Silhouette Stages’ ‘Fun Home’ is rather more than a enjoyable present

Silhouette Stages’ Fun Home at Slayton House in Columbia, Maryland, is as near an ideal theatrical expertise as I may want to see. The present is intricately constructed, the dialogue snappy and tender, the songs plot-relevant, the appearing heartfelt, the relationships real, and you need to go instantly. 

I do know nothing about Fun Home besides that I’ve by no means seen it earlier than — I’m a fan of novelty. It’s carried out as one act, no intermission: a musical about household trauma. In it, Alison Bechdel, an grownup comedian ebook artist, displays on her relationship together with her household, significantly her father, together with us as her recollections are enacted by her little-girl self, her collegiate self, and various different characters who’ve made their marks. Fun Home, ebook by Lisa Kron, music by Jeanine Tesori, and lyrics by Lisa Kron, is predicated on Alison Bechdel’s 2006 graphic novel of the identical identify. 

When Fun Home was developed in 2013, the off-Broadway run was prolonged 4 instances earlier than shifting to Broadway, the place it received 5 Tony awards, together with Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Score. More than a decade later, Fun Home is prepared for neighborhood theater; some neighborhood theater is prepared for Fun Home. 

I flat-out love all the things about this script. Its development, nonconsecutive timeline, characters current in a number of instances and areas concurrently — this present is an instance of the easiest there’s in theater. Silhouette Stages’ manufacturing completely does it justice, with extras.

Slayton House in Columbia is a multi-use neighborhood house, constructed with a big flat space straight in entrance of the stage, and past, tiered seats. The raked seating is steep sufficient that sightlines are great. The short-term ground seating, nearer to the motion, is flat and rearrangeable. (I by no means select that part as a result of I really feel like I would like a telephone ebook to sit down on for satisfactory viewing. And now I’ve simply baffled the children.)

The program for Fun Home contains definitions and explanations of phrases used within the dialogue — acquainted sufficient if one was a baby within the Nineteen Seventies — which can require some backstory if one is a baby now. (For instance, Phone Book: A big, thick, alphabetically organized softcover listing of phone numbers for companies or houses from days when telephones had been bodily connected to buildings that had them.)

Director Stephen Foreman gathers a delightfully gifted grownup forged and 4 sensible youth actors. His blocking is extra like choreography, as grownup Alison, performed with deft, understated humor by Katie Cashin, strikes across the stage, introspecting, whereas motion unfolds in her thoughts’s eye. A sequence of precise choreography is impressed. The relationships between the characters are plausible, and each performer is wonderful. 

Due to a kind of quirky happenings of stay theater, I get to see each of the performers sharing the position of Small Alison, with the majority of the efficiency completed by Jules Kanarek, who’s pure, expressive, and vocally emotive. Caroline Anderson, who takes over the position close to the top of the efficiency I attend, is confident and quick on her toes. Cooper Johnson and Noah Anderson as Alison’s brothers, John and Christian (respectively), are assured performers and terrific dancers. As Helen Bechdel, Ellen Quay is polished, brittle, and tightly wrapped … till she isn’t, and that’s lovely. Her solo, “Days and Days,” is a robust peek into her perspective. 

As charismatic, sophisticated Bruce Bechdel, Michael McGovern is outstanding and engaging to observe. Kaylee McDonald performs Medium Alison, on her personal for the primary time, with the identical mixture of caprice and sass that we’ve discovered to like in Small Alison, and a voice that knocks her solo out of the park. Joan, Alison’s love curiosity, is performed with groundedness and earthy enchantment by Maria Maclay. Ryan Kieft, in a many-faceted efficiency, is a string of males who affect Bruce and generally the remainder of the household. 

Music director Dave Foley fosters ear-pleasing vocals and great harmonies. Particular favorites are “Come to the Fun Home,” “Changing My Major,” “Ring of Keys,” and “Flying Away.” The stay pit musicians exceed expectations, and Jen Retterer on cello is exquisitely poignant.

All manufacturing values are very excessive on this present. Sound high quality is ideal, separate from sound designer Val Smith’s stable soundscape. I’m impressed by the multilevel scenic design, additionally by director Stephen Foreman, which hides bits of units in little pockets and decorates the stage in outsized Bechdel comedian panels. These are highlighted by lighting designer Collin Griese for extra effectiveness, and one dramatic “special” takes away my breath. Costuming, by assistant director AnnaBelle Auguste, reveals character and time interval flawlessly. Intimacy director Kelly Williams-Carlson ensures that everybody appears pure in moments of ardour; severely, finest I’ve seen. 

Sensitive content material warning from the producers: “Fun Home contains adult language and mature content, including discussions and depictions of death, violence, suicide, sexuality, and sexual content.” I’ll add to this record emotional manipulation, infidelity, alcohol use, and cognitive dysfunction. It is really useful for ages 13 and up. On this page, there’s a hyperlink offered for a household information to the present. I do not suggest clicking it until you really have to, because it comprises many spoilers. 

Kudos to Silhouette Stages as a company and to the forged and creatives who’ve produced this present. Fun Home is the entire bundle. It offers with non-pathological problems with household, outsider-ness, transition, reframing, and genuine existence. There is a variety of native theater taking place within the month of March. This one would possibly properly be one of the best of the lot. 

Running Time: 90 minutes, with no intermission.

Fun Home performs by means of March 22, 2026 (Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 pm, Sundays at 2:00 pm), offered by Silhouette Stages acting at Slayton House within the Wilde Lake Village Center, 10400 Cross Fox Lane, Columbia, MD. Purchase tickets ($25, grownup; $20, senior, scholar, army, educator; $15, little one) online.For further info, name 410-216-4499 or e mail data@silhouettestages.com.

No meals is allowed contained in the theater, and the present is carried out with no intermission, so in the event you’d prefer to help Silhouette by buying snacks, try this earlier than seating your self.

Enjoy free parking within the Wilde Lake Village buying heart and the swim heart subsequent door. 

Next up for Silhouette Stages is Green Day’s American Idiot, directed by Henry Cyr.

Final Factoid: Alison Bechdel, creator of the long-running alt-comic Dykes to Watch Out For (1983–2002), is the originator of the Bechdel-Wallace test. In transient, the take a look at is: Do two ladies have a dialog with one another about one thing apart from a person? Yes? Pass. No? Fail.