Little Women the Musical, What happened!??

Ok... I saw this show at a university a week ago and I fell in love with the music and the script!
Now, what happened to the broadway run? From what I could tell, they had a pretty awesome cast!

Anyone have a theory?

Like the majority of new Broadway musicals, it flopped.

Like the majority of flops, the cast wasn't to blame in the slightest.

Read Ben Brantley's review for a truckload of insight:

http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9902E0D91E38F937A15752C0A9639C8B63&fta=y

A lot of critics (and presumably, audiences) had trouble with the general shoehorning of plot and characters that he illustrates in his review. And the show was given stiff competition that season by a slew of new, successful musicals like Spamalot, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Light in the Piazza, and Spelling Bee.

Also, the schoolgirl audiences that the producers were courting didn't seem to like 'girlpower' so much when it was surrounded by a small cast, minimal production values (comparatively), and a less modern- sounding score than Wicked.

With all that said, I loved the score the first time I heard it in the theatre, and have loved it more and more upon repeat listenings. The friends I was with enjoyed themselves, but wrinkled their noses at the sentimental direction, and everyone agreed it was a C+ Broadway musical.

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"big song and dance ACL extravaganza"

ACL is not the quintessential 'big song and dance extravaganza' by any means. Have you ever seen it? It is 17 actors onstage in rehearsal clothing, surrounded by blackness and no sets. This is why many people who saw the original run at the Public, off- broadway, say that they preferred that venue to the Shubert.

If you would like to point out an example of a 'big song and dance extravaganza' that Little Women is the opposite of, you might point to:
42nd Street, with its cast of 48, filled with showgirls and giant dimes and set pieces and dances.
Or the currently running...
The Phantom of the Opera, The Lion King, or Wicked, all with casts over 30 and giant production values.

Little Women played at the Virginia Theatre, which is now the August Wilson. A medium- sized Broadway house, it now is home to a little (literally) show called Jersey Boys, which only has 13 cast members, but has proven a big hit. Little Women had 10 cast members, a comparable amount. This is veritable proof that the cast and show size were not the main issue in the show not becoming a hit.

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It was the last show I was interested in seeing but I went and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The score was good and the book was just fine - contrary to some opinions above. The problem was one of perception. They couldn't get the aging Broadway audience to come see a show called Little Women.

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theenchantedhunter - i couldn't agree more.

i had a problem with the book as well. the storyline is NOT to blame and i actually loved the score a lot more than i thought i would've. i just couldn't get past the fact that NO ONE seemed to age as the story went on and the script kept trying to assure us that they had.

SUCH a snoozefest with some great diva numbers. no doubt the songs will come back to visit us in cabaret performances

I loved it. However, I had only seen one other Broadway show prior to that, so maybe that had something to do with it.

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TheEnchantedHunter, I was a part of this show..... you are spot on with your assessment of why it failed.

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It flopped.

It was enjoyable but merely enjoyable don't cut it these days on Broadway.

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It was a paint by numbers show. The music was fine--not great but a pleasant listen--but it felt if they were inserted into the libretto long before the libretto was written.

The alterations to the source material also proved disastrous. Any mild LITTLE WOMEN fan wonders why they sent them off to the seashore and missed out on the beauty of Beth's death.

I would also say the casting of an adult as young Amy threw off the tender balance of the sisters because 99% of the time, when you have an adult playing a child, you get a caricature instead of a real character.

I love my CD, but watching the show on tour was underwhelming.
Broadway Blog: Enchanted (Spoiler Free)

The score is incredibly generic but at the same time I wonder if any other adaptation of the novel could have been better. To me, it is the best job that could have been done with the source material. While I enjoy LITTLE WOMEN as a novel, it doesn't scream musical theater to me, it's so episodic and long (especially if you want to include both parts as the musical decided to do) that unless the whole novel had been deconstructed and re-invented, I doubt that it could have worked any better with a different score/libretto.
The cast recording isn't THAT bad. Sutton Foster was the right choice for Jo and although for some reason they make her scream incredibly loud, she makes the CD worthy of listening to.

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The musical did kind of take it for granted that everyone was familiar with the novel. But hey, I love me some Louisa May Alcott.

Frankly, the show was not the best.I completely agree with The Enchanted Hunter.

However, the soundtrack is really thrilling. It really transports you into the story, more so than the show itself. I recommend it.