By Lynda Lacayo
By Lynda Lacayo
The musical tragicomedy “Fun Home” does not resemble a mainstream Broadway musical, but has nonetheless been heaped with critical acclaim, including a finalist spot in the Pulitzer Prize sweepstakes. This has lead Susan Moniz, who will portray Helen in an upcoming production, to refer to the play as “the little engine that could.”
The five-time Tony award-winning show will move audiences to laughter and tears with its arrival at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, playing from August 1 to 6.
Welcome to “Fun Home,” a musical that is nothing like your family, yet reveals universal truths relating to all families. The show is based on Alison Bechdel’s autobiographical graphic novel which looks back on her unconventional childhood with her dysfunctional family. The show is cutting-edge, not only because it is the first Broadway show with a lesbian leading lady, but because Jeanine Tesori’s music and Lisa Kron’s lyrics have woven together a tight drama. Incidentally, it is the first show written exclusively by women to win Best Musical. Tesori and Kron are also the first female team to win a Best Score Tony.
The show is emotionally honest, bittersweet, funny, and wise. “Fun Home” is very profound and complicated. It’s about Allison’s life as seen at different stages. Small Allison, middle Allison, and mature Allison, who narrates the show are on and off the stage throughout, and sometimes all three appear together. Allison deals with her own coming out and her father’s being gay as she sees her home through grown-up eyes.
Moniz plays Allison’s mom and is a real-life mom. She based her career in Chicago because of its vital theater scene but primarily, she said, “I moved and stayed there because I’m able to work in the business and go home to have a regular, everyday life.”
When Moniz’s agent called asking if she would audition for “Fun Home,” Moniz hadn’t seen the musical, just a few clips from the Tony’s, but said, “I found it was fascinating and auditioned, thinking right now is a good time, my kids are older and it’ll be a smart thing for me to do. The more I learned about the show, the more motivated I became. It was a great opportunity to be part of something beautiful.”
Moniz’s role of Helen is pivotal to the show, which she describes as an “ensemble piece about Allison growing up in the 1960/70’s and her very complicated relationship with her father, Bruce Bechdel.” She continued, “Both of the parents are complex because of who Dad/Bruce is, a gay man not allowed to live his life honestly. In the ‘play with music’ Allison, who is also gay, looks back on her life, as we all do with adult eyes and tries to grasp her familial relationships and to understand her father and the things that have made her who she is today. All families may not be as convoluted as Allison’s, but everyone has things they didn’t quite understand as a child that as adults, they understand better.”
“Helen is a woman trapped in the difficult situation of being married to a gay man and living in a time when Bruce couldn’t be comfortable in his own skin and there was no support for Helen to express what she was living through,” Moniz said. “She was alone because the couple never really disserts their situation in exact terms.” And that, Moniz said, explains some of Helen’s actions, such as staying with her husband despite suspecting his true character and being the one to tell Allison about her father’s lifestyle when Allison herself comes out.
There are a lot of metaphors in “Fun Home,” starting with the title. Moniz said, “It’s an ironic title, this isn’t what you would call a fun home at all. It’s an inside joke because that’s the families’ nickname for both the restored Victorian house they live in and their business, running a funeral home. The show is a drama/comedy with heavy subject matter but there’s so much levity interspersed in it. A perfect instance is the Bechdel children making up a playfully funny commercial jingle for the family funeral home.”
“Fun Home” is a far cry from typical upbeat musicals. It’s an emotional story mixed with smart and jubilant music and comedy written in so that it becomes a joyful reflection on otherwise painful things. Moniz said, “An example of this is college age Allison experiencing things at that awkward age when we all do embarrassing things, especially when we discover love for the first time.”
When asked what she liked best about playing Helen, Moniz replied, “You know, it’s funny, but what I like best is the show itself. There’s no real joy in Helen. She’s a frustrated soul and there’s not a lot of happiness happening when she’s on stage, although singing Janine Tesor’s exquisite song ‘Days and Days’ is a delight. It’s the show, in general, that is joyful for me. I am a part of a piece that is so beautiful; it speaks to people and affects them. At the show’s conclusion, people come up to us, crying and relating how ‘Fun Home’ touched them. It’s the effect the show has as a whole that makes it so rewarding to do.”
“Fun Home,” a musical about a dysfunctional family, has universal appeal to audiences in general, receiving standing ovations and passionate reactions from Louisville to Los Angeles. Moniz said, “Across the country, there are different degrees of enthusiasm, but overall the response has been incredible. Sure, this is a hot topic for very conservative folks, but we haven’t had any ‘in your face’ reactions. Some people are already fans of the show when they arrive but others are just sitting there in shock, not because of the subject matter, but because they have just been taken on this extraordinary journey.”
Moniz believes audiences relate to “Fun Home” because “we all have families or have been a child and the Bechdel’s are like anybody else. People are just people. ‘Fun Home’ can be summed up by its signature T-shirt ‘That was just like my family, only different.’”
“Fun Home,” is playing at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, August 1 – 6, 2017. For tickets and information: The Box Office. 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa; Online, SCFTA.org; or by phone 714-556-0236. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
