison” (11-yearold Alessandra Baldacchino, a replacement in the role on Broadway) and “medium Alison” (Abby Corrigan).
Robert Petkoff, a voice-over actor and Broadway veteran embodies the complexities of Alison’s father, Bruce, who in seconds can pivot from mere disapproval to menace, and from swagger to shame.
Bruce is revealed as a perfectionist — he painstakingly restores old homes while teaching English and running the family’s funeral home, all according to his own set of rules. In his personal life, he is haunted by living in denial or giving in to his desires, and his family suffers the consequences.
With wife Helen (Susan Moniz), who kowtows to her husband’s every whim, they raise three children, Alison and her younger brothers John and Christian (Lennon Nate Hammond and Pierson Salvador, natural and winning in small roles).
Even in their uptight household, kids will be kids — as demonstrated by the number “Come to the Fun Home,” in which the three siblings dance around a coffin and create a Brady Bunch-style, crowd-pleasing commercial for the family’s funeral home (the “fun home” of the title).
As Bruce’s struggles turn dark and creepy, Alison’s own coming of age as a gay woman is full of wonder and hilarity, expressed in two of the show’s highlights: “Ring of Keys,” in which small Alison is enthralled by the appearance of “an old-school butch” delivery woman, and the song that gets the night’s biggest laughs, medium Alison deciding, “I’m Changing My Major to Joan,” after her first sexual experience.
Ms. Shindle’s adult Alison remains a presence throughout, dropping in on her imperfect memories, looking for insights in journals kept by her younger self.
After she comes out to her parents — via a letter from college — she brings home her “major,” Joan (Karen Eilbacher), and it’s during that visit that her mother reveals the family’s secret.
“Fun Home” packs a lot of moving, engaging moments into one hour and 45 minutes with no intermission.
“Fun Home” may be a deeply personal story about one woman’s search for truths, but as is the case with our best stories, it shares universal truths — about family, legacy and self-discovery — and should be right at home among America’s best musicals.