Family and home are often linked together. But as we learn in the opening number of The Family Album, now making its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse, sometimes there is “No Home at All.”
That song is the starting point for the emotional journey we take with Mia, a young Asian American woman struggling to break free of family expectations, confront painful secrets and find a home—and a voice—of her own.
Directed by Jess McLeod, with a book by Sam Chanse and music and lyrics by MILCK (Connie K. Lim) and AG (Adrianne Gonzalez), The Family Album explores the complicated ties that bind one generation to another and the wounds that can drive them apart.
For Mia, the desire to pursue her dream of becoming a musical star carries particular weight. Her ambitions collide with parental expectations and a more traditional vision of her future as a wife and mother. But beneath that conflict lie painful family secrets, hinted at early in the play, and which loom increasingly large as the story progresses, transforming Mia’s search for independence into a reckoning with her past.
While The Family Album is rooted in the particular experiences of an Asian immigrant family, its emotional reach is universal. The struggle between honoring where we come from and becoming who we need to be and the complicated mixture of love, obligation, hurt and forgiveness that families can carry transcends culture and generation.
Despite its exploration of the deeply emotional themes of isolation, estrangement and abuse, The Family Album is not without humor. One of the evening’s most memorable lines comes from Mia’s mother, Sylvia (Jodi Long), delivered with such a perfectly timed punch that some audience members could be seen high-fiving each other.
Each member of the six-person cast effectively portrays their character in this complicated family story. Aury Krebs, as the adult Mia, carries the show with a commanding stage presence and an equally powerful voice that seems capable of reaching the rafters.
Claire Kwon, as 14-year-old Mia, brings vulnerability to the younger version of her character. The encounters between Mia and her younger self are among the production’s most affecting moments, allowing the audience to witness an emotional dialogue between the woman Mia has become and the girl who still lives within her. Marc delaCruz, Paul Nakauchi, and Courtney Reed round out the talented cast.
With 24 songs, much of the story is carried through music, and MILCK and AG have created a score that is integral to the storytelling. Particularly powerful is “Quiet,” the song MILCK wrote in 2015 that later became a global anthem giving voice to women determined to speak out rather than remain silent. Here, its message finds a natural home in Mia’s struggle to reclaim her own voice.
In a clever staging choice, the musicians are in full view of the audience. Led ably by Music Director/Conductor/Keyboardist Michael Sobie, the band performs from a raised platform at the side of the stage rather than from the traditional orchestra pit. Their visible presence gives the music an added immediacy and brings another layer of energy to the 90-minute production, at times suggesting the band could be a character of its own in the story.
The La Jolla Playhouse is known for launching numerous productions to the Broadway stage. With timely themes that resonate deeply with audiences, the prospects are promising that The Family Album could find a home there.
Whether you are a parent, son or daughter, you will find pieces of yourself in this absorbing family portrait. The journey at the heart of The Family Album is a personal one: confronting where we come from, deciding what we will carry forward and discovering that finding our way home sometimes means first finding our way back to ourselves.
The Family Album plays through August 23. For tickets, visit lajollaplayhouse.org
