Fun Home is a musical adaptation of the autobiography of Alison Bechdel. For those unfamiliar, Alison Bechdel is a well known lesbian comic artist and feminist, most well known for her long-running comic strip, Dykes to Watch Out For and for bringing “The Bechdel Test” into feminist ideology. Though I was passingly familiar with Bechdel’s comics when I went to see Fun Home at Schenectady Light Opera Company, I was unfamiliar with the details of her biography and therefore unsure what to expect. Fun Home details Bechdel’s childhood and college-aged life, narrated and framed by her adult self, with emphasis on her sexual identity, coming out, and her relationship with her father. In a more broad sense, Fun Home is an examination of typical, heteronormative family dynamics and how they leave so many people disappointed and unfulfilled.

Before the show began, I took note of the sparse set and the cartoony backdrop. I am unsure if the backdrop for SLOC’s production is made of images drawn by Alison Bechdel or if it is simply created in the same style, but either way it looks very much like pages out of one of Alison Bechdel’s comics. The only apparent piece of furniture on the stage is a well-worn standing desk. When the play begins, adult Alison stands at that desk as she tries to draw and write accurate depictions of her childhood and adolescence. 

Playing the adult version of Alison is Hollie L. Miller. Acting talent and vocal chops aside–and I must say that Miller has both in abundance–she looks incredibly similar to Alison Bechdel’s own illustrations of herself, thanks to much attention to detail from costumer Rory Alexa and the hair designer Olivia Sabatini. Through the retrospective eyes of adult Alison, Miller frames the rest of the play as she remembers her childhood, her adolescence, discovering her sexual identity, and the events leading up to her father’s suicide.

Miller’s Alison is joined by “Small” and “Medium” (child and college aged) versions of herself, played by Vivienne Hays and Katherine Beaulac (as alternates for Small Alison) and Sammy Wilson (as Medium Alison), that help tell her story. The cast is rounded out by Alison’s childhood siblings, Alison’s mother and father, Alison’s first girlfriend, and a handful of ensemble actors that play various secondary characters. The entire cast of this show is excellent, and I was especially pleased by the vocal talents of Katherine Beaulac, Vincent Connell, and Liam Murphy and to hear such big voices coming from such small actors. Wilson as Medium Alison is also delightful to watch, especially in her portrayal of college-aged Alison going through her first love and first sexual encounter. Her giddiness in the song “Changing My Major” will bring many audience members back to their youthful blundering courtships. And Cameron Clarke Stevens and Elizabeth Sterling, playing Alison’s parents, must be praised for particularly nuanced and moving performances. Stevens’s performance as Alison’s father, Bruce, paints a complex picture of a tortured man who is sometimes loving, sometimes cruel, and ever conflicted. Sterling as Alison’s mother, Helen, begins the play as a dutiful and put-together housewife, but as the play goes on she builds to a dramatic breakdown that hits an emotional crescendo in a heartbreaking performance of the song “Days and Days”.

Fun Home is a simple yet profound musical with a relatively small cast and ensemble. The set, the lighting, and the costumes are therefore all quite simple, but they serve the show well. All in all, Fun Home is an excellent piece of queer theater about growing up and coming out, but those who are not part of the LGBTQ community will still be able to identify with the play’s themes of family, sexual exploration, and being true to oneself. I therefore recommend Fun Home to any and all theatergoers seeking a sometimes funny, sometimes tragic, and thoroughly entertaining piece of theater about one brilliant and funny comic artist.

Schenectady Light Opera Company presents Fun Home by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori, directed by Francesco Carlo Archina, runs from March 15-24, 2024, at SLOC Musical Theater, 427 Franklin Street Schenectady, NY 12305. Musical Director: Emily Rose Rivera. Choreography by Mani Velvet McCalmon. Produced by Debbie Paniccia & Sonya Sidhu-Izzo. Stage Manager: Sara Fredericks. Assistant Stage Manager: Kasey Clark. Accompanist: Sean Koehler Obach. Cast: Hollie L. Miller as Alison, Vivienne Hays as Small Alison (March 14, 16, 22 & 24), Katherine Beaulac as Small Alison (March 15, 17, 21 & 23), Cameron Clarke Stevens as Bruce, Sammy Wilson as Medium Alison, Elizabeth Sterling as Helen, Vincent Connell as Christian, Liam Murphy as John, Mahogany Akita as Joan, Justin Nadal as Roy/Pete/Mark/Bobby Jeremy, and Emily Joseph, Rylie Huang, Regan Zlotnick, and Peter Mostert as Ensemble. Dance Captain: Mahogany Akita. Set design by Marc Christopher. Lighting Design by Dimitri Vasilakos. Sound design by Katie Fitzmorris. Costume design by Rory Alexa. Hair and make-up by Olivia Sabatini. Property design by Sara Fredericks. 

Performance dates are Friday-Sunday March 15-17 and Thursday-Sunday March 21-24.Tickets run from $25-$32. Runs approximately 2 hours with no intermission. Tickets are available online by phone, or at the door for any performance. Visit http://sloctheater.org/, call 518-730-7370, or e-mail info@sloctheater.org for more information. Contains sexual content, sexual scenes involving minors, and depictions of emotional abuse. Recommended for ages 15+.