If the movie or book version of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women” didn’t steal your heart, then hop over to Moxie Theatre in Rolando and catch the musical version based on the Broadway show of the same name with book by Allan Knee, music by Jason Howland and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein. This one will.
Moxie Theatre, dedicated to supporting women’s work (founded by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg) 20 years ago, is still going strong. Now under the leadership of Desireé Clark Miller, thinking BIG is no option. For the first time in the theatres’ history, Moxie will be mounting two different plays in Repertory: ‘Little Women” and “Our Dear Departed Drug Lord”. Yours truly has only seen “Little Women”, the other may or may not follow.
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| Nio Russell, Mikaela Macis, Becca Myers, Lena Ceja. The four March girls. |
To reminisce: In ‘my day’ the all -white cast of “Little Women” starred June Allyson as Jo, Elizabeth Taylor as Amy, Margaret O’Brien as Beth and Janet Leigh as Meg.
Fast forward to Moxie’s blind casting by director Leigh Scarrett (also musical director) and you won’t find a finer and more talented cast of characters on any stage. Nary a weak performance by the four March sisters or their mother, Marmee, (evenly played by Constance Jewell Lopez). Let’s just say everyone in their orbit, at that time, in Concord, Mass. where everything seemed simple and complicated at at once.
| Back row Nio Russell, Becca Myers Front: Lena Ceja, Constance Jewell and Mikaela Micas |
Alcott's book is quite ahead of itself as it weaves through the growing up years of the four March girls; first to some extent younger women and then as maturing adults shown in short vignettes by testing the duties of women as treated by their male counterparts. And yet it took the courage of one Jo (Mikaela Micas) March, pardon the pun, to march to her own drum. At a time when women were expected to marry, she would have none of it. She was an aspiring writer and nothing was going to stand in her way. (“Women, they have minds, and they have souls, as well as just hearts. And they've got ambition, and they've got talent, as well as just beauty. I'm so sick of people saying that love is just all a woman is fit for”)
The second youngest, Beth (soft and convincing Nio Russell) was musically inclined and loved to play the piano that belonged to their neighbor Mr. Lawrence (a charming Will Doyle), who lived with his grandson Laurie (Tanner Vydos). It was Beth who encouraged her sisters to do their best. She left an everlasting impression on those around her.
Meg (Becca Myers) was the most traditional and the first of the four to marry and have children of her own. Myers was a steady as you go personality who ended up marrying Mr. John Brooke (Ryan Hadley), Laurie's tutor who used her dance card to get closer to her.
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| Makaela Micas and Tanner Vydos |
Romantic Amy (Lena Ceja), the youngest who was never satisfied with her standing in the family, loved to paint. She was first to complain and then to have to apologize for her actions. Of the four, Ceja’s arc of becoming well rounded and sophisticated was amazing to watch especially after being tutored by Aunt March (a force to be considered with, Michelle Caravia) on how to be a refined lady. She has the money in the family and uses it to influence the girls’ choices.
But it was Micas’ Jo, the second oldest, who carried most of weight. She was a force with which to be reckoned as the so called leader of the clan to whom everyone went when there was a problem and she was right there when there was a problem in the March household. Her last days with Beth brought real tears to everyone’s eyes, so philosophical were they both. Again, her arc as she went from stubborn to smitten with Professor Bhaer, endearing and faithful to his profession, DeAndre Simmons whose voice filled the theatre with bravado). He was ‘friend’ at the boarding house in New York where she went to write.
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| Nio russell, Lena Ceja,Tanner Vydos, Mikaela Micas, Bessa Myers |
My one criticism is that there were times that the musical track was too overpowering for the small space causing the actors, who all had beautiful voices, to over -compensate. Other than that, I would go back and see it again.
Hat’s off to Moxie for daring to go BIG!
See you at the theatre.
Enjoy.
“Little Women: The Broadway Musical’ & ‘Our Dear Dead Drug Lord’
When: Two plays will rotate in repertory Sunday through Dec. 8. 7 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 2 and 7 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. (Check website for play schedule)
Where: Moxie Theatre, 6663 El Cajon Blvd., Ste. N, Rolando
Tickets: $30-$63 (“Little Women”), $20-$50 (“Drug Lord”)
Phone: 858-598-7620
Photo: Desiree Clark Miller
Online: moxietheatre.co
