Fun Home garnered itself the 2015 Tony Award for Best Musical, and it was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for drama … the list of honors goes on and on. So when you arrive at the CVRep Playhouse to see the show, which runs through Dec. 18, you know you’re in the presence of big-city success.
This musical is not everybody’s cup of tea. Some of the themes may be triggering, and portions are painful to watch due to the subject matter. But make no mistake: CVRep’s version is quite a production!
Fun Home is a director’s dream, with lots of personnel and scenery changes. The moods can switch quickly between scenes, aided beautifully by the musical accompaniment of six musicians.
The musical, based on Alison Bechdel’s 2006 graphic memoir, is about being gay. It’s easy for many of us to forget that life is very different for LGBTQ+ individuals now compared to even a decade or two ago. The show’s title is a shortened version of funeral home—where the Bechdel family lives and works—and it can be an exhausting and stressful place. Bruce, the dad, is a high school teacher and the head of the funeral home business; it all sometimes leaves him short-tempered and wiped out. The mother, Helen, is a pianist who is attempting to hold the high-energy kids together as a family … and there’s more to her than initially meets the eye.
Alison is played by Kristen Howe. As she looks back over her life, we meet “Medium Alison” (Cecily Dowd) and “Small Alison” (Keeley Karsten). Yes, there are three different Alisons on the stage. Her brothers are Christian (played by Reed Potter at our performance), and John (CJ Wealand). These kids bring an amazing energy and a delightfully fresh bounce to this show.
But the stars are the parents, Helen (Leslie Tinnaro) and Bruce Bechdel (Victor Wallace). Both Tinnaro and Wallace have powerful and true singing voices, and the play slowly reveals they are far from being the Perfect Mommy and Perfect Daddy whom we think we initially meet. Both show great command of the stage and a courageous willingness to reveal their inner fragilities.
The role of Joan is masterfully played by Charlotte Wallace, and the roles of Roy, Mark, Pete and Bobby Jeremy are all played by Blake Kevin Dwyer, who is amazing as he rapidly creates character changes along with his costume changes.
The cutest part of the show is the kids’ “commercial,” which is performed with sassiness and confidence. The saddest part … well, you can choose from several.
Let’s take a moment to pay homage to the three authors of the work, because all three are women! The original story, of course, was written by the real Alison Bechdel. (The hallway to the theater and the stage itself are initially decorated with huge replicas of her graphic-novel work—which lends itself to the musical, because her artistic technique is interestingly challenged and criticized by her father.) The book and lyrics are by Lisa Kron, with Jeanine Tesori writing the music. A special shout-out goes to Leslie Tinnaro, who teaches in Rancho Mirage, and CJ Wealand, for local representation in a show that imported the other actors.
The show is directed by Adam Karsten, who certainly achieves his goal of “building bridges” between audiences and this kind of work. He is responsible for creating the breathtaking energy of the musical; you will never hear an audience so quiet, in appreciation of his work. There is no intermission, and it works for this show, as the energy builds steadily throughout the play. We wouldn’t want an intermission.
Set designer Jimmy Cuomo deserves applause for the clever design; the actors themselves change the sets, and enormous pieces of scenery are moved with characteristic CVRep cleverness.
Michael Reno is the musical director, and with 150 shows to his credit, you can well imagine that the music is flawless. Of course, this is a “new musical,” in which there are few rhymes and even fewer memorable melodies, so be braced for this kind of sound.
Fun Home is a show like no other, performed at CVRep by talented and highly skilled actors. It will leave you with much to think about—on many different levels.
Fun Home will be performed at 7 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday; and 2 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, through Sunday, Dec. 18, at the CVRep Playhouse, 68510 E. Palm Canyon Drive, in Cathedral City. Tickets are $58 to $73, and the running time 90 minutes, with no intermission. For tickets or more information, call 760-296-2966, or visit www.cvrep.org.
