PicksInSix Review: Fun Home - Porchlight Music Theatre

“A Raincoat Made Out of Love.”
PicksInSix Review | Ed Tracy

Porchlight Music Theatre is celebrating their 30th Anniversary with an exhilarating revival of the 2015 Tony award-winning musical “Fun Home,” based on cartoonist Alison Bechdel’s 2006 groundbreaking graphic memoir, now playing at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts.

Directed by Stephen Schellhardt with music direction by Heidi Joosten, the show stars Alanna Chavez as Alison, Patrick Byrnes as Bruce and Neala Barron as Helen who lead a stellar cast in bringing the moving Lisa Kron/Jeanine Tesori score to life.

Kron’s book follows Bechdel’s conflicted relationship with her gay father as she discovers and comes to terms with her own lesbian sexuality. Chavez’s Alison serves as a 43-year-old stage voyeur looking back on her life growing up in the family funeral home, her sexual awakening in college and facing the inevitable truth of her father’s destructive behavior, all the while capturing the drama in her artwork. Moving in and out of the scenes with versions of herself as a child—alternating roles for Tess Mae Pundsack and Meena Sood as young Alison and Z Mowry as Middle Alison—Chavez expertly navigates the transitions, never leaving the stage for the entire 100 minute runtime of the piece.

Byrnes is a commanding force as Bruce, sheltering his true nature behind the veil of dutiful teacher, husband, father and community mortician while fighting to control an inner rage that will ultimately tear the family apart. Early on, his efforts to shield Alison and her siblings—Eli Vander Griend and Charlie Long alternating as Christian, and Austin Hartung and Hayes McCracken alternating as John—plays out as a domineering perfectionist but not without a sensitivity to literature, art, culture and a flair for restoration projects like the funeral parlor coined the ‘Fun Home’ by his children.

As Bruce’s anguished wife Helen, Barron gives an outstanding, multi-layered performance culminating in the heart-stopping ballad “Days and Days.” Among the other memorable numbers in the melodic score are the musical commercial “Come to the Fun Home” delightfully showcasing the young talent; Mowry’s “Changing My Major,” the touching anthem to her lover Joan (Dakota Hughes); the poignant “Ring of Keys” duet; and Byrnes “Edges of the World.” Lincoln J. Skoien rounds out the cast playing multiple roles and leads the lively company number “Raincoat of Love.”

Scenic designer Jonathan Berg-Einhorn has transformed the Ruth Page stage into an exquisite and intimate multi-level interior that allows Schellhardt the ability to transition effortlessly between scenes. Denise Karczewski’s lighting design and costumes by Marquecia Jordan complete the visually stunning production. With Matthew R. Chase’s pitch-perfect sound design and Joosten’s five-piece band hitting the right notes all night long, Porchlight’s memorable “Fun Home” is not to be missed.

PHOTO|Liz Lauren

Editor’s Note: Longtime photographer Rich Hein, who published his work as Liz Lauren, passed away on Sunday, January 19. 2025. Rich’s matchless photographic contributions will be sorely missed by the entire Chicago theatre community. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends. and colleagues. et

Porchlight Music Theatre
presents
FUN HOME
Ruth Page Center
1016 N. Dearborn St.
through March 2, 2025

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