The Arizona Republic

‘Fun Home’ musical is exactly as large as life

- KERRY LENGEL Reach the reviewer at kerry.lengel@arizonarep­ublic.com or 602-444-4896. Follow him at facebook.com/LengelOn Theater and twitter.com/KerryLenge­l.

The American musical is an over-thetop art form, peopled by plucky debutantes and debonair playboys who break into tap-dancing spectacles at the drop of a hat.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. The opera and the ballet are larger than life, too. But many of the musicals I love best are of the more intimate variety. Musicals like “The Last Five Years” and “Caroline, or Change” and “Next to Normal” that, even when they include fantastica­l elements, are built at the scale of real human lives.

Add to this list the remarkable “Fun Home,” winner of the 2015 Tony Award for best musical with a national tour that opened Tuesday, Sept. 5, at ASU Gammage in Tempe.

“Fun Home” is adapted from the same-named graphic memoir by cartoonist Alison Bechdel. It’s a coming-ofage story and a coming-out story that delves into Bechdel’s identity as a lesbian and her complicate­d relationsh­ip with her father, a closeted gay man.

The book is intellectu­al, intricate and meditative. By necessity the musical — with a book by Lisa Kron and songs by Jeanine Tesori — tells the tale in broader strokes and includes more comic relief, such as “Come to the Fun Home,” a sardonical­ly jaunty advertisem­ent for the family funeral parlor (hence the show’s title) performed by a young Alison and her two brothers, one of them singing into a can of furniture polish in lieu of a microphone.

But the heart of the story remains the same as an adult Alison looks back on a childhood that seemed innocent and happy and normal (whatever that means) but was actually fraught with secrets and dysfunctio­n (whatever that means).

The touring version, overseen by original director Sam Gold, boasts a stellar cast led by Kate Shindle as the adult Alison, serving as narrator. In the tween role of Small Alison, Carly Gold (alternatin­g with Jadyn Schwartz) delivers the soaring paean to butch style “Ring of Keys,” and Abby Corrigan is equally adorable as the nerdy college-age Medium Alison, who blossoms in one the best, most specific love songs in recent Broadway history, “Changing My Major” (“I’m changing my major to Joan / I’m changing my major to sex with Joan!”).

A heart-wrenching highlight is “Days and Days,” an explosion of pent-up resentment from Alison’s mother (Susan Moniz), while the biggest acting challenge goes to Robert Petkoff, who fearlessly essays the conflicted character of the persnicket­y patriarch, Bruce, without ever resorting to stereotype­s.

It’s no coincidenc­e that composer Tesori, in addition to bubblier fare such as “Thoroughly Modern Millie” and “Shrek the Musical,” also wrote the aforementi­oned “Caroline, or Change” (which is about to get a Phoenix revival at Black Theatre Troupe). “Fun Home” is almost a chamber musical, with a small orchestra performing onstage.

Indeed, Broadway buffs have been wondering how well the show will translate to big road houses after playing in the round at Circle in the Square Theatre, with about a quarter of the seats of Gammage’s 3,000.

With a critic’s privilege of sitting in row seven, I can’t say how “Fun Home” looks from the balcony, but scenic designer David Zinn has given the production just enough visual pop to fill the proscenium stage. The action opens in a memory-play sketch of Alison’s childhood home, and then, after a brief foray into seedy ’70s New York backed by dull white brick, the wall rotates up to become a ceiling and reveal an ornate, fully-realized living room for Medium Alison’s trip home from college — with the past quite literally hanging over the characters’ heads for their family reunion.

It’s a sly touch in a musical with a subtle theatrical­ity that never gets in the way of the storytelli­ng.

 ?? PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOAN MARCUS ?? (From left to right) Carly Gold as Small Alison, Luké Barbato Smith as Christian and Henry Boshart as John in Fun Home as part of ASU's 2017-18 Gammage season.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOAN MARCUS (From left to right) Carly Gold as Small Alison, Luké Barbato Smith as Christian and Henry Boshart as John in Fun Home as part of ASU's 2017-18 Gammage season.
 ??  ?? Alessandra Baldacchin­o as Small Alison with Kate Shindle (background) looking on as Alison in “Fun Home.”
Alessandra Baldacchin­o as Small Alison with Kate Shindle (background) looking on as Alison in “Fun Home.”

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