This review has been reposted courtesy of the League of Cincinnati Theatres. For more LCT reviews click here to visit their reviews page.
Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s “Little Women” is a fine production of a beloved classic story, staged and performed in a way that preserves and honors the novel. The show should please everyone who has fond memories of reading it as a child.
“Little Women,” written in 1868 by Louisa May Alcott, is the story of the March family of New England during and just after the Civil War. The ‘little women’ are the family’s four daughters – Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. When the play opens, Mr. March is serving as a chaplain in the Union Army. Mrs. March and teenage daughters are keeping a poor but loving home.
(Clockwise from top) Maggie Lou Rader as Jo, Kelly Mengelkoch as Meg, Courtney Lucien as Amy, Annie Fitzpatrick as
Marmee, and Caitlin McWethy as Beth. By Mikki Schaffner Photography.
The script, so faithful to the novel that it lifts actual lines of dialogue, spans several years to follow the sisters through spats, love interests, marriages, illness, and even death.
The backbone of the family is Mrs. March (we never do see Mr. March). She is wonderfully played by Annie Fitzpatrick, who evokes the character’s calm dignity, quiet resolve, and compassion. Fitzpatrick does get some emotional scenes, though – the finest when she learns her at-war husband is ill and she must go to him.
Dominant of the sisters is the tomboy Jo, who has no use for airs and pretension. Maggie Lou Rader is terrific in the part, displaying a fiery energy and a “what you see is what you get” temperament – all her emotions are on display. Rader developed a perfect signature gesture for Jo of flouncing into a chair sideways, arm flung over the back.
The role of the youngest, Amy, is possibly the most difficult. Actress Courtney Lucien has to evolve from a prissy preteen with ringlets in Act 1 to a beautiful young woman in Act 2, while still keeping some of her self-centered traits. Lucien brings the audience right along with her.
There is great supporting work from the rest of the cast. Notable is Abby Roward as Aunt March. Believable makeup and a great physical acting job turn Roward into this elderly woman with a sharp tongue, but the ability of wealth to make a difference in the March sisters’ lives.
Director Sara Clark keeps the acting focused and the pacing tight through a show that spans several years and multiple locations.
The multifunctional set has the ability to serve many locales but still keep certain areas fixed in the audience’s mind – the attic where Jo writes, the bedroom where Beth dies, and the family living room where all gather. There is good use of projected images to let us watch the passing of the seasons out a window and images of dancers at a ball to create the illusion of more people on stage.
Cincinnati Shakespeare’s production is an excellent adaption of “Little Women,” both for those who love the work and those seeing it for the first time.
The show continues weekends through March 21. Call 513-381-2273 or visit www.cincyshakes.com.
For more information on the production, click here.
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