Articles on:

Little Women [Southern California Premiere]
adapted by Lisa Duvall
based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THEATER ARTICLE

Louisa May Alcott's classic novel is staged
by Daniel Bernstein, AOL Digital City

November 16, 2001

One of the key proto-feminist works of a few generations back, Louisa May Alcott's beloved (and largely autobiographical) novel 'Little Women' is a popular revival choice because of its many themes of female strength long before such issues were commonly dealt with in literature. Lisa Duvall, writer/director of this theatrical adaptation, has staged the work three times, but this production is her first in Southern California. The characters of Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth March are familiar to most by now, but familiarity only heightens their emotional journeys, and Duvall's adaptation is said to give a fresh look at some of the more potent feminist themes.

 

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THEATER REVIEW

Little Women
by Anne-Margret Bellavoine, Northern Lights

November 18, 2001

"Little Women" is The Chance Theater's Holiday present to North East Orange County. This is a perfect occasion for a year-end mother daughter experience to cherish for years.

Louisa May Alcott's classic needs no introduction. We all read it during our childhood. What is less known is the strong autobiographical component of the piece. The central character of Jo, an aspiring writer, is based on the author herself, as are the three sisters Meg, Beth and Amy, in real life Anna, Elizabeth and May. Lisa Duvall adapted and directed the piece, which was on the Chance's season program before the tragedy of September 11.

Although the piece remains intrinsically quaint and dated with its pre-Bennettish family values, it takes on a fresh message when seen through the lens of current world events. Men are going to war, just as Mr. March, a minister who enrolls to give support to Civil War troops. With the economy in a downward spin, many will cut back this season, and reevaluate what is truly important, often in acts of kindness rather than material goods.

Further comparisons can easily be seen with Meg and Amy's preoccupation with fashion and their fixation with the opposite sex, centered on the only available local lad, indolent young Laurie, whom the girls call Teddy. The girls are all accomplished artists, with an actress, a writer, a pianist and a painter.

Theirs is a stultifyingly conventional world right from a Currier and Ives picture. The girls are largely resigned to it, except for rebellious tomboy Jo who feels straightjacketed in her feminine role, presaging the women's lib movement Louisa May Alcott was a part of as a suffragette. The three other women in the extended household are levelheaded Marmee, their mother, their live-in maid Hannah - they are not so poor that they can't afford help - and cantankerous wealthy old Aunt March. The women take center stage over a cast of meek men, with the young Lawrence and his grandfather, Laurie's tutor and friend John Brooke, Mr. March and Jo's suitor, professor Bhaer.

Jocelyn Brown gives us an impetuous Jo, with unforgettable moments such as cropping her mane of hair for $25 to contribute to her mother's visit to their wounded father, and her acting and directing in the self concocted Christmas plays a tradition in the March household. Elizabeth Brooks is prim and proper as vain Meg, the oldest sister who gives up her hopes of riches to marry sweet John Brooke played by Joe Melville. Kara Nykel is shy Beth who puts everybody's wishes ahead of her own and dies in Jo's arms from complications of the scarlet fever she contracted from caring for a sickly child. Britany Atkins gives us a great scene as Amy, acting Jo's play's heroin as deadpan and stiff as can be. Karen Webster is a refined Mrs. March doting over her growing daughters. Tiny Evelyn Canedy is crotchety Aunt March with her no nonsense diatribes over the March brood's lack of financial savvy. Casey Long gives just the right touch to his portrayal of suave and shallow Laurie, infatuated with Jo before marrying young Amy while in Italy. Sandra Rummell is a German au pair lending her native accent to Hannah the maid. Jeff Hellebrand as Mr. Lawrence, George Brunk as Father March and Paul Castellano as Professor Bhaer round up the cast.

Erika Ceporius and Molly Dewane did a wonderful job creating the March women's wardrobes, in swooping skirts of plaids, ruffles, pantaloons, capes and shawls. Two intermissions are necessary to allow for costume changes. Fred Hatfield sets the tone with his warm living room interior anchored by the glowing embers of the fireplace and the window from which the sisters spy on the comings and goings of the outside world.

The piece opens with a lovely rendition of "Silent Night", and the family tableaux with the girls hovering over their adored Marmee or musing over castles in the air and life's disappointments, as well as the predictable love scenes, will bring a warm fuzzy feeling to everyone's heart. This is great family fare.

 

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THEATER REVIEW

'Little Women' generates warmth for the holidays
Chance Theater's new stage adaptation of the classic Louisa May Alcott novel is an episodic, heartfelt character study.
by Eric Marchese, OC Register

December 7, 2001

What better story for the Chance Theater to pick up as its Mainstage holiday offering this year than "Little Women," Louisa May Alcott's warmhearted classic about four young sisters in Concord, Mass., during the Civil War? The production's director, Lisa Duvall, couldn't find any stage versions to her liking, so she went back to the original source and created an all-new adaptation.

The play is episodic. Like the novel, it's more of a character study than anything else, examining the manners, mores and values of the American people in the 1860s, and their effect upon the March family — and, in particular, sisters Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. Nothing much really happens in "Little Women" in the conventional sense. As in life, though, changes are subtle and gradual. When the play opens, we're seeing four young ladies poised at the threshold of adulthood. By the story's end, they've matured and are ready to go out into the world.

The story's focus is the outspoken, rambunctious, tomboyish Josephine, who wishes so deeply that she were a man that she calls herself Jo. Alcott's alter-ego, Jo has already set upon pursuing writing as a career. Her use of slang and reading of "saucy" books sometimes shocks her sisters, especially Amy, the youngest, who has already shown talent as an artist.

Margaret, the oldest sister, is called Meg. Optimistic and romantic, she's also the most sensible and mature of the four, working as a schoolteacher. Next-to-youngest is Beth, a delicate, trusting girl with a passion for music.

At the Chance, all four of these characters are sharply carved out and distinctly defined by Duvall's four young actresses. Jocelyn A. Brown shines as the headstrong Jo, defining the role through blunt honesty, idealism and self-sacrifice. Some of her scenes elicit sympathy — especially her decision to cut off her hair and sell it to raise cash for her ailing father, and the scene in which she rejects a marriage proposal. "I'll never marry. I love my freedom," she proclaims, echoing Alcott's own sentiments. Duvall's touches are inspired, including Jo's wearing of a bow tie in one scene and, in another, declaring her desire to learn to fence.

Elizabeth Brooks' Meg is a paragon of goodness and stability. Britany Atkins' Amy is priggish, a stubborn, outwardly willful creature, yet easily hurt. Next to Brown, though, Kara Nykel creates the most indelible impression with her Beth, a genuinely goodhearted, reticent young lady. Her later scenes are achingly poignant; Duvall and Nykel have shaped Beth as a poetic character who is simply unforgettable.

The four principals get ample support. The diminutive Evelyn Canedy is all fire and gumption as the girls' wealthy Aunt March, so strong-willed she's nearly domineering, and convinced that this branch of the March clan is hopelessly impractical and flighty. Karen Webster is a devoted yet independent Marmee, the girls' mother. Casey Long is both charming and earnest as young neighbor and friend Teddy "Laurie" Lawrence, and Paul Castellano is soft-spoken, Old Worldly and gentle as the learned German professor whose heart is set on winning over Jo.

This is a handsome period-perfect staging, thanks to meticulous set design by Fred Hatfield and finely detailed costumes by Erika Ceporius. "Little Women" is a sweet and ultimately optimistic story, and the Chance's staging is warm and genuinely heartfelt.

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