Fun Home, Comes To Life at Peppermint Creek

 

The two-year pandemic that we are now slowly emerging from, has been stressful to many segments of society.  But one of the hardest hit has been the arts – especially theater and classical concerts.

For that reason, we must take our hats off in congratulations to a Lansing community theater company, Peppermint Creek, for presenting their current production of the challenging musical, “Fun Home”.

Even though season schedules have been upended through Covid, artistic director Chad Badgero was determined to hold on to “Fun Home” and present this important show to Lansing audiences.

“Fun Home“ is the Tony Award winning show written by Lansing native Lisa Kron (book and lyrics) and Jeanine Tesori (music).

I have seen “Fun Home” performed by seasoned pros on Broadway and the national touring company at Wharton Center. But there is something very special about watching local amateurs bringing this show to life in a church auditorium.

This musical is heartfelt and heart wrenching, and it demands much from its intergenerational cast of actors and singers.

“Fun Home” is based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechtel, although it is less a novel than it is an autobiography. It is the story of the college age Alison coming out as a lesbian in her first year at college.  But beyond that one event, the play is about how Alison’s family deals with many difficult issues, and Alison is beautifully portrayed at three times of her life by a 10-year-old Alison (Lorena Krauss), a college age Alison (Sally Hecksel) and the adult Alison (Abigail Grill) narrating, observing and sometimes inserting herself in the story.  

It’s a brilliant method of storytelling and the story is powerful.  As Alison is discovering her gender identity in college, she also learns that her father is gay. But this sensitive play has many plot lines crisscrossing throughout the performance.

Matt Eldred, as Alison’s father Bruce, is a talented singer and actor, known to Lansing audiences for a long string of theater successes.  But this play requires not only a strong voice but acting that displays a wide range of emotions. And he does it all.

Bruce is a fussbudget restorer of old houses, a funeral director (get it? Fun Home?) a high school English teacher and a father and husband. Lots of issues here.

All three Alisons have demanding roles and each have important songs depicting that particular time in Alison’s life. Sally Hecksel was especially effective as the “medium Alison”, working her way through her change of identity.  Her big song about her first sexual experience, “Changing My Major to Joan” sparkled with personality and excitement.

The most popular song of the show is “Ring of Keys” and “small Alison”, 6^th grader Lorena Krauss, made it a showstopper.

Director Mary Job is masterful at balancing all the narratives of this delicate show. The only shortcoming was the set. The talent on stage (and in the orchestra pit) was superb, but the set itself was not up to that talent.

The reason “Fun Home” has been a hit throughout the world is that the songs and music so effectively further the story and the characters.  The songs truly portray the anguish, joy and confusion that is the heart of the show. And music director Alan B. Sloan and his three other musicians provided superb musical support. A much-improved sound system made the music a pleasure to listen to.

Peppermint Creek’s “Fun Home” plays at the Central United Methodist church in downtown Lansing until June 12.