**** Recommended Fun Home isn’t really a musical, rather it’s a bittersweet little play which happens to have music intrinsic to the story. Fun Home, based on Alison Bechdel’s best-selling graphic memoir of the same name, was a huge hit on Broadway. By the way, ‘fun home’ is an inside joke referring to the family funeral home, not an amusement park fun house! 4 Spotlights
Fun Home begins with Alison (Alanna Chavez) sorting through a box of junk, and reminiscing about her family. She says that her entire history can be summed up by saying she’s gay; oh, and by the way, her gay father killed himself by walking in front of a semi.
Alison’s father, Bruce (Patrick Byrnes), considers himself to be an expert on restoring old buildings. In fact, the family lives in a house he restored – and loves to show it off. Alison’s mother, Helen (Neala Barron), is expected to keep the house up to his standards. A funeral home is the family business.
Small Alison (Meena Sood alternating with Tessa Mae Pundsack) and her brothers, Christian (Charlie Long alternating with Eli Vander Griend) and John (Hayes McCracken alternating with Austin Hartung), love to run wild in the funeral home. After showing a potential client out, their father scolds them for playing in the coffins, but as soon as he leaves the room, they go back to ‘filming’ Come to the Fun Home, their commercial – a highlight of the show.
Middle Alison (Z Mowry) is off to college and trying to figure out her sexual orientation. She’s fascinated because her friend Joan (Dakota Hughes) is sure of hers. When she figures it out, she writes a ‘coming out’ letter to her parents, but they don’t respond.
It isn’t until she brings Joan home for a weekend that she learns the real truth about her parents – and all those young men – Roy, Mark, Pete and Bobby Jeremy (Lincoln J. Skoien) who figured into her father’s life.
Fun Home is not suitable for young children.
Porchlight Music Theatre’s production of Fun Home runs through March 2nd at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. Valet parking is available. Running time is 100 minutes, no intermission. Performances are: Wednesdays through Fridays at 7:30 pm; Saturdays at 2:00 & 7:30 pm; Sundays at 2:00 pm. Tickets range from $20-$85. FYI (773) 777-9884 or www.porchlightmusictheatre.org.