Eponine's 'Little Women' Review (would love feedback)

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 1:56am

I have been meaning to write my review for a long time now. I saw the show quite a few weeks ago before it went on to San Jose. That aside...here's what I thought. Beware SPOILERS read at your own risk.

Firstly I must say, I was practically reared on this story. I wanted to be Jo when I was little; so I tend to be very critical over various aspects, especially the actors.

Kate Fisher (Jo). Someone mentioned before that they were very happy to hear a legit soprano sing this role instead of a belter; I have to agree completely. As much as I adore Sutton I greatly preferred Kate's singing voice. And as a soprano myself; I am so sick of belters and so to hear this role sung by Kate was a joy and it made me very happy, for my own sake (I want to play this role at some point). Her portrayal was spot on, and she was a joy to watch; a perfect mix of spunk, passion and deadpan.

Maureen McGovern (Marmee). I was completely blown away. After hearing the cast album, I knew she was a knockout singer but I was half expecting her to be a mediocre actor; boy was I wrong. McGovern oozed maternal goodness and I wanted to run up on stage and give her a hug (maybe she would give me hot coco and then tuck me in) she was that convincing. Absolute perfection in the role, and I am surprised that she did not get a Tony nom. That aside I am a little irked that she was given so much precedence in the publicity; yes I know she a big star, but the last bow should have been Jo's.

Renee Brna (Meg). I love Jenny Power's voice so much, so I was was hesitant about Renee; however she has one of the best voices in the cast, and her acting was suburb. She and Michael Minarik had great chemistry, She was especially adorable after spraining her ankle and ogling after Mr Brooke, declaring that she is now a woman; and proceeds to limp up the stairs. Her Clarissa was fantastic as well.

Autumn Hurlbert (Beth). She was the only actor I was disappointed in. You can tell the actress herself holds a great deal of talent, but I didn't particularly like her approach to the character; I felt she was a little too spunky for shy "invisible" Beth. Again, great actress, but just my own little quip on the part.

Gwen Hollander (Amy). There seems to be a bit of a prejudice over the part of Amy and the actress's portraying her; I was prepared to hate Gwen. I was pleasantly surprised however; her acting was spot on with the bratty younger Amy (whilst draping herself over the couch when she didn't get her way) and did a lovely job making the character more grown up in the second half.

Stephen Patterson (Laurie). This part (along with Jo) are the two that I am most particular about in the actor, but Stephen was nothing short of magnificent. I had the pleasure of seeing him as Marius the very first time I ever saw Les Miz (So maybe I'm a tad biased). You can tell this man belongs on stage, he is so comfortable up there, you can tell in his mannerisms and body language. His Rodrigo was fabulous; I loved how he went more operatic and added flourishes and such to the lyrics. He certainly has a more operatic trained voice in general compared to Danny Gurwin's more boyish one; but it never got to the point that I felt he wasn't the teenage Laurie. When Rodrigo came on however, he let it loose. Possibly my favorite performance in the show.

Andrew Varela (Prof. Bhear). I am one of those people that hate the fact that Jo marries Bhear instead of Laurie. I love Laurie as a character so much, and then she goes and marries this guy who's close to 50. Sorry 34. Mr. Varela is the only Bhear that I have seen that convinced me that Jo did the right thing at the end. He was completely and utterly convincing: awkward, warm and charming, and you grow to love him; which is exactly what Jo goes through. His "How I Am" was breathtaking. I have never liked the song, but Varela's voice is a magnificent thing and it struck such a chord. So Mr. Varela, if you are reading this; you made me like Professor Bhear, after 20 years of knowing this story. Well done.

Michael Minarik (John Brooke). Awww. :) He was perfectly jitter-ish and nervous and loving, and he has quite the voice. I felt his dialogue before "More Than I Am" was some of the best in the show, touching and funny and sweet (but not so sweet that it gave me diabetes). Browsing through his bio makes me want to see him in some of those roles too. I hope I have the pleasure of seeing him perform again.

Robert Stattel (Mr. Laurence). You know when someone just looks the part so perfectly? I do feel that his talent was wasted though, he strikes me a damn good actor (he played Lear!) and yet he had the least stage time of anyone. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He also had the disadvantage of having the choppiest written parts of the play; the stuff that helps Beth's character along. But when he had the chance to shine, he did and then some. Fine actor, but needs a better role.

