“It all comes back”: ‘Fun Home’ thru Porchlight Music Theatre

The Company. Photo by Liz Lauren.

Beneath its unlikely logline, based as it is on Alison Bechdel’s singularly brainy, delving, and unapologetically queer memoir, the musical “Fun Home” has plenty of universal appeal. Set aside its Broadway production’s marketing team’s laconic and self-deprecating description as “the lesbian suicide musical”; who can’t relate to the awkward blush of first lust? the thrill of recognizing a kindred spirit? or even the awing moment when a parent spoke to you as an equal for the first time? A solid production—and I would venture an iffy production, too—will hit right where it aches.

The press performance for Porchlight’s production of “Fun Home”—solid on all fronts—was held on the night before the inauguration, so there was another ache to process. Whether Porchlight had some more celebratory how-far-we’ve-come mood in mind when scheduling their season months in advance, I can’t say. But "Fun Home” sure puts some steel in the spine and some fuel in the got-so-far-to-go tank.

Stephen Schellhardt, who has previously played Alison’s domineering father Bruce and the suicide in question, sits in the director’s chair here and, I think, has added extra heat to a musical about a rather cerebral bunch of people openly grappling with big feelings for the first time in forever. Bechdel says in her memoir that her family was not an emotionally demonstrative one, which is a tricky thing for a musical to handle and all the more credit to Lisa Kron (libretto) and Jeanine Tesori (music) for cracking it open with an infinitely rewarding score.

But Patrick Byrnes, now playing Bruce, really seems like he could be the Best Dad Ever, especially in a brief scene with a young Alison (Meena Sood, alternating) wherein he begins to nudge her toward her eventual future as an artist. But then his disappointment and rage suddenly flares up when she dares to do things her own way; the reversal is as chilling as it is heartbreaking (to say nothing of his soliloquy “Edges of the World”). And I’ve likened mother Helen’s soul-baring solo “Days and Days” to an Atlas shrugging off the weight of the world, but in Neala Barron’s interpretation, she drops that weight, douses it in kerosene, and throws down a match.

For a somewhat softer glow, Jonathan Berg-Einhorn’s shadow box-built set seems especially apt for the now-grown Alison (Alanna Chavez) to draw up memories of her past, and Heidi Joosten’s music direction keeps its very heavy pieces constantly aloft.

In sum, even with such ache to contend with, there was palpable uplift by show’s end. “Fun Home” is a call that the work ahead must be pragmatic and clear-headed, and that in appealing to a large audience with a universal message, one must never lose sight of the specifics. In balance, things can soar.

“Fun Home” runs through Mar. 2 at 1016 N. Dearborn St. For tickets or more information, please visit porchlightmusictheatre.org.

For more reviews on this or other shows, please visit theatreinchicago.com.