Review: Lovely FUN HOME Will Break Your Heart

FUN HOME is a great title for a musical. It conjures lightness, joy, whimsy ... fun. There is some of that in the Tony Award-winning show, now enjoying its first national tour that includes a two-week stint at Chicago's Oriental Theatre. But for the most part, FUN HOME is dark.

If you know the source material, you might enjoy and/or understand the show more than someone who comes in cold. There are a lot of moving parts, and it seems chaotic at times, but I think that's a deliberate point of view director Sam Gold is trying to deliver.

Alison Bechdel is a gay cartoonist, who, through her 2006 graphic novel memoir, "Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic," attempted to unravel the mysteries of her family. Lisa Kron (book/lyrics) and Jeanine Tesori (music) took this very specific experience and brilliantly turned it into a universal story of family connections and how our memories can be at once hazy and crystal clear.

Bechdel is the central character in the show and is played by three actresses at different stages of her life. The adult Alison (Kate Shindle) is in her 40s and remains onstage throughout, narrating, observing and reacting. Small Alison (Alessandra Baldacchino) is about age 10, and Medium Alison (Abby Corrigan) is college age. As the adult version sits at her drawing table trying to make sense of her memories, we see those memories play out around her.

One of the "fun" moments is her fond recollection of Small Alison and her two brothers (Pierson Salvador and Lennon Nate Hammond) making up a Jackson 5-inspired song about their father's funeral home -- which they call Fun Home. They sing and dance among the caskets while their father, Bruce (Robert Petkoff), works on a dead body in the next room.

The darker moments involve their father's secrets and ultimately his suicide (not a spoiler; it's disclosed early in the show). Bruce Bechdel was a closeted gay man who had affairs with young men, some underage. His wife, Helen, was not blind to it. Their children were oblivious to the details but certainly suffered from the household tension.

Petkoff deftly manages the role of the tortured Bruce, whose perfectionist tendencies are at odds with the real mess of his life, which keeps him at a troubling distance from those who love him. "Sometimes my father appeared to enjoy having children," the adult Alison recalls. It's one of the sad truths she figures out as she grows up and puts the pieces of her life together. It's a relatable moment, that realization that there is so much more to our parents than ever crossed our minds as children.

By the time Alison got to college, she was coming into her sexuality and out of her own closet. Corrigan poignantly and endearingly captures the insecurity, inexperience and youthful exuberance of that discovery in the clever "Changing My Major," in which she sings: "I got so excited. I was too enthusiastic./ Thank you for not laughing./... I'm changing my major to Joan./ I'm changing my major to sex with Joan./ ... Will you stay here with me for the rest of the semester?/ We won't need any food. We'll live on sex alone./ Sex with Joan!"

An even more poignant awakening is detailed in Small Alison's "Ring of Keys," in which the innocent adolescent describes her instant connection to a confident, butch woman who walks into a diner where Alison is eating with her father. She doesn't quite understand her own feelings, but it's clear to those listening that there's a sense of recognition and relief, and by the end of the song, she realizes, "I know you."

As Alison is on a positive road of self-discovery, her parents' lives are further unraveling at home. Alison comes out to them via snail mail and then brings her new girlfriend home for a visit.

Chicago actress Susan Moniz plays Helen, whose heavy heart can barely carry the burden of her husband's secrets anymore. Her grief and regret is laid bare in the heartbreaking "Days and Days," imploring her daughter to stay away from the toxic environment that is their home; that it may be too late for herself but not for her children.

FUN HOME is a show that could have gone wrong in so many ways. The creators took great care in keeping it from veering into "creepy" territory. It is a really lovely story, but I do think there is one big missed opportunity. Bringing Bechdel's cartoons to life as the adult Alison sketches onstage -- flashing them up on the backdrop throughout, perhaps -- could add a really interesting visual layer to the storytelling. The only sketch we see comes during the finale, a winsome trio sung by the three Alisons. Even a montage of sketches during the final song could tie the story together and make the end not seem so abrupt.

FUN HOME continues through Nov. 13 at the Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph. Tickets are $25-$113. For information: 800-775-2000; BroadwayInChicago.com.

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