Liberty Town Productions Stages LITTLE WOMEN Musical, Now thru 4/14

Liberty Town Productions, Libertyville's not-for-profit entertainment company, stages the Broadway musical version of Louisa May Alcott's timeless classic, Little Women, tonight, April 12 and 13 at 7:30 pm and April 13 and 14 at 2:30 pm.

Charles Dickens first used the term, little women as the time in a woman's life when childhood, adolescence and young womanhood converge. Alcott's novel illustrates this period through the semi-autobiographical story of four New England sisters (Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth March) growing up with their mother, Marmee, while their father serves as a Union chaplain in the Civil War.

While there are numerous stage and screen adaptations of this work, Liberty Town only considered this one, the Broadway musical of 2005 that starred Sutton Foster as Jo and Maureen McGovern as Marmee,

"For us to do a period piece like this, the score needs to be unforgettable and we had to be sure we would have the talent to do it at a very high quality," said Barry Reszel, Liberty Town's executive director. "Well, the music is magnificent, and our cast is going to blow people away.

"Sydney Hamilton (from Libertyville) was born to play Jo, just as Lorraine Branham was destined to portray Marmee. Really, this entire show is just so well-cast. We had a record number of people at auditions, and the result is a cast of all-stars. Truly this show strikes a chord with the community.

In addition to Hamilton and Branham, the cast includes these local performers: Camille Michelotti as Meg, Anne Lowell as Beth, Grace Ferolo as Amy, Christian Klepac as Laurie, Terry Bangs as Mr. Laurence, Kelly Fitzgerald as Aunt March, CJ Spear as John Brooke, Jim Shedd as Professor Bhaer, Marie Deutschmann as Mrs. Kirk and an ensemble including Bill Dejon, Daniel Mendoza, Jackie Ovassapian, Christina Reszel and Rebecca Van Sickle.

The production is directed by Linda Klepac, vocal directed by Katie Hahn and musical directed by Dustin Helvie, with an orchestra of eight professional musicians. "Too many companies do musicals with canned music," Reszel said. "We think that's such a disservice--to the performers and the audience; I can't imagine us doing a musical without live music.

"Liberty Town is committed to two things: high-quality, live performance at affordable prices for our patrons and a family experience for our performers. People who have been to or part of our shows already know. For those who haven't, this is your chance. Check out Little Women; it's going to be astonishing."

Tickets for all performances are available online via the "box office" at www.libertytownproductions.com. Performances will be at the Libertyville High School Studio Theatre, 708 W. Park Avenue, Libertyville, via the building's north entrance. Tickets for the Friday and Saturday evening performances are $25 for adults; adult matinee tickets are $20. Tickets for students under 21 with i.d. are $15 for all performances. Available tickets will also be sold at the door. All seating is general admission with doors opening approximately 30 minutes before curtain.

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