By Daniel Buckwalter
Astonishing is the name of the final song in Act 1 of Little Women, and lead character Jo March sings it with conviction, bravely declaring her intention to enter the man’s world of publishing during the U.S. Civil War.
It also is an apt description of the ride Louisa May Alcott took at this point of her life, planting her feet firmly in this world with titles such as Little Women, Good Wives, Little Men, Jo’s Boys, and all their sequels, as well as a collection of her Gothic works titled Behind a Mask.
There was so much more from the trail-blazing author from Concord, Massachusetts. She was a woman well ahead of her time, and The Non-Stop Players musical troupe, starting with with a series of delightful performances this past weekend, pays tribute to Alcott and her signature work with an 11-show run of Little Women, A Broadway Musical at Actors Cabaret of Eugene.
The run concludes May 10, and this production of Little Women, a deeply familiar piece of work, is sure to bring a smile to your face at show’s end.
There are, of course, the four March sisters — Jo (Shirlanna Shoop), Amy (Mazie Guittard), Beth (Loralee Van Londen) and Meg (Ruby Boland). Their sweet mother, whom they call Marmee (Rene Ragan), oversees the vibrant crew as her husband is fighting for the North in the Civil War. And Aunt March (Melissa Mitschke) makes every attempt to raise the social standing of the sisters.
Then there are the young men — Laurie (Garett Poncho), John Brooke (Reece Miller-Reynolds), Professor Fritz Bhaer (Ethan LaBrasseur), Mr. Lawrence (Skye Lipson) and Mrs. Kirk (Molly McCarthy) — to round out the main cast.
The singing and acting are top-notch, as is always the case under Non-Stop Players founder and director Karen Olsen, vocal director Jeanette Engel and choreographer Adam Kelly. The songs that resonate begin with the energetic Our Finest Dreams early in Act 1, sung by all four of the March sisters.
Little Women, though, has its share of tender, loving songs, including Home Alone with Marmee, Take a Chance with Laurie and, most especially, Some Things Are Meant to Be with sisters Jo and Meg singing on the beach of Cape Cod. It will be Meg’s final scene before she dies of scarlet fever, and Jo’s response to her favorite sister’s death — The Fire Within Me — is riveting.
By all means, take a break from the realities surrounding you and take in a performance of Little Women by The Non-Stop Players at Actors Cabaret. You’ll be glad you did.
Non-stop Players do Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women
When: Evenings at 7:30 p.m. on May 1-2, 8-9, and 15-16; matinees at 2 p.m. on May 3 and 10
Where: Actors Cabaret, 996 Willamette St., downtown Eugene
Ticket information: TheNonstopPlayers.org
