LITTLE WOMEN – THE BROADWAY MUSICAL


Sarah Pierce’s revelatory star turn as Jo March tops the list of reasons not to miss the fourth incarnation of Little Women – The Broadway Musical at Anaheim Hills’ Chance Theater.

Compacting Louisa May Alcott’s 400-plus-word novel into a two-and-three-quarter hour musical would seem a Herculean task, but it is one that book writer Allan Knee achieved quite adeptly indeed, the 2005 Broadway adaptation retaining the book’s most memorable moments (Jo’s stealing a Christmas tree from the neighboring Laurence family’s property, jealous Amy burning Jo’s manuscript, Jo’s shame at finding a scorch mark on her gown the night of the big party, etc.) while adding a batch of tuneful songs (music by Jason Howland and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein) running the gamut from Jo’s feisty “Better” to the bouncy “I’d Be Delighted,” to the rousing Act One closer “Astonishing.”

An opening sequence introduces us to one of aspiring writer Jo’s romantic flights of fancy, its characters brought to life by March family and friends, a gothic tale that gets quickly poopooed by Jo’s German friend Professor Bhaer (Tucker Boyes), after which we are transported back several years to the Marches’ Concord, Massachusetts home circa 1863.

With the Civil War still raging and the family patriarch serving as a Union Army chaplain, it’s the March sisters’ mother “Marmee” (Maggie Randolph) who is left behind to care for the couple’s “Little Women.”

There’s Meg (Katherine Chatman), the “pretty one,” who falls for the neighbor boy’s tutor John Brooke (Christopher Diem); dreamer Beth (Emily Abeles), who wishes nothing more than her sisters’ happiness; Amy (Camie Del Rosario), the youngest, perpetually in a pout about being the forgotten one; and above all second sister (and Alcott stand-in) Jo (Sarah Pierce), who eschews dreams of love and marriage with smitten boy-next-door Theodore “Laurie” Lawrence (Zac Swan Van Lent), opting instead for a writer’s life despite those twenty-two rejection letters that have shown up in her mailbox so far.

Joys, sorrows, disappointments, romances, and at least two weddings, Little Women – The Broadway Musical has them all, plus an ending promising much more still in store for the March sisters. (Alcott did, after all, write two sequels to Little Women.)

Equally important, Little Women – The Broadway Musical manages to be family-friendly while maintaining an adult sophistication that makes it a treat for theatergoers of all ages.

And this has been true for Chance Theater audiences since Little Women made its debut there back in 2009 with a preteen Pierce as “Young Amy” followed by return engagements in 2012 and 2016.

Graduating radiantly to the starring role thirteen years later, Pierce makes the budding writer the epitome of daring, determination, and spunk, investing Jo with oceans of sisterly love and familial devotion, and just wait till Pierce’s acting chops and power pipes merge in an “Astonishing” that is quite simply astonishing. (Simply put, I’ve never seen a better Jo than Pierce.)

Chatman is loveliness and warmth personified as Meg, Abeles will quite simply break your heart as the angelic Beth, Del Rosario takes pretty, pouty Amy from obnoxious brat to effervescent young bride without necessitating the double casting of previous Chance Theater Little Women.

Engaging newcomer Van Lent is the blond next door any March sister would be thrilled to welcome as family, Diem makes for the dashing-est of John Brookes, and Boyes’ Professor Baer is as amusingly stuffy as he is unexpectedly charming.

Randolph gives Marmee a youthful verve (you can almost imagine her as the fifth March sister), and expect a tear or two to fall when she sings/acts her heart out in “Days Of Plenty.”

Jennifer Sparks makes for a delightfully fault-finding Aunt March, a woman whose lips are so perpetually pursed, she looks to have just eaten a lemon, and her Mrs. Kirk is as warm and welcoming as Aunt March is not.

Completing the cast, the always terrific Glenn Koppel gives the curmudgeonly grandfather-next-door Mr. Lawrence even richer shadings than in his several previous turns in the role.

Rather than replicate what he’s done before, director Long takes Little Women in fresh new directions for 2022 with a racially diverse cast representative of the world we now live in and a thrust staging that brings the March sisters’ world up-close and personal, aided enormously by production designer Masako Tobaru’s take on the original 2009 scenic design, one that integrates projected drawings of pen-and-ink sketches resembling 19th Century book illustrations. (Long is projection designer.)

Carole Zelinger’s period costumes are picturesque recreations of the Civil War 1860s and sound designer Long (working with audio engineer/FOH mixer James Markoski) ensures that amped vocals never get lost to the rafters.

Last but not least, music director/piano accompanist Gabrielle Maldonado provides expert keyboard backup throughout.

Aaron McGee has choreographed some energetic swordplay for Jo’s theatrical pieces. Jordan Jones is stage manager, fight captain, and booth operator.

Also receiving program credit are original choreographer Jessie McLean, original costume designer Erika C. Miller, and original fight choreographer David McCormick.

No matter what your age, Chance Theater’s best-yet staging of the adult-and-kid-friendly Little Women – The Broadway Musical does the Louisa May Alcott classic proud. All three previous stagings have been winners, but Little Women 4.0 is the winningest of them all.

Chance Theater, 5522 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim Hills.
www.chancetheater.com

–Steven Stanley
December 11, 2022
Photos: Doug Catiller, True Image Studio

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Comments are closed.