By William Powell on February 18, 2017
https://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2017/02/18/review-little-women-cua-benjamin-rome/
Catholic University’s Benjamin T. Rome School of Music’s production of Little Women is nearly three hours of spectacular musical merriment. Directed by faculty member Jay D. Brock and with a book by Allan Knee, music by Jason Howland, and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein, the show is a proud addition to the school’s 30th season.
L to R: The March Sisters: Beth (Carrie Kirby), Jo (Meredith Eib), Amy (Allie McCrea), and Meg (Marika Countouris).
Photo by Mariagustina Fabara.
The story, which takes place in Concord, Massachusetts, is based on author Louisa May Alcott’s classic 1869 semi-autobiographical novel, and the trials, sibling rivalries and drama in the lives of the four March sisters: in love-with-love Meg (Marika Countouris), brash Jo (the incomparable-voiced Meredith Eib), putting-on-airs Amy (Allie McCrea), and compassionate Beth (Carrie Kirby) and their mother Marmee (Claire Gallagher); during the time of the play, the family’s patriarch is serving as a Civil War Union Army chaplain in Washington, D.C.
Young women in the time period of the play faced more rigid social mores than they do today. As Dramaturg Eleanor Tynan wrote: “Women were expected to marry early and maintain a proper household.” I loved the words of Jo: “We don’t live for society, we live for what’s inside of us.”
The story began in the Summer of 1865 at a boarding house. The opening number, “An Operatic Tragedy,” sung by the outstanding lead, Eib, Clarissa (Countouris), Braxton (Brandon Bedore), and Professor Bhaer (Aaron O’Brien Mackisey) was a rousing exposition of the stories aspiring writer Jo had in her head. Later, Eib’s Jo had a fantastic solo in “Better,” and her renditon of “Astonishing” was simply… astonishing!
As the story moved ahead to the Winter of 1864 at the girls’ Aunt March’s (Anna Phillips-Brown) house, Eib and Phillips-Brown brought lyrical wonderment to “Could You?” Beth (Kirby) and Mr. Laurence (Ashton Schaffer) did a lovely job with “Off to Massachusetts. John Brooke’s (Bedore) solo in “More Than I Am,” as the story moved to Spring 1865, stood out.
