Reviewing a musical is new territory for me, but since Alison Bechdel's Fun Home is one of my all-time favorite comics, I was eager to check out the stage adaption now running at The Public Theater—featuring music by Jeanine Tesori, with book and lyrics by Lisa Kron. Since I couldn't take photographs in the theater, the life-drawing approach turned out to be invaluable. More thoughts after the break.
Theater serves the recursive structure of Fun Home well. Adult Alison is revisiting and processing her youth as she draws her memoir, so she remains onstage to comment on the action as a Greek chorus-type figure. I went with my parents, and have it on their authority that the show was as delightful and understandable—even without having read the book.
The music added another layer to an already extremely strong performance. Alison's identity, as well as her relationship with her father, is revealed in individual memories, and music emphasizes the powerful underlying emotions. When such serious subject matter could easily verge on melodrama, the songs help Fun Home not take itself too seriously. For instance, while Young Alison listens to her parents fight, we see her imagination, where the whole family joins to sing a '60s-tinged pop song about togetherness. Funny, but it still conveys how they cling to a facade of normalcy while there's underlying turmoil; it's entertaining without being hokey. And when all the different ages of Alison can literally harmonize, that's powerful.
Fun Home runs through November 3, so go see it!
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