Director Randy Lake and his group at Great Escape Stage Company staged an impressive and exceptionally powerful production. Elinor Marsh delivered terrific vocals and a remarkable performance. Her Telephone Wire song as she narrates riding along with her father during the last time they would talk, never finding the right words, was devastatingly real. Chris Howell fully captures Alison's complicated father Bruce struggling with how to be a father and with his own inner demons, including initiating trysts in the home with Josh Vreeland who delivers a great performance in various roles. The father's journey culminates in his desperate Edges of the World. As Alison's mother, Andrea Rogers makes you feel her strained mental weariness from decades of remaining with her spouse through so many affairs -- particularly the private and public trauma stemming from his seduction of underage boys -- highlighted in song with her wrenching Days and Days.
We see Alison experience her youth again through her younger counterparts, Medium and Small Alison. Kyra Hill gives an amazing performance as the college-aged Medium Alison as she fully discovers her sexuality after meeting fellow student Joan, with Mary Sramek giving a solid performance as the much more confident partner who also tries to help Alison with her parents. Kyra shines in both the comedic aspects (including her changing her major to "Joan" number) and dramatic aspects (including facing the tension with her parents after their vague response to her coming out to them).
Fifth grade student Julia "Bat" Spaulding is a great find in just her third stage role, this time starring as Small Alison. Sincere, fun, and with strong vocals, she is a standout throughout. That includes her role in the hilarious imaginary commercial Welcome to the Fun Home (joined by her enthusiastic younger siblings played by Owen Jones and Maximus Dixon), her fond memories of good times with her father, her anxious and confused memories when she vaguely realized something was wrong, and her great, earnest performance of Ring of Keys when she first finds herself feeling an inexplicable kinship between her young tomboy-ish self and a butch-looking female.
All three talented Alisons come together at the end of this poignant production for a cathartic finale of Flying Away.
