‘Little Women’ big-time entertainment

Published 8:00 am Wednesday, June 26, 2019

PLAY REVIEW

VALDOSTA — A small cast makes “Little Women” a big deal.

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Ten members of the 2019 Peach State Summer Theatre company bring to wonderful musical life Louisa May Alcott’s classic story of a family of sisters coming of age in the North during the American Civil War.

Megan Wheeler leads the tremendous cast as Jo, the precocious, daring sister who dreams of becoming a famous writer rather than settling down and marrying.

“Little Women: The Broadway Musical” centers on Jo and Wheeler does not disappoint. She captures the character’s youth, elan, growing maturity in a bravura performance. Megan Wheeler is a powerhouse who sings like a bird, nearly bringing down the house with the Act I closer “Astonishing.”

No stranger to PSST! musicals, Jo is one of Wheeler’s best and possibly most memorable characters.

She is joined by an equally powerful cast.

Haley Aguero, Emma Safon and Rachel Gubow play the other March sisters — Amy, Beth and Meg — with a combination of humor and empathy. Their voices are angelic and they also create believable characters transformed from girlish youth to young adulthood through time, experience, love and tragedy.

Jeremy Reasoner, Geoffrey Reynolds and Jim Ballard play Laurie Laurence, John Brooke and Professor Bhaer with panache. They are the love interests of the sisters. Hard for the men to shine in the shadow of a show called “Little Women,” but these actors do.

As does Olin Davidson as Mr. Laurence. Davidson has one of the most memorable moments of the evening with Safon’s Beth, singing and dancing to “Off to Massachusetts.” It’s not one of the biggest or best songs of the musical but the scene of Davidson’s icy tyrant Mr. Laurence melting into an actual human being is one of the most emotional.

Kelly Fletcher plays Marmee March, the sisters’ mother. Fletcher is also Donna in the PSST! production of “Mamma Mia!” Her Marmee is a more subdued mother compared to Donna but Fletcher is no less talented in this role than in her starring turn in “Mamma Mia!”

Anne Marie Snyder is hilarious as the priggish Aunt March who believes her nieces are anything but well-behaved ladies. Snyder is a joy to watch even though Aunt March would be no joy to know.

Dr. Randy Wheeler directs this cast in a play that literally had some audience members laughing and crying. As cliche as it might sound, Dr. Wheeler’s “Little Women” tickles the funny bone and tugs at the heart strings.

Dr. Wheeler is always a masterful director who synthesizes his brilliant vision, meticulous planning and comprehensive homework with a light touch.

He leads a talented creative crew.

Ruth A. Brandvik, Jason Lee Courson and Genny Wynn’s respective scene designs, projections designs and lighting designs create an aura of yesteryear through deft touches of minimalism and suggestion. 

Martha H. Cooper’s costumes are a twirl of earthy plaids and hoops and skirts; the cast changes in and out of more than 60 costumes during the course of the show. Cooper’s works under Wynn’s lighting are sights to behold.

Joe Mason, vocal director, and Ben Takitch, sound designer, create clear sounds throughout the performance. The actors sing with wonderful diction, poise and harmony, while Takitch ensures those voices carry throughout the auditorium of Sawyer Theatre.

Voices work in unison with the live orchestra conducted by David Springfield. The orchestra performs live for each PSST! performance on the second floor of the Valdosta State University Fine Arts Building. The music is digitally piped into Sawyer Theatre. The music is next to flawless.

“Little Women” is not a big dance show but Jacque Wheeler’s choreography is an integral part of the experience as is the fight choreography by Ian Anderson. Phillip Brulotte, technical director, and Emma Marsico, stage manager, keep the show moving and everyone where they should be.

A few glitches struck the opening night performance of “Little Women.” A Christmas tree that was supposed to be a live fir cut down in a neighbor’s yard was obviously an artificial tree when it popped in two upon being dragged on stage. A table collapsed under Megan Wheeler as she sang the story of “The Weekly Volcano Press.”

But the glitches drew hearty applause from the audience because the actors never broke character and the show went on.

By the end of “Little Women,” the audience applause became a standing ovation for a remarkable production.

The review is based on the sold-out opening night performance.

Peach State Summer Theatre production of “Little Women: The Broadway Musical” continues 3 p.m. Sunday, June 30, Interpreted for the Deaf in American Sign Language; 2 p.m. Wednesday, July 3; 2 p.m. Saturday, July 6; 2 p.m. Wednesday, July 10; 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 11; 2 p.m. Saturday, July 13; 10:30 a.m. Thursday, July 18; 2 p.m. Saturday, July 20, Sawyer Theatre, Valdosta State University Fine Arts Building, corner of Oak and Brookwood. Tickets, reservations: Box Office open 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday, call (229) 259-7770; or visit www.valdosta.edu/psst.