The Ballad of Little Jo in Red Bank NJ

[_IrisTInkerbell]

Posted: 6/5/17 at 1:12pm

I went to see The Ballad of Little Jo at the Two River Theater in Red Bank NJ yesterday on a whim because friends of mine are fans of Teal Wicks, who's playing the lead. I ended up loving the show! I highly recommend it to anyone who lives in the area or enjoys a little day trip out of the city. It's playing for another 4 weeks or so I think and it's a little under 1.5h on the train from Penn Station to get there.

The musical is based on the movie of the same name from the 90s and had it's world premiere at Steppenwolf I believe in 2000. It's set in the late 19th Century and centeres around a girl from high society Boston who after having an illegitimate child heads west to start over. Being faced with the challenges of being a young single woman in the wild west she starts dressing a man and begins a new life in a small mining village.

The show has fantastic music and a very moving story that felt oddly timely and appropriate today, dealing with different forms of prejudice and discrimination.

Besides Teal as Josefine/Jo the cast also includes Eric William Morris and Kristin Stokes.

See it if you can! (No, not associated with the show in any way, just loved it!)