Tony-winning musical ‘Fun Home’ comes to the Straz Center

Robert Petkoff spent a year touring the country as Sir Robin in “Spamalot.” It’s a riotously funny role in a deliberately silly musical.

Now he’s finishing up a year touring the country as Bruce in “Fun Home,” a fact-based show about a woman’s relationship with her gay father, and of her discovery of her own sexuality.

He’s having a lot more fun as Bruce.

“With ‘Spamalot,’ it was fun, but there were nights when it just felt like it was just another night doing the same thing,” Petkoff said in a phone interview from Rochester, N.Y. “I was going to work. With this show, there’s so much to discover about Bruce. It’s different every night.”

Petkoff will, somewhat reluctantly, say goodbye to Bruce on Dec. 3. The national tour of “Fun Home,” which opened last year, is ending after its stop at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa. The Tampa run starts Tuesday.

For local people who follow Broadway musical theater, this is perhaps the most eagerly awaited Broadway tour this side of “Hamilton” (which will come to the Straz during the 2018-19 season).

“On a basic level, it’s Alison Bechdel’s story about growing up and specifically about her relationship with her father, Bruce,” Petkoff said.

But that kind of makes the show sound dry and trite. Petkoff said it’s anything but.

“It’s definitely a lot of fun for the audience,” he said.

The show is based on Bechdel’s graphic autobiography. Lisa Kron, who was not widely known before she wrote the book and lyrics for this show, and Jeanine Tesori, a composer who had won a couple of Drama desk Awards, adapted it for the stage. The 2014 Off-Broadway run won all sorts of awards, and the next year’s Broadway run earned Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score.

Besides Petkoff, whose recent Broadway credits include Hubert Humphrey in “All the Way” and Richard Hannay in “The 39 Steps,” the cast includes Kate Shindle, who was Miss America in 1998 and who is the current president of Actors’ Equity. Two young actors (Alessandra Baldacchino and Abby Corrigan) play younger version of Shindle’s character, Alison.

Petkoff is enthusiastic about the entire cast, particularly the two young Alisons, and about the show’s set design, which he says is one of the best he’s experienced.

The show is compact, just 100 minutes long with no intermission, but includes 23 songs. So it’s quickly paced.

Besides the depth of the character he plays, Petkoff said that one of the most-rewarding aspects of the show is seeing the reaction of audience members who come into the theater thinking they won’t like a show about an adult lesbian and her relationship with her gay father.

“It’s a subscription show, so a lot of people in the audience aren’t necessarily there because they want to see this particular show,” he said. “But they end up loving it. It’s about the one, very specific family, but ultimately it’s universal. It’s about all families. It’s about your family.”

Details: Nov. 28-Dec 3, Morsani Hall at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, 1010 N. MacInnes Place, Tampa. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. $44-$98 plus service charge. 813-229-7827, strazcenter.org.

This story was originally published November 22, 2017 at 1:51 PM with the headline "Tony-winning musical ‘Fun Home’ comes to the Straz Center."