I need to start this review on a personal note. I grew up in a household with a distant dad, two older sisters, and a diligent mother. My mama was/is nothing short of heroic. She divorced when it was frowned upon, after 25 years of trying to make a bellicose marriage work. She earned as much as any woman could at the time. She made sacrifices I cannot begin to imagine, to give us what we needed to succeed and protect me, her bi-polar son, from a world I didn’t understand. I am 200% behind the #metoo movement, and loathe the condescension, misogyny, marginalizing and oppression women must endure daily, in the midst of a toxic patriarchy. If I turned into a woman tomorrow, I wouldn’t last a day. Or I’d invest in a Louisville Slugger and crack some skulls.
Kate Hamill’s stage adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, is an episodic gloss that extols the now familiar, nearly ubiquitous story of the March women. It is in some ways, ingenious. For instance, Hamill’s device of revisiting Jo March’s play with her male, caricatured, male uber-villain, is intriguing and efficient. Sarah Rasmussen’s direction is crisp and pointed, navigating a somewhat distilled attempt to cover a lot of material purposefully, hitting the high notes, and paying close attention to turning points. The cast (Jennie Greenberry, Pearl Rhein, Maggie Thompson, Lilli Hokama, Louis Rheyes McWillians, Sally Nystuen Vahle, Liz Mikel, Alex Organ, Mike Sears, Andrew Crowe) is able, strong and versatile, often shifting gears to keep up with seachanges and the brisk pace. Hamill preserves vivid details of the period, from diction to dishes to (naturally) cultural constraints. I wonder what the experience might be for someone coming to this drama for the first time, with no other context?
In some ways the struggles of the March sisters culminate in the rebellious Jo March, whose anger is focused and heartbreaking. The others, Meg, Amy and Beth, must deal with their own challenges. The never-ending demands of motherhood, financial survival and attachment to men, the cost of charitable sacrifice. As Jo continues to fight the battles that injustice demands, the other three must make their own hard choices. Anyone familiar with the story knows the excruciating incident in which Laurie is disappointed by Jo’s response to his proposal.. She cherishes him, but it’s not the kind of love he feels for her. Alcott, in her bold exploration of role reversal, depicts the painful ordeal of choosing what we’re told we should want, and forfeiting something just as splendid. The fact that Jo may be the stronger one on this occasion, makes her no happier.
Though Dallas Theater Center’s production of Little Women was inventive, salient, forceful, poignant (in some ways) and very, very smart, I found myself frustrated and disappointed in its conception. We have reached a glorious point in American history, when the revelation of systemic male exploitation and abuse of women, is finally there for all to see. Much of the victim shaming and celebrity leveraging has been called into serious question, and it’s about fucking time. I’ve seen DTC’s Little Women celebrated as feminist and the queer interpretation of Josephine’s character, and I celebrate those too. Honestly. But then I ask myself, when Alcott wrote Little Women, wasn’t it always feminist? Wasn’t Jo always queer, whether in sexual identity or politics or both? Isn’t the undeniable presence of this ideology, this fighting spirit sufficiently evinced in the lives of the March women, without the need to enhance it? Especially to the detriment of the content as a whole?
Why diminish the roles of Marmy, the father, Aunt March, et al? I don’t think the father spoke a single line. I get that Hamill finds ways to include key details. But I missed the scenes where Marmy confides her doubts, Amy explains her limited choices, Aunt March makes it clear that she understands why Jo is the way she is. Of course, none of these are fatal flaws. I want to say, unequivocally, there is much to recommend this show. I completely respect every production’s desire to put their own shape and identity to a particular piece. But it’s too bad that they’ve taken a story they describe as “timeless” (exactly) and make it something it doesn’t need to be.
The Dallas Theater Center presents Little Women, playing February 7th, March 1st, 2020. 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd. Dallas, Texas 75219. 214-522-8499 or www.DallasTheaterCenter.org