THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE FUN HOME
One of the first penetrating statements Alanna Chavez makes very early as Alison Bechdel in Porchlight’s Fun Home, now playing at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, is that she “doesn’t trust memory”. To compensate, her character discovers cartooning as the most suitable vehicle for chronicling her journey through the world.
Alanna Chavez
In 2006, the real Alison Bechdel published her memoir, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic to rave reviews. Something of a breakthrough in the graphic novel format, Fun Home delved through terrain that seemed groundbreaking by exposing a family structure that reads as both fragile and controversial. Growing up in the small town of Beech Creek, Pa., current population 713, she struggled with recognizing and accepting herself as a lesbian and later recognizing and processing the reality of her father being gay.
Meena Sood and Patrick Byrnes
Neala Barron and Z Mowry
Heady stuff. But Bechdel’s truth reflects the realities of an unknown number of families not only in this country but around the world. Still, it’s not what you’d ordinarily consider ideal subject matter for a musical. Especially one involving playfully precocious kids and lots of sly humor. With music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by Lisa Kron, both highly acclaimed masters of their crafts, Fun Home the musical shows how commonplace the unconventional looks from the outside and how infinitely adaptable the human spirit can be. Debuting on Broadway in 2013, after five years of arduous development, Fun Home would earn seven Tony Awards and become a Pulitzer finalist. With a story that breaks and warms hearts in equal measure, it’s no wonder fans say they’d go anywhere to see it again, even to a high school auditorium.
Z Mowry
Meena Sood and Alanna Chavez
Imaginatively conceived, the play takes on a novel construct. Chavez plays the adult version of Bechdel as she narrates the progress of her life. There’re also two other versions of her character. Opening night, the smaller 10-year-old Alison was flawlessly embodied by Meena Sood (who alternates with Tessa Mae Pundsack). Bechdel’s teenage self is played by Z Mowry with the confidence and panache of a gifted natural. With the undercurrent of so much dramatic tension suffused throughout the production, such praise is noteworthy considering the youth of these actors.
Meena Sood
Much of the action takes place in the family’s Victorian home; immaculately and single-handedly restored by Bechdel’s father, Bruce (Patrick Byrnes). A stickler for perfection, he insists Alison and her two younger brothers carry their weight to ensure it stays pristine. An accomplished restorer, her father also teaches English at the local high school and is the town’s funeral director at the funeral home he inherited from his father and grandfather; it’s the family business. Everybody in the household refer to it simply as “The Fun Home”.
Members of the cast
The Bechdels know their familial duties and perform them well. On the surface, things look perfectly wholesome and normal which Bruce insists upon. When 10-year-old Alison pushes back from having to wear a dress and not a T-shirt and jeans to a party, he cautions her that not wearing the dress will invite rebuke. He has nothing to say when she points out that he’s wearing a “girl” color, a pink tie. You notice but don’t question the odd formality and distance between Bruce and his wife, Helen (Neala Barron). The reason for that veiled chasm doesn’t become apparent until later, when teenage Alison enters Oberlin College, accepts her sexuality and has her first taste of intimate love with Joan (Dakota Hughes). The coming out letter she sends to her parents unleashes a torrent of suppressed truths–all concerning her father’s lifelong sexual involvement with men and boys. Four months after receiving his daughter’s letter, her father steps in front of a truck and is killed (this is not a spoiler).
Patrick Byrnes
Everything in the storyline builds to this tragedy. One of the first questions anyone in Alison’s position would ask is, “Is it my fault?” To her credit, she allows reason to lift that weight from her shoulders. Kron’s book, and her exceptional lyrics, elegantly and sublimely translate the depth of her quandary as well as the fullness of inner peace she achieves on its release.
Patrick Byrnes and Meena Sood
And something of a covert surprise, once Helen finds her voice, unshackling her fears as a long-suffering wife, bringing her demons into the light, Barron delivers a galvanizing performance–one that’s on par with Byrnes’ very impressive portrayal of a man precariously trying to occupy two opposing realities.
Lincoln J. Skoien, Patrick Byrnes and Alanna Chavez
Beautifully directed by Stephen Schellhardt, a consistency of performance excellence pervades the show. As for his team, it’s hard to imagine a show with a stronger creative foundation. Surprisingly fluid, discreetly evocative and inhabiting its own realm of enchantment, Jonathon Berg-Einhorn’s set design wonderfully frames Bechdel’s living memoir. Rachel West’s and Riley Woods’ striking and ingenious lighting add gilding to that perfect rose. The orchestra, led by Heidi Joosten as director and conductor, is ravishing.
Porchlight’s Fun Home is an ideal harmony of heft and musical splendor.
Meena Sood (SMALL ALISON), Alanna Chavez (ALISON) and Z Mowry (MIDDLE ALISON)
photos by Liz Lauren
Fun Home
Porchlight Music Theatre
Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn St
100 minutes with no intermission
Thurs & Fri at 7:30; Sat at 3 & 7:30; Sun at 2;
Wed at 7:30 (Feb 5, 12, 19, 26); Thurs at 2 (Jan 23, 30)
ends on March 2, 2025
for tickets ($20-$85), call 773.777.9884 or visit Porchlight
for more shows, visit Theatre in Chicago