Louisa Flaningam (Aunt March/Mrs. Kirk). Aunt March to me is one of the pointless boring characters, however she comes alive in the musical (which is surprising because so many of the characters fall flat or are underdeveloped). "Could You" was absolutely hilarious and is one of those songs that you need to see played out to actually enjoy. She did a nice job of separating the two characters and her sharp tongued Aunt March was perfection.

Pieces of brilliance in the show included the acting out of Jo's stories. This is something I never would have thought of, and it was beautifully staged and crafted. I loved the final swordfight between Braxton and Clarissa and the sound effects; very nice. :) Five Forever, when I first heard it (thought it was lame) and yet it was one of the best parts of the show experience for me, as was "Small Umbrella in the Rain" (Marmee! This is...a...very good friend of mine.) And of course my all time favorite scene when Laurie kisses and proposes to Jo. It was a short sweet kiss (although I was secretly hoping for a hot and heavy make out session) and followed but the spectacular "Astonishing."

Overall show wise: I can understand why this show did not get the Tony nominations; it is far too choppy. It has the disadvantage of having so many important leading characters that need full developing, and so much gets left out that really helps flow the story. That is the major weakness, the book of the musical (Harvey's presentation Tony speech in 2003 comes to mind: "And then it's always all our fault...") and the dialogue. The music has some glorious parts that is just as good as any musical. They do have their share of ****ty songs too though. The overture gets horribly on my nerves; I would have liked some other song referenced at the beginning of the overture like "More than I Am" or even the climatic part of "As I Am." But the "I'd Be Delighted" overture makes me feel like I'm at the circus. Also "The Most Amazing Thing" shouldn't be in the show. It would be so much more powerful if (when Laurie returns from Europe and is alone with Jo) he says "I'm married." It would have such a greater impact than that damn song. For a moment I forgot it was in the show, but when it started up I was like, "Oh, no..." That time could have been used with having Beth die onstage; it would have such a bigger impact than having it referenced than kind of forgotten.

I feel the show overall is not terrible, on the contrary it has so much great work that it should have been reworked even more before it came to Broadway. If Les Miz can take nine or so main characters and have them all be complex and complete within a musical, Little Women can do it too. It's a shame because it could have turned this good musical into a great one.

So overall, the cast was top notch and then some. The sets, costumes, lighting were all magnificent; but it was missing something. The story did not feel complete, and it left me feeling empty rather than full of life (like the story should do).


And one last thing: although I didn’t see her Julie Burdick is listed as understudy for all four of the sisters. Holy crap. I give complete props to her for that and hope she has gotten some sleep since she began this process.


Updated On: 10/24/05 at 01:56 AM

[ashley0139]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 7:41am

Great, in depth review. I haven't seen the tour, but I'm planning to when it comes to my city. I'm glad you liked the show though. I saw it in NYC and I'm a little nervous to see it on tour since I'm such a HUGE fan of Sutton. I couldn't imagine seeing it without her. But, we'll see. You did make me look forward to it, though. Thanks.

[BroadwayDoc]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 8:17am

Thanks for the great & insightful review Eponine. I completely agree that their was something there, it just was fleshed out as well as it could be. I enjoyed it on Broadway, but always felt that Jo was the only character that was really fleshed out and the sisters were just kinda there until they got a song. But again, thanks for the great review. I enjoyed reading it.

[Shawk]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 2:12pm

Thanks for the long and detailed review!

I saw the show in Sacramento as well, and since I hadn't read the book since I was very young, I gave it a quick read-over before going to the show. It was curious the way they tweaked the male characters in particular, and it's interesting to see that you liked the Professor at long last, for I thought they gave Professor Bhaer more of a Professor Higgins vibe; maybe not quite as biting, but I felt they gave Jo and the Professor more of a Beatrice/Benedick banter with a Higgins/Eliza kind of awkward head-butting with underlying affection (although obviously Bhaer is socially awkward in a whole other way from Higgins). In the novel, Bhaer always struck me as very paternal (especially with all his lecturing about how Jo shouldn't write trashy stories), which is kind of odd, and the relationship in the musical worked better (although I still thought it felt a bit tacked on, but that's more a problem with the source material; once Jo starts writing her novel, she's realized herself, and it seems somewhat unecessary to match her up after that).

