Act
One
As LITTLE
WOMEN opens, we see JO MARCH enacting
her OPERATIC TRAGEDY for PROFESSOR BHAER,
her neighbor in Mrs. Kirk’s New York boarding
house. Her "blood and guts" saga is clearly
not to his taste. He suggests she is capable of more
refined writing. After he leaves, Jo ponders whether
her writing was BETTER
years before, back home in Concord, Massachusetts.
Reminiscing on those days, we venture back to the
March family attic of two years previous. Jo is rehearsing
her siblings in her new Christmas play. Each sister
is trying to find something to be happy about that
Christmas; it is difficult with their father away
at war, and no money for gifts or a Christmas tree.
Jo promises they will no longer want for anything
once she is a successful writer, and they will all
realize OUR FINEST
DREAMS. As Jo runs off to fulfill one of those
dreams, MARMEE comes home with a letter from their
father. As she tries to do so herself, she reflects
on how her life is HERE
ALONE.
To help
support the family, Jo has taken up helping AUNT MARCH. Aunt
March worries that Jo is not the lady she needs to be to take
her place in proper society. Jo wants to tell Aunt March what
she thinks of society, but Aunt March offers to bring Jo with
her to Europe...if she can change her ways. “COULD
YOU?", she asks.
“I
could change if I wanted to,” replies Jo.
Time
passes, and older sister MEG has one of her dreams realized:
she and Jo are invited to a Valentine’s Ball!
While younger sister BETH is happy for them, the youngest,
AMY, is jealous. Meg worries what to say to potential
suitors. “I’LL BE DELIGHTED” is what
Marmee suggests. When the glamorous evening arrives,
Amy tries to go in Jo’s place, as she feels she’s
more entitled. When Marmee won’t allow her, Amy
pouts and acts out to show her unhappiness.
At the ball, Jo is startled by the appearance of her
neighbor LAURIE, who is accompanied by his tutor,
MR. BROOKE. Meg is soon smitten by Mr. Brooke, and
they leave to dance. Laurie professes his need for
friends, and soon he asks Jo to TAKE
A CHANCE ON ME. His good nature wins over
Jo, and she agrees to take that chance!
Back
home, after the ball, Amy and Jo have a little confrontation:
It seems Amy’s jealousy has gotten the best of her.
Marmee tries to intervene, scolds Amy for her actions and
explains to Jo that Amy is still very much a child.
Jo is still getting over the sting of her tiff with
Amy as she starts to express her feelings through her
writing. Time passes, and we find Laurie inviting Jo
to a skating race. Beth offers her skates to Amy, as
Amy has outgrown her pair.
Intent on staying inside, Beth sits at the piano, out
of tune as it is. Mr. Laurence, looking for his grandson,
comes upon her musical attempts. She soon softens his
hard heart, and they find themselves playing a duet
OFF TO MASSACHUSETTS. He leaves, but not before inviting
Beth to come play his (in-tune) grand piano next door.
Coming in from skating, we see Amy has fallen through
the ice, and rescued by Laurie. Having faced this life
or death situation, Jo and Amy resolve their differences,
and Jo swears in Laurie as an honorary member of the
March family, officially making them FIVE FOREVER.
Time passes, and Marmee is making plans to go to Washington
to tend to her ill husband, but is short on funds. Jo
saves the day, coming up with money to pay her fare.
Marmee is just barely gone when Aunt March and Jo have
a heated exchange, and Aunt March rescinds her offer
of Europe. Instead, Aunt March turns her focus on Amy,
to make her into the model society lady that she wished
Jo would have been.
Before Jo can settle the matter, Mr. Brooke comes in
to announce his enlistment in the Union Army, and to
ask for Meg’s hand in marriage so he could be
MORE THAN I AM. All of this seems so sudden to Jo, who
questions Meg loyalty to the family; after all, they
had sworn to remain together forever. Jo’s world
is starting to change significantly!
A few weeks later, visiting Jo in her attic, Laurie
arrives with news and a declaration. The news: With
Mr. Brooke at war, he is headed off to college in Boston.
The declaration: He’s in love with Jo!
All this is too much for Jo. She refuses his advances,
sends him off, and questions her future. Will she be
able to find her way, without her sisters or her best
friend? As Act One ends, she vows her life will be ASTONISHING,
no matter what!
Act
Two
Back
in New York, 1866. The war has ended, and Mrs. Kirk
and Professor Bhaer are holding a telegram for Jo. Jo,
however, bursting in, has her own news to share. She
has sold her first story to THE WEEKLY VOLCANO PRESS!
Soon all are privy to its contents—she sold her
OPERATIC TRAGEDY encountered earlier on, only now it’s
better, thanks to the Professor’s advice!
Once
Jo comes down to earth, Mrs. Kirk remembers the telegram:
Beth is gravely ill. Jo packs to leave New York immediately.
She hastily makes her goodbyes.
Back
in Concord, Mr. Laurence has his own plan to make Beth well—he
moves his piano into the March home. Beth and her family are
overwhelmed by his generosity, and soon all join in another
rendition of OFF TO MASSACHUSETTS.
After
the song, Jo sends a note to Professor Bhaer, telling him
of her plans to take Beth and Marmee to Cape Cod with her
earnings. She asks him what’s new in New York. He tries
over and over, but just can’t quite find the way to
tell her HOW
I AM.
Once
on the Cape, Jo splurges her meager earnings on her mother
and sister. All put up a brave front concerning Beth’s
health, but Jo and Beth privately admit to one another SOME
THINGS ARE MEANT TO BE.
Back
in Concord, eventually Amy and Aunt March return from
Europe. Much has changed. MEG is now a mother, Jo is
now a published writer, and Beth has passed on. Things
are different for Amy, too: she is engaged to Laurie,
who consoled her in Europe when Beth died. Together
they break the news to Jo; after all, it was THE MOST
AMAZING THING.
Later,
in her attic, Jo asks Marmee how she has been able to handle
the loss of Beth. Simply, Marmee insists Beth will always
be with them, and that Jo, too, will find she has DAYS
OF PLENTY.
Jo takes in what her mother has said, and finally sees
how she can go on... and how she can keep Beth's memory
alive. Jo begins work on what is to become her greatest
achievement: LITTLE WOMEN the novel. THE FIRE WITHIN
ME fills her attic, and her heart, as she brings her
family to life on paper.
The day
of Amy and Laurie’s wedding arrives. Amidst the last
minute details, Jo and Aunt March finally resolve their issues.
Aunt March will leave Jo her house, with the suggestion that
she open a school. Her generosity touches Jo in ways she never
expected.
Suddenly,
in the flurry of wedding excitement, a confused Professor
Bhaer enters, looking for Jo. He apologizes for arriving
on so auspicious a day, but he comes with good news
and a declaration of his own. First, Jo’s manuscript
has been bought! Jo March is a novelist! As for his
declaration....
Well,
he bought a kite!
But from
this point, he proceeds to pour his heart out to Jo,
and tells her how he’s finally ready to share
his SMALL UMBRELLA IN THE RAIN.
Jo, always skeptical, questions their chances. Theirs
would be a new kind of relationship for a new world.
Could it possibly work....?
That
question is answered nightly at LITTLE WOMEN, the musical!
Come discover how it all works out for yourself! It’s
as unexpected as can be! |
