REVIEW: LITTLE WOMEN—Musical Theatre West @ Carpenter Performing Arts Center
Updated: 8 minutes ago
This week, Musical Theatre West discovers that growing up is complicated, growing old is inevitable, and having sisters is really a lifelong theatrical event!
NOVEMBER 7—LONG BEACH, CA
There are few literary families as enduring as the Marches, and few households that have managed to turn sibling rivalry, romantic misfires, financial hardship and an occasional emotional catastrophe into such a remarkably durable entertainment franchise.
Louisa May Alcott's semi-autobiographical LITTLE WOMEN has been charming readers for more than 150 years, surviving generations of changing hairstyles, social expectations and cinematic interpretations. Now, the March family is finally back into the spotlight, taking the stage at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach through November 22nd, where their dreams, disappointments and domestic adventures receive a more polished Broadway musical treatment.
The musical features a book by Allan Knee, music by Jason Howland and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein. It is an ambitious undertaking: translating a sprawling literary coming-of-age story into a stage musical without reducing its characters to a collection of pretty dresses, sentimental embraces and conveniently timed musical numbers. Fortunately, the material has more going for it than nostalgia. At its heart is a rather modern proposition: women should be allowed to decide what constitutes a meaningful life, even when their choices don't conform to society's instruction manual.
The story revolves around four sisters whose personalities are as different as their aspirations. Meg dreams of domestic happiness, Amy has artistic and social ambitions, Beth is the family's gentle conscience, and Jo, a woman, is determined to become a writer at a time when that was about as readily encouraged as a tax audit. Jo is also the combustible center of the story, with a stubborn streak and an appetite for independence that occasionally exceeds her diplomatic abilities. In other words, she's the sister most likely to be told to calm down at Thanksgiving. But that's precisely what makes her so appealing.
Here, the role of Jo is entrusted to the dynamic Jenna Lea Rosen, whose recent credits include the national tour of “Suffs.” Ms. Rosen’s Jo, however, is not simply a young woman who wants to write; she is a young woman who refuses to accept that the world has already decided how her story should end. That distinction gives Ms. Rosen a chance to give the character considerable dramatic weight…and that she does.
And she does that in a tour de force performance that is a joy to watch. In "An Operatic Tragedy," the number begins as dialogue and morphs into characters of the story coming to life with perfect timing all around the stage. Later, Ms. Rosen’s vibrant “Better” and “The Fire Within Me” brings rousing chills to her audience. And her now-immortal rendition of the empowering ballad, “Astonishing,” at the end of the first act achieves new heights of theatrical excitement with a massive, driving mix-belt.
Katie Roche (7 yrs. Celebrity/Royal Caribbean Cruises) takes on the oldest sister, Meg, with style and grace. Always responsible and kind, Meg is the first to break the pledge of the March girls to be together forever. The gifted Ms. Roche, with her seraphic vocals (“More Than I Am” w/Aaron Gibbs’ Mr. Brooke), charm and looks to match, creates a character with a small weakness for luxury and leisure, yet gentle, loving, and morally vigorous.
Jordan Cruz (MTW: “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”) portrays Amy, the youngest March, who adores visual beauty, possessions, and is just a bit self-absorbed, given to fits of temper, and vanity. “Aunt March says that accessories are the key to a woman’s success!” Her most featured song in the show is her incredible twosome with Laurie in the number, “The Most Amazing Thing.”
Haven Watts (member of the Grammy Award-Winning Pacific Chorale) plays Beth with sweetness and delicacy, nursing the sick children of her poor, German neighbors and is permanently weakened by the illness, eventually dying. This parallels the life of Louisa May Alcott’s real-life sister, Lizzie, who also died of scarlet fever. Ms. Watt’s duet with Jo, “Some Things Are Meant to Be,” is a gentle highlight tearjerker, set against a Cape Cod contexture.
Together, the sisters form the emotional architecture of the musical. Meg's desire for stability, Amy's determination to find her place, and Beth's quiet generosity offer three distinct counterpoints to Jo's restless ambition. Their relationships are the real engine of the story. The sisters can irritate one another, compete with one another and occasionally behave as though the family home is a small-scale United Nations without a functioning security council. Yet their affection survives the inevitable collisions.
Tami Tappan Damiano (an MTW favorite: “Hello Dolly!” “Spamalot”) as Marmee brings an impressive theatrical résumé as the family's maternal anchor. Ms. Damiano’s Marmee is more than a dispenser of comforting advice and perfectly timed hugs. She is the moral center of the household, keeping a warmly affecting grip on an all-wise, supermom character, infusing the part with grit and impressive strength. When she sang “Here Alone,” while writing a letter to her husband, she powerfully shapes the big notes and caresses the softer ones. Her other exquisite solo, “Days of Plenty,” expressing maternal grief at the loss of her daughter Beth, was also deeply felt.
Among the gentlemen, Ariel Neydavoud (Off Brdwy: “The Visitor”) appears as Theodore "Laurie" Laurence, the charming neighbor (bringing boyish appeal to the part) whose relationship with the March sisters introduces another layer of affection, expectation and romantic complication. In “Take a Chance on Me,” in sync with a beautiful duet with Amy, “The Most Amazing Thing,” Mr. Neydavoud presents impressive, spine-tingling vocal power.
And, returning MTW veteran Jonathan von Mering (“The Sound of Music;” HBOMax: “The Pitt”) plays “plain and peculiar” Professor Bhaer, who, unlike the dashing Laurie, offers Jo an organic romance built on mutual intellectual stimulation, respect for her mind, and shared values rather than fiery, volatile passion.
Rounding out the cast is the aforementioned and very versatile Aaron Gibbs (“Rock of Ages”) as John Brooke, the incredible Barbara Carlton Heart (who played Sheila in the first Regional production of “A Chorus Line”) as Aunt March and chameleon actor Martin Kildare (MTW: “My Fair Lady”) as Mr. Laurence. Standbys are the talented Sabrina Marielle and Donovan Mendelovitz.
The production is directed and choreographed by Cate Caplin, with Diane King Vann serving as music director and conductor. Director Caplin's extensive Southern California theatre experience, which includes more than 200 productions, makes her an interesting choice for material that demands both comic timing and emotional restraint. Together, the power duo creates a convincing journey out of years of growing up, falling in love, losing loved ones and discovering that adulthood rarely resembles the picture we had in mind when we were young.
For Musical Theatre West, Little Women closes its 2026 season with a story that offers considerably more than a nostalgic trip to the 1860s. It is an opportunity to revisit characters whose concerns remain surprisingly contemporary, even if their wardrobe choices would make today's dry cleaners nervous. The setting may be historical, but the questions are timeless: Who gets to choose our future? How much should we sacrifice for the people we love? And why is it that the people who know us best are often the ones most capable of driving us completely out of our minds?
The March sisters have been answering those questions for generations, and they still have plenty to say. Their story reminds us that growing up is not a tidy process, that independence can be expensive, and that family is sometimes the most exasperating and rewarding production in which we will ever appear.
CHRIS DANIELS
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT REVIEWER
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PHOTO CREDITS: Jason Niedle
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