Review Roundup: FUN HOME at San Diego Repertory Theatre
By: Alan Henry Sep. 20, 2018
San Diego Repertory Theatre presents Fun Home, one of the most celebrated musicals in recent Broadway history. Fun Home is the coming-out memoir of Alison Bechdel, an exploration of family, memory, first love and a daughter's relationship with her father. Fun Home was nominated for 12 Tony Awards in 2015 winning five including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score, Best Leading Actor and Actress in a Musical.
Fun Home was also winner of the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical and the Obie Award for Musical Theatre.
Fun Home is based on Alison Bechdel's witty and wistful graphic novel of the same name. Past and present blend magically as we see Alison at three different ages: as a young girl playing games in the family's funeral home, as a college student joyously discovering her sexuality as a lesbian woman and now as an adult on an extraordinary quest to discover the truth about her father's secret life.
The cast of Fun Home is led by Amanda Naughton (Alison), Claire Adams (Medium Alison), Taylor Coleman (Small Alison), Isabella Pruter (Small Alison), Jim Stanek (Bruce), Bets Malone (Helen), Alexis Young (Joan), Conlan Ledwith (Roy, Pete, Mark, Bobby Jeremy), Bobby Chiu (John), Jacob Farry (John), Hayden Crocker (Christian), and Luke Renner (Christan).
The creative team includes Robert Meffe (Music Director), Javier Velasco (Choreographer), Nicole Cantalupo (Assistant Director and Dramaturg), Sean Fanning (Set Design), Jennifer Brawn Gittings (Costume Design), Matthew Lescault-Wood (Sound Design), David Lee Cuthbert (Lighting and Projection Design), Angelica Ynfante (Prop Design), John Anderson (Technical Director), Chelsea Smith (Production Manager), and Chandra R.M. Anthenill (Stage Manager).
Performances Fun Home run September 6 - 30, 2018, at the Lyceum Theatre in downtown San Diego. Press opening is on Wednesday, September 12th at 7 PM. For performance times and show information please visit www.sdrep.org.
San Diego Repertory Theatre (San Diego REP) produces intimate, exotic, provocative theatre. Founded in 1976, San Diego Repertory Theatre is downtown San Diego's resident theatre, promoting a more inclusive community through work that nourishes progressive political and social values and celebrates the multiple voices of our region. The company produces and hosts over 550 events and performances year-round on its three stages at the Lyceum Theatre. Since moving to the Lyceum, The REP has produced 45 main stage productions by Latino playwrights, and more than 40 world premieres. The company has received more than 200 awards for artistic excellence from the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle, Patté Theatre Awards, NAACP, Backstage West, Dramalogue and StageSceneLA. In 2005, the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle presented The REP with the Craig Noel Award "For 30 Years of Artistic Dedication to Downtown and Diversity."
San Diego Repertory Theatre feeds the curious soul. To learn more about San Diego Repertory Theatre, to purchase tickets, or make a donation, visit www.sdrep.org. Join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@SanDiegoREP).
Let's see what the critics have to say!
E. H. Reiter, BroadwayWorld: Led by an excellent Naughton, this first rate cast brings emotional, nuanced, and fun to the stage. It is adult Alison who is exploring where her path and her father's path diverged, both based on personality, and the societal norms in which they each came of age in.
James Herber, San Diego Tribune: The Broadway-seasoned Naughton, who also appeared on the national tour of "Fun Home," brings an appealingly wry touch and a potent voice to Alison, and lends heart to Jeanine Tesori's complex, unconventionally melodic music for the piece.
Tony Frankel, Stage and Cinema: Conlan Ledwith physically embodies Bruce's hired hand and other underage objects, but doesn't have the necessary allure. While Ledwith is the only miscasting in the show, he shines in Jennifer Brawn Gittings' inspired Partridge Family costumes during a riff called "Raincoat of Love," which carries a mocking bite coming after the news that Bruce is seeing a court-ordered shrink (sadly, the only way he could leave the closet was, tragically, to molest minors).
Bill Eadie, San Diego Story: Mr. Woodhouse's direction rightly keeps the focus on the various versions of Alison, and the rest of the family can fade into the background (the two boys, for example, are featured mostly in Javier Velasco's choreography). Ms. Malone's mother is also in the background until she emerges to react to having both a gay daughter and a gay husband. Mr. Stanek's Bruce is more in the foreground, and his somewhat mysterious relationship with the rest of the family motivates Alison to investigate, ultimately, with tragic results.
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