Ross Zentner
From left: the three Alisons: Rachael Zientek, Karen Olivo, and Chantae Miller.
To mark its 10th season, Forward Theater is presenting its first musical; the award-winning show Fun Home, which runs in Overture’s Playhouse through Nov. 25. In her director’s notes, Forward’s artistic director Jennifer Uphoff Gray stated that it was a long-term goal, but she had been waiting for just the right musical for the company to produce. As the standing-ovation crowd at Saturday night’s performance can attest, she found it, and it was worth the wait. Fun Home is the perfect size for the space and the company. It showcases superlative performances from Wisconsin actors, and it tells an important story that is utterly unique.
Based on the graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel, the groundbreaking piece is an eloquent, irreverent, painfully authentic story about extreme family dysfunction, homosexuality, suicide and growing up in a funeral home. This is not your mom’s Rodgers and Hammerstein night at the theater. Rest assured, there are love stories and dance numbers; there are gorgeous songs and uplifting messages. But the journey, like its protagonist, is unorthodox. And for every note of hope there is a deep cut of frustration and pain.
Tony winner Karen Olivo plays the lead role of adult Alison, but Fun Home is not a star vehicle — it is a true ensemble piece. Not surprisingly Olivo is astonishing as the 40-something who is using art to come to terms with her difficult past. But so are the other Alisons — Rachael Zientek is radiant as the college version, fumbling through her first same-sex relationship and her new identity — and Chantae Miller is luminous as the outspoken and bright-eyed girl who yearns for her father’s attention and has not yet learned to be afraid to fly.
With a smart, multi-layered set by Keith Pitts and inventive lighting by Jason Fassl that visually frames the action as comic book panels, the Wisconsin premiere of Fun Home celebrates Forward’s first decade while also celebrating love, in all its forms. Don’t miss it.
