BWW Reviews: Louisa May Alcott’s LITTLE WOMEN at 2nd Story Theatre

The 2nd Story Theatre company brings Louisa May Alcott's beloved classic, Little Women, to life on stage for the 2011 holiday season.

Little Women tells the story of the March girls – Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy – as they grow from childhood to maturity during years closing and immediately following the Civil War. Generations of readers have been charmed by the girls' youthful antics and have both cheered and wept as the March family experiences joy and heartbreak.

Robert J. Colonna wrote and directed this original stage adaptation of Alcott's work, and Colonna places Alcott front and center as the narrator of 2nd Story's production. Elise Arsenault plays Alcott, lending an air of authorial omnipresence as storyteller, stage manager and even an occasional performer in the scenes (Arsenault is especially funny as the comically cranky Aunt Josephine March).

Two alternating casts of young actors play the March sisters and their neighbor, Theodore "Laurie" Laurence, as children. The Blue Cast features Sara D'Angelos as an engaging Young Jo and the adorable Patricia Kinnane as a feisty Young Amy. Kinnane is endearing in her plucky mis-delivery of vocabulary words too sophisticated for little Amy's experience.

At the start of the second act, the children silently greet the actors playing their adult counterparts. This nicely establishes post-intermission continuity and allows the characters to quickly yet effectively mature into adulthood before the audience's eyes.

Of the adults, Rae Mancini is a warm, mentoring Marmee, Kristina Drager a spiritedly independent Jo, and Amy Thompson deserves special notice for her dual portrayal of Hanna and Mrs. Kirk. Valerie Westgate plays the Adult Amy with great flair and solid comic timing, but the production's depiction of the adult character as uniformly humorous is puzzling. Though Alcott's Amy indeed remains the least mature of the grown-up March girls, this flighty, playful Amy feels more suited to Sally Brown of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown than she does to Little Women.

The entire company serves double duty, lending their voices as any number of secondary characters and as an impromptu chorus. Though some of these moments do feel forced – like the stagehands' sudden slapstick routine, which breaks the narrative momentum early in the first act – for the most part, this inventive use of the actors works well, helping to speed transitions between scenes and to move scenery and props as needed.

The production runs just 115 minutes, including intermission. Admittedly, Alcott's text is far too dense to mount a comprehensive retelling of Little Women in two hours, but theatergoers who are not familiar with the plot before seeing this adaptation will likely be confused. The production is staged as a series of vignettes rather than a linear storyline; its abbreviated nature and heavy emphasis on comedy disservices key dramatic scenes, particularly Jo's second act interactions with Laurie, Beth and Professor Bhaer.

Little Women is enjoyable, if in need of a little polish, and 2nd Story is a lovely, intimate venue for this original production.

2nd Story Theatre presents Little Women through December 11, 2011. Tickets are available online at www.2ndStoryTheatre.com, by phone (401) 247-4200 or by visiting the box office at 28 Market Street, Warren, RI. Regular tickets are $30; audience members under 21 pay $25.

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PHOTO CREDIT: 2ndStory/Richard W. Dionne, Jr.
(clockwise from center) Rae Mancini as Marmee, Valerie Westgate as Amy, Erin Sheehan as Beth, Allison Crews as Meg and Kristina Drager as Jo

 

 

 

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