Little Women – The Broadway Musical

Louisa May Alcott was both a woman of her time and a woman before her time! A writer, teacher, nurse, abolitionist, feminist, believer in women’s suffrage, as well as a caring, supportive daughter, sister and aunt. Reading a summary of her life is like combining the female characters from Dickens and the Brontes and transporting them across the sea to a little town in nineteenth century America.

Her semiautobiographical novel, Little Women, has been adapted into stage plays, at least four movies and a television series, and girls all over the world have idolised Jo, wept over Beth, or longed to be Meg or Amy. Like L.M. Montgomery’s Anne Shirley, the “March Girls” have become symbols of feminine strength and confidence.

Cleverly, Alcott has incorporated all the positive attributes of the strong “astonishing” women of her time into her ‘little women’ – and they have inspired generations of other “astonishing” women for 157 years!

But who would have expected a musical! And one that represents the characters just as strongly and movingly as Alcott’s original nineteenth century written words. Between them, Allan Knee, Jason Howland and Mindi Dickstein have managed to capture Alcott’s timeless  characters – even the girls’ loving Marmee and haughty Aunt March – in music that links their time and ours.

But don’t expect this review to be about the music, beautiful as the songs are - and the voices of those who sing them. Others have written of that. It is the characters and those who portray them that have impressed this writer most!

Isabelle Venice, another astonishing woman, directs this production with passionate commitment, ensuring the characters are as important as the music and the movement. Her passion is mirrored by her cast and the busy crew who support them. The ensemble ‘feel’ of this production is strong. One cast member describes the closeness ‘backstage’ as “truly incredible”.

That atmosphere reaches out to the audience, not just from the principals but from the entire ensemble, even Alana Laird, Stella Farraway, Ruby King and Olivia Keli as the very young “March girls” playing in ‘the attic’ before the production begins. It is very clear to those who know the story exactly which sister each is depicting, and their focus for more than twenty minutes of improvised play is excellent. It is good to see them re-appearing in important moments throughout the production – and as medieval characters and trolls in one of Jo’s stories.

Whilst all Marmee’s little women were equally dear to her, it is Jo, the tomboy sister – passionate, emotional, independent, confident, outspoken, ambitious – who became most loved, most symbolic.

Jemima Dredge understands why … and the Jo she plays displays all of those characteristics in a stunning performance that captures the spirit of Alcott’s character and gives it a perceptive twenty-first century zing! 

Her Jo is lively, creative, thoughtful, caring, so real and believable that her audience appeal links generations and genders. To some she is a bright, lively girl who can sing and dance … and argue. To those for whom Jo March has been a hero for years, she is everything they dreamed Jo to be! Defiant, caring, full of life, loving, resilient! How Dredge manages to be all those things and still maintain such energy and breath and stamina needed is amazing. This young woman is an incredible performer!

Meg March, the more demure and traditional of the sisters, is played by Jacqueline Denley, who manages to balance the responsibilities of the ‘older’ sister with that little bit of vanity that made Alcott’s Meg more realistic and believable. That Meg was no “Pollyanna” and Denley finds just the right amount of pride and bearing to make her Meg dependable yet outgoing enough to attract the attention of young tutor John Brooke at her first ball!

Bernadette Laird plays a very warm and thoughtful Beth March, the peacemaker of the March family who is shy and a bit reticent except when she is playing the piano. Laird finds all of this in a carefully underplayed performance that reaches into the audience and warms their hearts as well as her sisters.

Amy, the artist and socially ambitious sister is played by Olivia Halliwell, who finds just the right amount of boldness and temper – and heart – to make Amy very real and engaging! She pouts and flounces as she throws a little tantrum, yet balances that with a joie de vivre that endears her with her family … and successfully carries her into the wider, sophisticated society to which she aspires.

The older women of the March family are played by Mackenzie Walters and Melissa Reeve.

Walters plays the girls’ mother, ‘Marmee’, who bears the burden of keeping the family stable and resilient in a time of hardship and adversity. Walters makes Marmee loving and approachable yet firm and strong. Her gentle smile and warm haunting voice express both her hopes for her girls and the burden of being a lone parent worried about the health and safety of a husband far away.

Reeve’s Aunt March epitomises the haughty benefactor that Alcott created so graphically! Reeves finds just the right self-important conceit and arrogance to make the character aloof and distant – but balances it with a telling gesture or wry smile that reveals the warmth and kindness that she hides.

Both Walters and Reeves bring the weight and skill of musical theatre experience to the production – as does Rick Barta who plays the March’s difficult neighbour Mr Laurence. Barta makes Laurence grim and a bit snooty – but Beth reaches through his tough exterior with her gentleness – and her love of the piano.

The other men in the March girls’ lives meet them at different times.

Mr Laurence’s grandson, Laurie, is played with ebullient energy and strong vocals by Toby Butterfield who manages to take Laurie from lively schoolboy to more responsible young man-of-the-world in the matter of two short hours. His ability to find the different dimension and energy in the character is impressive.

Cooper Alexis, playing Laurie’s tutor John Brooke, is more restrained and aloof – until he meets Meg who wins his heart. Their duet is very sweet.

The hesitant, reserved Professor Bhaer, who eventually wins Jo’s heart, is played with restrained diffidence by Alexander Billett. Billett finds the self-effacing gentleness of the learned German don – and an ability to reach across any boundaries of age in the soulful messages he sings so poignantly as he swings ‘a small umbrella in the rain”.

Isabelle Venice and musical director Rodrigo Noel should be justly proud of team they have led to bring this bright, warm – and just a little sad – production to the Dural stage. It is obviously a gift of love to the audience from a cast that seems to cherish every moment they are on the stage. Congratulations to the whole team!

Carol Wimmer

Photograhpy: Holly Hayes & Wendy Dunn