Editor : Jeannie Lieberman |
Submit an Article |
Contact Us | 
For Email Marketing you can trust
Fun Home
by David Schultz Standing out on its own unique oasis, this mesmerizing chamber
musical strikes many emotional chords. No need to have lived this woman’s
rather unusual life or suffered the extreme heartbreak she encountered to
connect with it. This is first and foremost a memory play about family and the
complex inner dynamic that each family brings in its own idiosyncratic way. Adapted
from lesbian cartoonist Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir, this dense emotionally
satisfying musical is blessed with a subtle musical score by Jeanine Tesori.
Playwright Lisa Kron has seamlessly crafted the book and lyrics, and director
Sam Gold dazzles with some of his finest work to date. Ms. Kron has cunningly
split the lead character into three separate stages of life to show the
transformation in various timeframes. The youngest named Small Alison (Sydney Lucas) is innocent, and
tomboyish yet curious about her innermost roiling of feelings she cannot find
words to express...just yet. The middle incarnation (Emily Skeggs) is now a geeky
college student, much more internally aware of her sexual tendencies, but still
ambiguous and tentative about how to open up and express herself to her college
mates and family. That leaves the last Alison (Beth Malone), all grown up and
butch, a celebrated and published cartoonist to round out the pack. This adult
Alison leads us on this interior journey, as she watches and observes her
younger selves in their various stages of life, including her two younger
brothers John and Christian (Zell Steele Morrow, Oscar Williams). The musical takes place in a small town in Pennsylvania where the
family seems to be a well-rounded bunch. Father Bruce (Michael Cerveris) work
and hobbies are spilt three ways too. He is an English teacher at the local
high school, runs a funeral home to pay the bills, and restores old homes in
the area for pleasure. His wife Helen (Judy Kuhn) seems emotionally distant with pent-up anger; the answers to her grief become minutely clear as the musical progresses. Helen has known for years that her husband secretly pines for the young men in the area, as he has furtive dalliances with them and is on the down low. Actor Joel Perez portrays all the various men that Bruce flirts with. If all this sounds a bit sordid, it is not by a long shot. The expressive, propulsive score drives this piece into a higher plane. The drawing desk that Alison returns to time and again serve as the cartoonist’s memory-board as she draws out her repressed memories of her family life, both real, half forgotten, and wistfully what she imagines what a perfect family it might have been…. but never was. The stage design is perfectly rendered by David Zinn who does double duty as costume designer as well. The small intimate horseshoe stage limits the size and scope of set design since too much furniture and accoutrement would block the viewing angles. Mr Zinn brilliantly finds a way to reveal and conceal. The minimalist stage pops open at various times, trap doors are slid open and all manner of furniture, caskets, college dorm rooms, sitting rooms pop up into and out of view. The atmospheric lighting is both bright and then darkened to eerie effect when appropriate. The melding of dialogue and musical segues are especially adroit. Each musical number moves and propels each character into ever more complex emotional revelations. There is not much in the way of actual dance to contemplate. Director Gold does have a bit of fun in one early flashback with all the young kids stowed away in a casket; then bursting from it and singing, pretending they are making a commercial for the Bechdel funeral home in song and dance. In another a fantasy sequence transforms the brood into a Partridge Family style T.V. show revealing a musical number extolling the sweet and harmonious loving family that Alison knows will never happen. Flashbacks, forward and backward continue as the darkness descends and Alison tries in vain to connect with her father in an emotionally gripping moment near the end of the piece as they ride together in a car along a lonesome stretch of road. The ache to connect on both of them is palatable. But they cannot reach that emotional safe space. The musical reaches a pitch-black moment with an epiphany sung with gut wrenching foreboding by Mr. Cerveris. Every actor is in tune with all the idiosyncratic tics and emotive undercurrents of feeling of their character. The cast has been with this work since its debut at the Public downtown, growing along with it, and new nuances are brought to the surface in this incarnation. Far from a downer, this invigorating fresh look at family, history, memories; both real and wished for, proves to be an adult musical in every sense of the word. Circle in the Square Theater, 235 West 50th street. 
|
