Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...Despite its Tony Awards and critical acclaim, "Fun Home" will, I fear, be a tough sell in some towns on the road. There are still few musicals out there with lesbian protagonists and even fewer with scores that demand such close listening. But in this city, it will be appreciated for its masterful storytelling, its relentless focus on truth, the beauty of the music and the fragility of the collective composition here, which is treated with such delicate care by this cast and this director. David Zinn's design has been amplified, but not compromised, although I think the very limited use of the Bechdel cartoons could and should have been expanded for these huge theaters. It would have been a dramatic enhancement in keeping with the soul of the piece."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...The family at the center of “Fun Home” — the 2015 Tony Award-winning musical based on Alison Bechdel’s autobiographical graphic novel — is unquestionably unhappy in multiple ways. Yet in its pain there also is a certain strange (and at times downright twisted) beauty. And that beauty is captured in Jeanine Tesori’s chamber music-like score, and in the book and lyrics of Lisa Kron, which are a similarly lovely, poignant mix of the colloquial and the poetic."
Daily Herald - Highly Recommended
"...if you appreciate complex characters and a challenging story, the sublimely realized 2015 Tony Award-winning chamber musical is a delight with its dense, polyphonic music and evocative, personal lyrics. And the riveting, robust score by writer/lyricist Lisa Kron and composer Jeanine Tesori overwhelms in the best possible way: delighting the ear and the intellect."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...This 100-minute Equity touring production too: worthy. Despite the occasional confusions of David Zinn's set design, Sam Gold's staging combines wit with great emotional clarity. Robert Petkoff reveals a truly dangerous Bruce. And Abby Corrigan stands out as one of three actors portraying Alison at different ages-especially when, having discovered sex, she sings, "I'm changing my major to Joan.""
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Shindle's introspective Alison makes an empathetic, capable audience conduit, while Petkoff finds the sympathy in Bruce's lamentable self-destructive situation; Chicago's own Susan Moniz makes a meal of Alison's long-suffering mother, Helen, who gets one of the show's most cathartic songs in "Days and Days"-one of 15 moments Tesori and Kron plucked from Bechdel's memoir to turn into a dynamic and delicious score. With a far too short Chicago stay, Fun Home turns Bechdel's deceptively simple line drawings into a musical of simply inventive storytelling."
Stage and Cinema - Recommended
"...Flawlessly performed by an ensemble who seem family in their own right, Fun Home manages to move beyond a valedictory tale of children learning from parents' lies. Bechdel's depiction of a necessarily incomplete and fatally unfinished Bruce is ringingly balanced by three Alisons who forge an imagined whole greater than her life. The fun may be ironic but the feelings register and relate in all directions."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...But, again I must say that Fun Home is a compelling work that captures the emotional impact of Alison’s memories. The entire production is more than a sum of its parts. This is an artsy work with about a provocative family and a likable protagonist. It is theatrically innovative and ground braking. It is work seeing."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...The National tour of the 2015 Tony-Award winning BEST Musical, "Fun Home" has landed in Chicago. This is not your typical "musical", but is filled with music (Jeanine Tesori) and a book and lyrics by Lisa Kron) that is based on a novel by Alison Bechdel, telling her story of her life. This is a beautiful story digging deeply into the character and life of Alison, as we watch her story come to life through three stages. Small Alison is played by Alessandra Baldacchino, who is adorable and packs a wallop when she sings. Medium Alison is well- played by Abby Corrigan. It is during these days of her life that we watch Alison deal with the inner feelings and we witness her "coming of age", so to speak."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...This musical broke a lot of new ground when it first opened in 2013 at the Public Theater Off-Broadway, finally bursting onto the Broadway scene two years later. It has reached the status of a cult musical with its many fans, particularly among the LGBTQ community. But the show is noteworthy as an honest, heartbreaking ode to everyone who’s felt different and didn’t understand why until s/he reached puberty, or beyond."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Highly Recommended
"...Even with its several youthful characters, “Fun Home” is an adult show in the best sense of that much abused term. The Tesori/Kron score beautifully dials in on the tumultuous emotional lives of the characters. The sexuality issues are handled with taste and insight, the humor is genuine, and so is the heartbreak. “Fun Home” speaks with a measured voice that some viewers may find a little elusive. This isn’t a rowdy show like “Kinky Boots” or “Jersey Boys.” But it’s a lovely piece of chamber theater."
The Fourth Walsh - Highly Recommended
"...So, much to love and learn in this life lesson of family. Director Sam Gold paces it tight and intimate. His terrific ensemble polish and shine from the first ‘welcome to our house on Maple Avenue.’ The only bad part of this show is its limited run. Get your ticket quick to this unique musical!"
Chicagoland Musical Theatre - Highly Recommended
"...Fun Home has opened in Chicago for a limited run and is the perfect pre-holiday season diversion as theatergoers prepare themselves for Thanksgiving and all those election year conversations around the dinner table. Because watching Fun Home is an exercise in forgiveness and empathy, as much as it is a reminder that everyone looks at their family occasionally and asks, "WTF?""
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...The lovely reality about Fun Home is that it normalizes gay and lesbian family relationships as part of mainstream society. Gay and lesbian characters are real people with whom the audience can identify, not campy costumed misfits as they were often portrayed."
Splash Magazine - Highly Recommended
"...“Fun Home” is that all-too-rare type of magical theatrical experience. This show is without a doubt the best theatre I have seen this year. It’s certainly the most outstanding national tour to hit Chicago since the tour of “Once” last summer. Although the circumstances on stage may differ from our own families there’s such intense honesty in the story and enough bold vulnerability emanating from this remarkable cast that much of it will certainly ring true, even personal. The show immensely resonated with the audience on opening night. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a musical have such a profound emotional effect."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...A highly personal work, performed with sincerity and smarts, "Fun Home" is a manifestation of its own mission statement: visibility as an essential component of self-worth. Which means that as this tour rolls on, future Allison Bechdels will have the opportunity to see themselves represented on stage."
