‘Fun Home’ is dark ‘memory musical’

THE THREE ALISONS: (left to right) Sydney Lucas, Beth Malone & Emily Skeggs. Photo: Joan Marcus

FUN HOME
Music by Jeanine Tesori
Book and lyrics by Lisa Kron
Based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel
Choreography by Danny Mefford
Directed by Sam Gold
Circle in the Square Theatre
1633 Broadway
(212-239-6280), www.FunHomeBroadway.com

By Scott Harrah

Home is where the hurt is in this Broadway transfer of the hit Off-Broadway musical adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s autobiographical graphic novel Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. The show, which played a successful run at the Public Theater, is hardly your standard Broadway musical fare. This dark, often disturbing story is essentially a “memory play” with songs woven into the narrative, but it’s not exactly a modern-day Glass Menagerie with music.

Narrated by lesbian cartoonist Alison Bechdel (played at age 43 by Beth Malone), with Small Alison (Sydney Lucas) and Middle Alison (Emily Skeggs) representing the protagonist at different stages of her life, Fun Home is about growing up in a dysfunctional family in a Pennsylvania town in the 1970s. The Bechdels live in an old Victorian mansion, adding to the creepiness of the setting. Dad Bruce (Michael Cerveris) is an English teacher and also the town undertaker, running a local funeral parlor that the kids nickname the “fun home.” Dad has a passion for classic literature, antiques, decorating and renovating the family home—and underage teenage boys. Mother Helen (Judy Kuhn) is the typical wife in denial about her husband’s secret sexuality.

The dramatic conflict mostly centers on Alison’s volatile relationship with her parents. Her father is often critical of young Alison, chiding her for not liking to wear dresses and critiquing her budding art talent as she develops a passion for drawing cartoons. Unfortunately, most of the songs in this nontraditional musical seem strained, unnatural and silly—from ditties about polishing the furniture to a rousing number, “Changing My Major,” by Alison as she discovers lesbian love after a libidinous night with Joan (Roberta Colindrez) while a freshman at posh Oberlin College.

Despite a few funny moments, such as Alison’s dad sending her “lesbian books” like one by Collette, the subject matter in Fun Home is somber indeed, at times downright lugubrious, and doesn’t exactly lend itself to musical theater.

In addition, the story of Alison’s troubled parents is often more compelling than Alison’s own coming-of-age trajectory. However, there just isn’t enough detail about the parents and their sham marriage. Helen Bechdel tells of being stationed with her husband in Germany while he was in the military and traveling to Paris to meet a man who turned out to be his lover, but the significance of this anecdote is never explained. We know that the father is a self-loathing man unable to be true to himself, and the mother is a long-suffering woman who is sick of all the lies and deception, and Fun Home would be a far more interesting show if the parents’ backstory was explained better.

Director Sam Gold gets outstanding performances from the cast, despite the awkward in-the-round staging that is always tricky at Circle in the Square, with audiences having to watch the back of actors’ heads at times. Mr. Cerveris’ Bruce is consistently heartbreaking, portraying a man overwrought with guilt about his double life. Judy Kuhn is also outstanding as wife Helen, giving a searing portrait of a woman breaking down from years of marital discord. The three actresses playing Alison are all superb as well.

Fun Home already has a cult audience that enjoys it as a musical, but one wonders if the show might be more satisfying and solid as a straightforward drama because the Bechdel family suffers from enough adversity and emotional mishaps to make the story stand by itself, without any need for songs. Regardless, Fun Home is a powerful saga that puts a different spin on stage epics about maladjusted families and the pain of growing up feeling out of place and misunderstood.

MOM & YOUNG ALISON: Judy Kuhn & Sydney Lucas. Photo: Jenny Anderson

THE BECHDEL FAMILY: (left to right) Judy Kuhn, Oscar Williams, Zell Steele Marrow, Sydney Lucas & Michael Cerveris. Photo: Joan Marcus

GROOVING AT THE ‘FUN HOME’ FUNERAL PARLOR: Oscar Williams, Zell Steele Marrow & Sydney Lucas. Photo: Joan Marcus

ALISON & MIDDLE ALISON: Beth Malone & Emily Skeggs. Photo: Jenny Anderson

YOUNG ALISON & HER DAD: Sydney Lucas & Michael Cerveris. Photo: Joan Marcus

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 23, 2015
Reviewed at press performance on April 22, 2015