Sydney Richardson, Lucy Emerle, and Tatum Kilburg in Fun Home
If you like your musical theatre honest, funny, and devastatingly intimate, you need to see Fun Home at the Black Box Theatre. Based on Alison Bechdel’s award-winning graphic memoir, this musical is about coming of age, coming out, and coming to terms with the past. In the show, cartoonist Alison Bechdel (Sydney Richardson) reconstructs her own childhood as she recalls what it was like growing up with her closeted father (Tristan Tapscott) and emotionally distant mother (Kathryn Jecklin) against the backdrop of the family funeral home, which they call the “fun home.” Very early on, Bechdel tells us directly: “My dad and I both grew up in the same small Pennsylvania town and he was gay and I was gay and he killed himself and I became a lesbian cartoonist.” The musical, directed by Bradley Robert Jensen, is equal parts heartache and harmony, and we were at opening night on Friday, May 30.
Kitty: For me, Fun Home is what would happen if Tennessee Williams made a musical.
Mischa: Okay, intriguing … could you spell that out more specifically?
K: Emotional fragility? Check. Being haunted by memories of the past? Check. Sexual repression that hangs in the air thicker than a brocade curtain? Check. At least one woman whose nerves are being held together by sheer willpower? Check. Emotionally devastating ending? Check. But set to music!
M: Well, when you put it that way, I can’t argue with your logic! But I would stress the positive side of the equation more: Bechdel is shown writing and thinking about all this after making her own way out of a stifling environment and still finding a lot of good in what she remembers.
K: Oh, I definitely meant what I said as a compliment. Although I will add that when it comes to adapting this graphic memoir for the stage, I thought, ironically, it would make a better straight play than a musical.
M: Ba-dum tiss! I suppose that in the form of a musical, it does lose some of the original material's nuance, and some of the poignancy. But Jensen's production really does a great job representing the relived memories sensitively and humorously. The staging mixes different moments together before our eyes, with Bechdel also appearing as “Small Alison” (Lucy Emerle) and “Medium Alison” (Tatum Kilburg).
K: The Alisons were certainly the backbone of the show – rightfully so. And they all had solid rapport with one another.
M: Each one is fully engaged in a place and time, but each makes a clear contribution to her developing identity, and they're also brought together visually in the end to show their fundamental unity.
K: Small Alison is also part of another great trio in this show, as the three Bechdel children had fantastic stage chemistry. Alison’s brothers John (played by Jack Carslake the night we were there, with Brighton Greim taking on the role starting June 6) and Christian (Kylah Garris) were perfect complements to Emerle’s onstage energy, and the three of them together performed my favorite song of the whole show, “Come to the Fun Home.” Their charisma, combined with Kiera Lynn’s lively choreography, made that number pop.
M: Absolutely. Beyond that, I really thought each of the main performers delivered an unreservedly fabulous showcase number: Richardson’s low-key and affecting “Telephone Wire”; Emerle’s “Ring of Keys”; Jecklin’s powerful expression of long-suppressed frustration “Days and Days”; Tapscott’s frenetic, climactic “Edges of the World”; and Kilburg’s enthusiastic and show-stopping “Changing My Major.” These all perfectly encapsulated the developing characters, and the performers showed themselves at the top of their games. Totally engrossing.
K: Some of the performers did take a little while to warm up on Friday – at times, a few seemed to be straining on their songs, and there were notes that didn’t quite hit. But everyone hit their stride eventually.
M: I guess I was impressed by the singing more than you were. When they needed to, these voices just dominated the space, no mics necessary. And the balance between the singers and the small live orchestra, led by Cindy Ramos, was also good.
K: That’s true. It’s certainly a positive to be able to forgo mics, and the instrumental accompaniment blended very well with the vocalists. Regarding the performance space, we should definitely talk about the set, because the Bechdels’ ornate Gothic Revival house is central to the memoir, and I was eager to see how that would translate to this stage.
M: Before going in, I was skeptical that the memoir’s different settings could be truly pulled off in the intimate Black Box Theatre, especially because of the constant stress on Bruce Bechdel’s obsession with the details of restoration and decorating. But the home was delineated expertly with well-chosen specifics, and other locations effectively popped in and out of existence with quickly moved set pieces and props. Major props (ahem) to Lora Adams, who is credited for design. I shouldn’t have worried.
K: Speaking of well-chosen specifics, Jensen is obviously a skilled director, but anyone who’s seen his costume work also knows that he’s a gifted designer. So I was happy to see that he’d taken on the challenge of costuming his own show. Jensen’s attention to detail was especially good in the Alisons’ costumes, all of which had unifying colors and elements. Subtle perfection.
M: And the lighting (by our fellow Reader reviewer Alexander Richardson) added some terrifying enhancements to a very crucial moment, which I’ll resist spoiling. Earlier on, there seemed to have been a couple of glitches in the lighting cues, but hopefully they've been ironed out.
K: Agreed. And regardless, Fun Home is a must-see for its emotional complexity and solid ensemble acting.
Fun Home runs at the Black Box Theatre (1623 Fifth Avenue, Moline IL) through June 14, and more information and tickets are available by calling (563)284-2350 and visiting TheBlackBoxTheatre.com.