My overall impression of the musical was that it was cute. Nothing groundbreaking, with some truly painful dialogue now and again, and with some rather derivitive-sounding songs (a lot of it reminded me a bit of Lerner and Lowe, while "How I Am" rather reminded me of various of Archibald's songs from "The Secret Garden"), but each time it headed for too cheesy or choppy, the very talented cast saved it. Like you, I was a bit sad that some of the cast had so little to do, although they were clearly talented and able to do so much more.

[AUtahFann]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 4:24pm

The show is in Salt Lake City this week and I'm still trying to decide if I should see it...

[Shawk]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 4:25pm

I would say it's worth it to see this cast. Maureen McGovern is truly amazing, and the rest of the cast is extremely strong.

[ElphabaRose]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 4:42pm

I say don't see the show unless you can get a pretty decent sized discount. I haven't seen the tour, but the Broadway Cast's talents were not enough to make up the way that my favorite book was horribly butchered and mutilated.

[Shawk]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 4:52pm

I don't know, it's an adaption. It doesn't take anything away from the book, and it would really depend on how strongly the viewer cares about a strict adaption (which I'm not really sure how they would have done that, seeing as a lot of the "learn to be a good wife" lessons and moralizing just wouldn't play so well, I don't think).

This is not to say that the musical doesn't have flaws, because it clearly does. But I found it to be a pleasant night of theatre, if nothing groundbreaking or challenging.

But then, I was never overly attatched to the novel.

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 7:33pm

bumpity, bump

[AUtahFann]

Posted: 10/25/05 at 2:05pm

Well I decided to go ahead and get tickets for the Saturday matinee but unfortunately the best seats I could get was in Row V in the center. The only other seats were a little closer but way over over on the side so I hope these seats are ok. I also have tickets to see Mamma Mia next month!

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 10/25/05 at 3:06pm

I love Laurie as a character so much, and then she goes and marries this guy who's close to 50. Sorry 34.

Haha. Nice reference there.

great review, I kind of wish I could see the tour. I'm from NYC, so I saw the Broadway production, and I enjoyed it. I'm still curious to actually see the tour.

I definitely agree with you about the overture. I always skip it when I listen to the CD.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/28/05 at 4:07am

I say don't see the show unless you can get a pretty decent sized discount. I haven't seen the tour, but the Broadway Cast's talents were not enough to make up the way that my favorite book was horribly butchered and mutilated.

Maybe it does matter if you've never read the book -- I haven't, and I really liked the show, although it did have its flaws. (Most of which have been mentioned here already.) Before I went to see it, I decided not to become familiar with the story. After all, an adaptation, no matter what it's an adaptation of, should be able to stand well on its own, and for the most part, the musical does.

So, person in Utah, I'm glad you're going to see it! This cast really lifts up a show that could otherwise be mediocre.

Updated On: 10/28/05 at 04:07 AM

[AUtahFann]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 1:47am

I saw it today and really liked it. It's a very sweet show. Someone said somewhere that not everything can be Wicked and Hairspray... This wasn't necessarily thrilling - just a comfortable, enjoyable show. The guy who plays the professor had a wonderful voice! Maureen was out in the lobby afterwards signing programs and seemed to be very friendly. The guy who played Laurie was also there collecting for Broadway Cares. Then tonight we saw "Beauty and the Beast" so it was a very fun full theater day!

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 1:03am

Aw, that's great. Was Stephen Patterson in costume? They were collecting for hurricane relief when I saw the show in Sacramento, but they put standby Kevin Duda out in the lobby, and he hadn't gone on, so he was just in his cast shirt and not in costume (although Maureen McGovern had said "costume" in her curtain call speech ).

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 2:09am

dancingthrulife04, you made my day. I'm glad someone noticed the reference. :)

[farfrombway]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 10:36am

I love your review!!! LOL!!! I love that Professor Bhaer 34 comment. I used to wish Jo would end up with Laurie as well. But not anymore!! :) That kiss at the end was my favorite. So funny romantic and sweet! The show is best I have seen in a looooong time. Lets keep our fingers crossed for a new LW soundtrack!!!

[Elphaba]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 11:19am

It was wondrous in San Diego! The theater sucked, but the musical was wonderful.

[My Fair Lady]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 11:34am

I didn't know Kate Fisher was a legit Soprano (after the show closed, I didn't care about the tour since I live in NY), but that makes me uber-happy.

[AUtahFann]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 4:23pm

Yes, both he and Maureen were still in costume.

[KChenowethfan]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 5:31pm

Yep, Kate Fischer has a very nice legit soprano. I saw her as Eliza Doolittle last May at Syracuse Stage.