Santa Monica’s venerable Morgan-Wixson Theatre once again blurs the lines between community and professional theater with the best performed of the more than half-dozen big-and-small-stage Little Women, The Musicals I’ve seen.

 Compacting Louisa May Alcott’s 400-plus-word novel into a two-and-three-quarter hour musical would seem a Herculean task, but it is one that book writer Allan Knee achieved quite adeptly indeed, the 2005 Broadway adaptation retaining the book’s most memorable moments (Jo’s stealing a Christmas tree from the neighboring Laurence family’s property, jealous Amy burning Jo’s manuscript, Jo’s shame at finding a scorch mark on her gown the night of the big party, etc.) while adding a batch of tuneful songs (music by Jason Howland and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein) running the gamut from Jo’s feisty “Better” to the bouncy “I’d Be Delighted,” to the rousing Act One closer “Astonishing.”

 An opening sequence introduces us to one of aspiring writer Jo’s romantic flights of fancy, its characters brought to life by March family and friends, a gothic tale that gets quickly poopooed by Jo’s German friend Professor Bhaer, after which we are transported back several years to the Marches’ Concord, Massachusetts home circa 1863.

 With the Civil War still raging and the family patriarch serving as a Union Army chaplain, it’s the March sisters’ mother “Marmee” who is left behind to care for the couple’s “Little Women.”

There’s Meg, the “pretty one,” who falls for the neighbor boy’s tutor John Brooke; dreamer Beth, who wishes nothing more than her sisters’ happiness; Amy, the youngest, perpetually in a pout about being the forgotten one; and above all second sister (and Alcott stand-in) Jo, who eschews dreams of love and marriage (take that, smitten boy-next-door Theodore “Laurie” Lawrence), opting instead for a writer’s life despite those twenty-two rejection letters that have shown up in her mailbox so far.

 Joys, sorrows, disappointments, romances, and at least two weddings, Little Women The Broadway Musical has them all, plus an ending promising much more still in store for the March sisters. (Alcott did, after all, write two sequels to Little Women.)

Equally important, Little Women – The Broadway Musical manages to be family-friendly while maintaining an adult sophistication that makes it a treat for theatergoers of all ages, particularly as brought to enchanting life by director Anne Gesling and her crème-de-la-crème cast of Morgan-Wixson regulars and one daringly cast newbie.

 Alicia Reynolds-Luoma is effervescent, captivating, spunky perfection as Jo with a soprano belt to reach the rafters in solo showcases like “Better,” “Astonishing,” and a deeply moving “The Fire Within Me.”

 Amanda Grieg’s young-Jaclyn-Smith radiance fits Meg to a T, whether displaying requisite warmth or duetting an exquisite “More Than I Am” with musical direction whiz Daniel Koh’s irresistible reimagining of smitten suitor John Brooke.

Zoe D’Andrea embodies Beth’s innate sweetness and heart with a maturity and depth belying her teen years, while Amy Coles gives bratty Amy hilarious quirks to match her petty jealousies, then matures into a French-spouting, still full-of-herself young lady, and both younger sisters vocalize gorgeously.

 Aric Martin’s outwardly stuffy, inwardly passionate Professor Bhaer sings as powerful a “How I Am” as I’ve ever heard, while Christopher P. Tiernan II’s Laurie is everything you want a boy next door to be, his“Take A Chance On Me” hitting impossibly high notes without a hitch.

Older characters are brought to equally vibrant life, beginning with Janet Krajeski’s wise and wonderful Marmie, the epitome of maternal warmth, her renditions of “Here Alone” and “Days Of Plenty” earning justified tears and cheers, and Larry Gesling gives gruff, curmudgeonly Mr. Lawrence a heart of mush. (Krajeski doubles as New York landlady Mrs. Kirk.)

 As for director Gesling’s boldest casting choice, a gender-bending, age-defying nineteen-year-old Raymond Zachary steals scenes right and left as a larger-than-life, old-as-the-hills Aunt March, a cross between Dame Edna and Edna May Oliver and worthy of her own spin-off.

 Choreographer Krystal Combs has the cast strutting their dance stuff in lively numbers like “Could You” and “Five Forever,” and Act Two’s delightfully staged “Operatic Tragedy” (featuring Joel Castro’s swashbuckling fight choreography) has the entire cast as characters in one of Jo’s blood-and-guts tales, most entertainingly Koh’s Prince Valiant-wigged Braxton, Coles’s cockney Troll, and Zachary’s Eastern-European Hag.

Tristan Griffan’s imaginative scenic design makes the most of a limited budget with set pieces moved on from offstage and down from above, and William Wilday lights it and its sky-and-clouds backdrop with dramatic flair.

Director Gesling doubles as costume designer, her terrific period and fantasy wear topped by Jon Sparks’s character-appropriate wigs.

 Last but not least, the 200-seat Morgan-Wixson Theatre’s dream acoustics make it easy to hear every unamplified syllable over prerecorded tracks, the only downside of which is a smaller sound than a show like Little Women deserves.

Little Women, The Musical is produced by Meredith Wright. Larry Gesling is stage manager. Wilday is technical director.

From Chicago to Company to Urinetown to Thoroughly Modern Millie, the Morgan-Wixson Theatre team have proven themselves experts at staging big Broadway musicals on a reduced scale. It is no small praise to say that Little Women, The Musical is one of Morgan-Wixson’s best.

Morgan-Wixson Theatre, 2627 Pico Boulevard, Santa Monica.
www.morgan-wixson.org

–Steven Stanley
March 17, 2018
Photos: Joel Castro

Tags: Jason Howland, Los Angeles Theater Review, Louisa May Alcott, Mindi Dickstein, Morgan-Wixson Theatre