By Michelle Fowler
The audience at Empress Theatre in Magna was enthralled opening night by the story of Little Women, as they joined the cast in a story of sisterhood, love, and loss. This musical, written by Allan Knee, was adapted from the classic novel by Louisa May Alcott. The story follows Jo March (Sydney McAllister) as she grows into womanhood while struggling to find her voice in a world that set standards opposed to her nature. Luckily, she has the support of her sisters as they band together with a bond strong enough to weather jealousy, conflict, and tragedy. Bound to be a famous writer, Jo relies on the support of her family and friends to find success.
The leading ladies bring amazing characterization and strong vocals to their songs– vocals directed by Jared Campbell. McAllister keeps a wonderful energy throughout the first act that that had me smiling. Jo is a bold and brash character and McAllister is able to embrace the characterization for the role. McAllister portrays Jo’s struggles well as she tries to decide the right way to be a lady. Initially it appears as though Jo will be alone, by choice, for life. But in the second act, we find that she may have a romantic connection after all. Professor Bhaer (Kurt Christensen) makes an appearance at the beginning of Act 1, but his connection with Jo becomes much more apparent in Act 2. Christensen plays Jo’s trusted friend well as she shares her stories with him and seeks his advice. This connection over Jo’s stories ultimately brings the two together. Christensen’s singing was impressive in songs such as “Small Umbrella in the Rain”.
McAllister also impresses with a wide vocal range that the role demands. I was particularly blown away by her performance of “Astonishing”. The song is a powerful way to end the first act. Another standout song is a group number called “Five Forever” inducting Theodore “Laurie” Laurence (Collin Bodily) into the Marsh family. Bodily kept me laughing throughout the song and the play. There are powerful harmonies in the song as Jo, Meg (Sarah Cassidy), Beth (Elle Hyde), and Amy (Sophia White) introduce “Laurie” to their adventures. If I could have seen an encore of any moment in the show, this would have been it. McAllister, Cassidy, White, and Hyde have great chemistry not only in this song, but throughout the play. Their portrayal of sisterhood is endearing.
The sisterhood is able to be strong with the support of their mother, Marmee March (Chandler McArthur). McArthur has one of the most emotional moments of Act 1 in her song “Here Alone.” This is a shining moment for McArthur. She brings a motherly love to her character, allowing for her daughters to shine.
Meg is the oldest March sister and Cassidy took on the role of the eldest well, bringing an air of sisterly superiority, yet her love for her sisters always shines through. Meg is of dating age from the beginning and it is a delight to watch Cassidy’s portrayal of her flirting style. Her shyness and demure behavior as she begins to connect with her love interest, Mr. John Brooke (Skyler Bluemel) is one of her most endearing moments. Bluemel is a good match for Cassidy, as they had the best romantic chemistry in the play.
Beth has a different type of character development. Always a peacemaker within her family, the character has a maturity not learned but more inherent to her personality. Hyde brings the right level of sweetness and quietness to the character. She makes it easy to fall in love with Beth. Beth’s humility is shown through her interactions with Mr. Lawrence (Logan Jones) when he asks which “dreadful little March girl” she is. She doesn’t react harshly to his words as her sisters would. This ultimately opens the door for the two to connect over pianos and song. Hyde and Jones share a folk song together, “Off to Massachusetts”, which Hyde an opportunity to highlight her vocals and is one of her standout moments. It also gives Jones a chance to develop Mr. Lawrence as he begins to soften toward Beth. Ultimately, it’s Hyde’s ability to help us fall in love with Beth that serves the play’s emotional climb the best. In the second act, tragedy befalls Beth and it is sure to break your heart. Hyde does a great job projecting her lines and deserves a special mention for this. There was a moment where her mic had cut out for several lines. Despite her back being turned from me, I understood every word she said.
The youngest sister, Amy, goes through the most character growth. The story pushes some of the character development along, sending a less mature Amy off to Europe and bringing her back the image of the refined woman that Jo had always been pushed to be. White is able to portray both the early spoiled Amy and the later matured woman well, a credit to her acting. White was the one able to bring tears to my eyes in Act 2 in the way she quietly suffered the tragic moment of the story. Her ability to play the nuances of her character’s reaction brings a believability that helps connect you to the character’s emotion.
While most of the characters show significant character growth and development, there are some who will always be stuck in their ways. Aunt March (Vicki Bushnell) is introduced to us as the rich relative who insists on there being only one way (hers) to be a proper lady. Her insistence serves as one of the major pressures Jo faces to conform to society. Bushnell brings a rigid stiffness that served the character’s mannerisms well. She shares a duet with McAllister in the musical number “Could You?” in which both women display their beautiful singing voices. Bushnell has the difficult challenge of playing two similar roles. At the beginning of the second act, she appears as Mrs. Kirk. This new character was confusing at first because it almost appeared as Aunt March had simply dyed her hair between acts due to the characters’ similarity. But it was easy to jump back into the story after realizing Bushnell was playing Mrs. Kirk.
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All of the actors perform well in a challenging space. With audience on both sides of the stage, it becomes a task to ensure that all actions and reactions are viewable. The blocking and direction by Director Sarah Walker Bringhurst and Assistant Director Michelle Garcia solve this, which makes it easy to stay connected to the action and story as an audience member. Bringhurst’s choices in direction added to the story, such as in Act 2, Jo and Beth are visiting the beach to fly a kite together. The symbolism with the kite at the end of the scene was one of my favorite moments of the play. Bringhurst is also the choreographer with some simple but effective choreography.
The actors have a lot of costumes, which meant hard work for costume designers Ty Whiting and Angel Nelson. The set pieces by Bodily and Zac Bringhurst work well in the small stage space. There were two times in the show that scene changes were happening during action on another part of the stage, which were a bit noisy. Otherwise the scene changes managed by Jonathan Jones worked well. The actors always had their props available as managed by Justina Spencer. The sets were painted nicely by Maria Fredrickson and the technical design by Tanner Lindsay allows for the space to work for the show. Lexie Fowles ran the lights flawlessly and Anthony Swanson did an outstanding job with the sound.
When you come to see Little Women, please consider helping Empress Theatre with their charity drive for the YWCA. They are seeking donations such as gently used women’s professional clothing, purses, new sock and underwear, and children’s toys. Little Women has enough “family” and joys and sorrows to qualify as a Christmas selection. If you want something different and wonderful, pack up your family and see the Empress’s Little Women in Magna this holiday season.
The Empress Theatre Presents Little Women, Book by Allan Knee, Music by Jason Howland, Lyrics by Mindi Dickstein
Empress Theatre, 9104 2700 S, Magna, UT 84044
December 7-22 7:30 PM
Tickets: $12.00, or $10.00 on Thursdays
Contact: 801-347-7373, empress@empresstheatre.com
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Little Women Facebook Event
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