Out100: The Fun Home Family
Alison Bechdel, Roberta Colindrez, Beth Malone, Joel Perez, Lisa Kron
Photography by Ryan Pfluger in brooklyn, on September 1, 2015. Styling by Marc Anthony George. Hair and Makeup: Angela DiCarlo. Roberta Colindrez: Jacket by Elie Tahari available at Bloomingdale's, Pants by Reiss available at Bloomingdale's. Joel Perez: Suit, shirt, and tie by Prada, Shoes by Florsheim.
That a queer coming-of-age tale won five Tony Awards (including Best Musical and two for Lisa Kron, who won for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical) is quite astounding. It's a feat the three queer members of Fun Home's ensemble cast -- Beth Malone (who plays adult Alison Bechdel), Roberta Colindrez (who plays her college girlfriend, Joan), and Joel Perez (the love interest of Bechdel's closeted father) -- especially appreciate. But the production, based on Bechdel's bestselling 2006 graphic memoir of the same name, achieved another milestone when the musical's producers insisted 11-year-old Sydney Lucas (who plays a young version of Bechdel) sing "Ring of Keys," a sweet ode to a butch lesbian, during this year's televised broadcast. "It's not about sex, it's about identity -- which is perhaps even more threatening," Bechdel explains. "In the play it's a brilliant thing, but to reach that broader audience of people watching television? Who knows what the average viewer thought? Even if it's not about sexuality, but about a child having awareness and subjective power, it's kind of revolutionary."
