Review: LITTLE WOMEN at The Seattle Rep

First off, Dear Readers, I want to wish the Seattle Rep a Happy 60th Birthday this week.  They’ve had an impressive run.  Having said that I wish I had a better Birthday gift for them as their current production of Louisa May Alcott’s classic “Little Women”, as adapted by Kate Hamill, was not all I hoped it would be.  It’s a cute show with some good performances but an incomplete telling of this iconic tale.

If you’re unfamiliar with the story I suggest you catch the 2019 Greta Gerwig film, or even the 2005 Broadway musical.  Or, God forbid, read the book.  Only there will you get the full story of the March sisters, a group of young ladies struggling to get by and find their places in the world during and after the American Civil War.  There’s stalwart Meg (Cy Paolantonio), the tom boy writer Jo (Amelio García), the flighty Amy (Rebecca Cort) and sweet Beth (Katie Peabody).  They live with their mother Marmee (Colleen Madden) and do all they can to get by while their father is off at the war.  The girls entertain themselves with Jo’s theatricals until a young man, Laurie (Austin Winter), comes to live next door with his wealthy Grandfather (Chiké Johnson).

The story is one of love and loss, and a tale of young women and men growing up and finding their own paths in the world.  Or rather, it should be.  Hamill’s adaptation does a good job introducing the characters, but then completely bails on their growth and change, sapping the story of its heart and, really, its point.  By the end of act one I felt we were on our way to a wonderful telling of the tale but in act two I found myself checking my watch wondering how we were going to fit the entire story in there.  They do not.  She completely omits Jo going to New York to distance herself from Laurie, meeting Professor Bhaer (a character totally absent from this production), falling in love with him, and most importantly selling her stories and eventually her novel as her writing matures.  Instead, as this production presents itself, we never see her leave home, she spurns Laurie, and then there’s some talk of Amy going to Europe and getting together with Laurie, then suddenly there’s a tragic death in the family.  All followed by an epilogue from Jo that does a horrible job filling in any of the gaps.  It’s like Hamill got to Act Two and said, “I have how much story left?!” and just started cutting.  In short, Act Two races to a finish (not THE finish, A finish), leaving any kind of growth for these characters as a barely mentioned afterthought.  Granted, if she had put in all that story, the show would have been three hours long.  And maybe it should have been.

The cast does what they can.  García is delightful as our heroine Jo and manages some wonderful moments but even they can’t save the show from the omissions.  Paolantonio gives some hysterical and touching moments as a young girl becoming an exhausted mother.  Cort has probably the best arc in the show as she’s one of the few I feel actually grew up in the play.  And Peabody turns in a sweet performance but is just underwritten.

I’m honestly not sure what Hamill or director Marti Lyons were trying to do here other than cram in as much story as they could before the time ran out.    I’ve seen other adaptations from Hamill and loved them both.  But this one is a big swing and a miss.  And so, with my three-letter rating system, I give the Seattle Rep’s production of “Little Women” an incomplete and disappointed MEH.  If you’re a fan of the book you’ll leave unsatisfied at best, and at worst, a bit angry.

“Little Women” performs at the Seattle Rep through December 17th.  For tickets or information visit them online at www.seattlerep.org.

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