LITTLE WOMEN 2024

By Diana Simmonds

July 17 2024

LITTLE WOMEN, Hayes Theatre for Joshua Robson Productions in association with Hayes Theatre Co, 16 July-11 August 2024. Pretty ordinary images by Grant Leslie Photography

For a show that’s not in the premier league of this century’s musical theatre, Little Women is amazingly popular with producers. That means it must also be popular with audiences. Wondering why this might be is made more difficult in this new production from Joshua Robson and Hayes Theatre Co because it’s very good.

If you love or have loved Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, you’ll probably love this show. If you’ve never read the American classic adored by generations of girls since the 1860s, you could well be puzzled. The show leaps from key scene to key scene with little in between to let you in on the lives of the March sisters of Concord, Mass. (Hummels? Who they?)

Okay, so don’t worry about the Hummels. Although they loom large in the novel and are used to make points about what constitutes being rich and what it means to be a selfish minx, they come and go in one sentence in the show’s book by Allan Knee.

To be fair, to do the novel justice, it would take a mini-series – or a full-length movie, and there have been seven since 1917. They include George Cukor’s (1933), Gillian Armstrong’s in 1994, and Greta Gerwig’s, of 2019. Watch them if you want to know why the novel is a constant and why Jo March is an indelible if maddening romantic heroine.

The three movies featured, as independent, wild, would-be writer Jo, great performances from Katharine Hepburn, Winona Ryder, and Saoirse Ronan respectively. It’s obvious then that someone special is required in the role, which is even more pivotal in the stage musical. And this production has that someone in Shannen Alyce Quan who, in addition to bringing to life the madcap proto-feminist scribbler, can also really sing. This is best demonstrated in the night’s Idina Menzel moment when Jo launches into “Astonishing” – which she is.

Not that the others of the company are slouches, more that a Klieg lamp would find it hard to dazzle with Mindi Dickstein’s lyrics and Jason Howard’s music. Basically, both – and the book – are more ordinary than is apparent from the glorious work of these performers and the seven-piece band led by Gianna Cheung. An exception is a duet late on between Jo and her antagonist-lover Professor Bhaer (Tyran Stig) as two exceptional voices soar above the material.

Director Amy Campbell overcomes the show’s shortcomings by engaging her cast in making the most of their opportunities. Tisha Kelemen is a splendidly funny and forbidding Aunt March. Vitoria Hronopoulos is a perfectly slappable pouty Amy. The gentle tragedy of ailing Beth is realised by Molly Bugeja, while Kaori Maeda-Judge gives eldest sister Meg the gravitas and poise she needs to balance Jo. Tyran Stig’s Professor Bhaer is the consummate lovable geek. Lawrence Hawkins is cute, curly-haired and boyish as Laurie Laurence, while Cameron Bajraktarevic-Hayward is a fine foil as upright tutor John Brooke. Crusty-then-melted old Mr Laurence steals his moment in the form of Peter Carroll and although Emily Cascarino is way too young and gorgeous to be Marmee to these girls, she achieves it through palpable empathy and compassion. A very fine company.

Also making a charming and entertaining night of the show is costume designer Lily Mateljan. She clothes the March sisters and Marmee in Boho-Trashion in such a way as to signal the character of each. Similarly, the men are kinda-sorta New Romantics and Aunt March is Lady de Burgh with a twist – award nominations coming up.

Sound designer Jarrad Payne finds a human balance in the auditorium: an achievement with all the performance movement out front and the band sequestered behind. Lighting designer Peter Rubie makes the most of his lamps in visually clarifying the action. This is quite something given he has to work around Tanwee Shrestha’s mysterious set of abstract structures made of stretchy (bungee?) cords. They might represent shafts of sun- or moonlight, or cobwebs or something else entirely, but who knows.

At the close of its two-hour-plus interval, Little Women leaves a charming and pleasurable sensation behind. It’s almost entirely due to a top cast and crew and a stellar performance from Shannen Alyce Quan. There are also obvious new(ish) talents rising in this company and it will be great to track future trajectories. Looking at you Tisha Keleman! Recommended without reservation – then go home and read or re-read the book.