Based on Louisa May Alcott's 1868–69 semi-autobiographical two-volume novel, it focuses on the four March sisters— traditional Meg, wild, aspiring writer Jo, timid Beth and romantic Amy,— and their beloved Marmee, at home in Concord, Massachusetts, while their father is away serving as a Union Army chaplain during the Civil War.
Intercut with the vignettes in which their lives unfold are several recreations of the melodramatic short stories Jo writes in her attic studio.
[3][4][5] The Broadway cast featured Sutton Foster as Jo, Maureen McGovern as Marmee/The Hag, Janet Carroll as Aunt March/Mrs.
Kirk, Jenny Powers as Meg/Clarissa, Megan McGinnis as Beth/Rodrigo II, Amy McAlexander as Amy/The Troll, Danny Gurwin as Laurie/Rodrigo, Robert Stattel as Mr. Laurence/The Knight, Jim Weitzer as Mr. Brooke/Braxton, and John Hickok as Professor Bhaer.
[5] A 30-city U.S. tour, with McGovern as Marmee, Kate Fisher as Jo, Renee Brna as Meg, Autumn Hurlbert as Beth, and Gwen Hollander as Amy ran from August 2005 (San Diego, California) through July 2006 (Kennedy Center, Washington, DC).
[6][7][8] Kookaburra produced the Australian premiere production, which ran at the Seymour Centre in Sydney from November 2008 through December 2008.
The cast included Kate-Maree Hoolihan as Jo,[10] Trisha Noble as Marmee, Judi Connelli as Aunt March, Erica Lovell as Amy,[11] Octavia Barron-Martin as Meg,[12] Jodie Harris as Beth, Hayden Tee as Professor Bhaer, Stephen Mahy as Laurie, David Harris as John, and Philip Hinton as Mr.
[15][16] The German premiere using the same translation (but with "Betty" in the title) was mounted in 2010 by Waldbühne Kloster Oesede [de] in Georgsmarienhütte.
The cast included Rachel Faith Heath (Jo), Ryan Gibb (Laurie), and Magnus Warness (Professor Bhaer).
[citation needed] The musical made its Off West End premiere at the Park Theatre from November through December 2021.
[21] In September 2023, a production of Little Women premiered in Buenos Aires' Paseo La Plaza, starring Macarena Giraldez as Jo.
Jo asks Professor Bhaer, another boarder at Mrs. Kirk's boarding house, his opinion on her story ("An Operatic Tragedy").
Jo, taken aback and angry at Bhaer's reaction, asks him what he knows to give him the right to criticize her and insults him by calling him old.
Two years earlier in her attic studio, Jo assembles her sisters, Meg, Beth, and Amy, to tell them that she will be putting on a show of her own called the "Operatic Tragedy".
Marmee, their mother, comes in with a letter from their father, who is away as a Union army chaplain in the American Civil War.
Meanwhile, Meg has one of her own dreams realized: she and Jo are invited to Annie Moffat's Valentine's Day Ball.
As Marmee prepares to leave and Amy packs her things to stay with Aunt March, Jo returns with money for Marmee to travel, but confesses that she did not go to Aunt March; she tried to sell her stories in the town common, but ended up cutting and selling her hair.
Aunt March then turns her focus to Amy, intending to mold her into the society life that she envisioned for Jo.
Act II At Mrs. Kirk's boarding house in New York City, she is holding a telegram for Jo from Mrs. March.
When Jo reads the telegram, she is notified that Beth contracted scarlet fever and immediately packs her bags to return to Concord.
As Marmee comes outside and brings Professor Bhaer in, Jo takes a moment to reflect on her life ("Volcano (Reprise)").
Ben Brantley, reviewing for The New York Times, wrote: "You glean the most salient traits of the principal characters, events and moral lessons, but without the shading and detail that made these elements feel true to life in the book [...] Since the characters do not acquire full personalities, you don't feel emotionally invested in them."
"[5] The Village Voice's review noted that "the often charming family scenes are dwarfed by the high proscenium arch [...] Allan Knee's script offers long passages of astutely condensed Alcott; Jason Howland's pleasant music, inventively orchestrated by Kim Scharnberg, pulls contemporary shapes out of period waltzes, polkas, and quadrilles, bumpily but gamely supported by Mindi Dickstein's uneven lyrics.