By Judy Harrison
Penobscot Theatre Company’s “Fun Home” packs an intellectual and emotional wallop. It is a welcome punch in the solar plexus from Bangor’s only professional theater group that more often than not chooses simply to entertain rather than soar with the perfection this production does.
“Fun Home” is a 90-minute, one-act musical based on Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir. It is her coming of age, coming out and dealing-with-her closeted-daddy’s-death story.
In 2012, Lisa Kron, who wrote the book and lyrics, and Jeanine Tesori, who wrote the music, developed the musical “Fun Home” at the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab. It premiered off-Broadway the following year and in 2015, moved to Broadway and won five Tony awards, including Best Musical.