Two young actors from the Valley are performing on one of Boston’s most prestigious stages.
Lyla Randall, 13, of South Hadley, and Odin Vega, 11, of Holyoke, are currently playing siblings Small Alison and Christian Bechdel, respectively, in the Huntington Theatre’s production of “Fun Home.” The musical is based on the bestselling, graphic memoir “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic,” written by cartoonist Alison Bechdel, the creator of the comic “Dykes to Watch Out For.”
The show features Bechdel in three stages of her life: as a child, in which her character is “Small Alison”; in college, at the beginning of her life as an out lesbian, “Medium Alison”; and as an adult, in which she is simply “Alison.” The titular “Fun Home” is her family’s funeral home, run by Alison’s callous and closeted father, Bruce, with whom she struggles to have a positive relationship.
When Randall and her mom found the audition listing online, “I immediately felt overjoyed,” she said, “because I have wanted to do ‘Fun Home’ since I was eight or nine years old. Auditioning was like a dream for me.” She was in Ireland with her family when her mom surprised her with the news.
Vega made his Huntington debut earlier this year with an ensemble role in “The Light in the Piazza,” which he said he enjoyed. In this production, Vega has a bigger role.
“I feel much more included within the cast,” he said. “It’s a really, really great environment and really, really great people.”
One of the central themes in “Fun Home” is Alison’s discovery of her identity as a butch lesbian. In a pivotal scene, Small Alison sees a butch deliverywoman who gives her an instant sense of familiarity and recognition. By that point, she’d already made it clear to her father that she didn’t like wearing feminine clothing or hairstyles; he’d even bullied her into wearing a dress to a party when she didn’t want to, asking her, “You want people talking about you behind your back?” Seeing the deliverywoman, however, is an awakening that changes her life. The moment becomes “Ring of Keys,” one of the show’s most iconic songs.
“It’s the first time she’s recognizing herself in a person and I feel that’s what shapes Medium Alison and adult Alison’s way of seeing the world, because maybe if she didn’t see that one person, maybe she would have thought that she was just crazy, or maybe she would have thought that she was extremely different, instead of noticing who she is and who she can become,” Randall said.
Director Logan Ellis helped Randall give the song a more personal touch. Even though her character is addressing the song to a stranger, Randall said she is singing to a late family member.
“That way, it’s so much more powerful, and that way, the song has so much more meaning,” Randall said. Under Ellis’ direction, “We can make the show our own, and we can make our characters our own.”
Both Randall and Vega said their favorite part in the show is “Come to the Fun Home,” a song in which the three Bechdel siblings pretend to film a commercial for the funeral home. It’s darkly comic: it’s a Jackson 5-esque number in which the kids show off the home’s formaldehyde bottles and satin-lined caskets while singing lines like, “Stand right here when you sign the book / This is called an aneurysm hook!”
The song “keeps the show alive,” Vega said, “because there are a lot of dark parts, but I think it gives the audience a moment of relief from everything that’s happening, and it’s a really funny number.”
“Even though there’s so many dark parts to the show, it’s so light-hearted for us because, A, we’re doing the thing that we love, and, B, we get to do it with the people we love as well,” Randall said.
In fact, this isn’t Randall and Vega’s first time performing together: a few years ago, they both performed in “The Nutcracker” at the Massachusetts Academy of Ballet in Holyoke.
“It’s just incredible that we get to do something together again,” Randall said, putting her arm around Vega’s shoulder. “Besties reunited!”
“Now that we’re older, we get to have so much more fun, because now, we actually understand each other,” she continued. “[In “Fun Home”] we get to pretend to be brother and sister, [but in real life] we treat each other like brother and sister, but in a good way.”
Though both Randall and Vega see this show as a significant opportunity, the two bring plenty of performing experience to their roles. Randall’s resume includes the Sarah Silverman musical “The Bedwetter” at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.; the Hulu show “Mr. Crocket”; the YouTube series “Drone Cats”; and two games for the Toniebox. She also appears in the opening sequence of current season of “Sesame Street. “I got to jump rope for three hours,” she said referencing her experience on Sesame Street. “It was awesome!”
Vega’s experience is more theater-centric. Besides his two roles at the Huntington, he’s also been in a number of shows presented at the Majestic Children’s Theater in West Springfield, including “The Little Mermaid Jr,” “Curious George: The Golden Meatball,” “Little Lord Fauntleroy,” “Pollyanna,” “The Aristocats KIDS,” and “The Secret Garden,” as well as other regional productions. Part of his inspiration comes from his mom, a former Radio City Rockette.
“Being in front of a camera is not as exciting as being on stage, where you can actually see and hear the audience’s reaction,” Randall said. “When you’re performing or singing a song, you can hear them say, ‘Oh my gosh, that was incredible,’ or you can hear the applause, and you can hear the gasps in their voice when something dramatic just happened.”
Both theater and on-screen acting are “incredible experiences,” she added, “but, personally, theater is more exciting and thrilling.”
Vega agreed: “Theater is my main passion, for sure. I love hearing a roaring crowd, and it makes me feel very happy.”
Beyond this production, the Gazette asked what their ultimate dreams were with their acting careers — Broadway? TV shows? Hollywood movies?
“All of the above,” Randall said.
“When I first started theater, when I was seven, I set two goals for myself,” Vega said. “One was to be in an original Broadway cast, and one was to be in a Hollywood movie, and those are still dreams and goals that I try to work to, but the Huntington has been an amazing, amazing accomplishment.”
“Fun Home” is now playing at the Huntington Theatre through Sunday, Dec. 14. Tickets start at $30 for most remaining shows.
For tickets or more information, visit huntingtontheatre.org.