Sweet voices lift YSU’s ‘Little Women’

By STEPHANIE OTTEY

YOUNGSTOWN — In the past decade, Broadway has become more dependent on books to provide material for shows.

The staging of “Wicked,” from “The Wizard of Oz,” did it in a big way. Now, Youngstown State University Theater is doing it in a “little” way.

The musical adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel “Little Women” opened to a packed house in YSU’s Ford Theater on Thursday evening.

The show, written by Allan Knee, follows the story of the March sisters as they play, suffer and grow during the Civil War era.

Knee made a great attempt at capturing the 400-plus pages of Alcott’s story with the help of music by Jason Howland and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein.

The original 1860s novel was actually written and published in two books, thus making any complete translation of the story to stage virtually impossible due to the time constraints of live theater.

Though Knee incorporated the most memorable moments of the story and maintained the moral value of “Little Women,” he also manipulated events and characters so that they were more agreeable with the stage.

This will not sit well with literary minds, especially those who expect to see the characters come to life as Alcott wrote them. However, the integrity of the story is not lost.

YSU’s production, under the direction of Frank Castronovo, is a fast-paced telling of the lives of the March sisters, at times to a fault.

Though it is apparent that the authors did try to incorporate as many events of the novel as they could, this left some climactic moments with little time to reach the dramatic heights they needed.

The moment when Jo (Roxanne Hauldren) realizes that Amy (Alyssa Connelly) has burned her stories is more of a bipolar moment than the test of the sisters’ relationship that it was intended to be.

There’s no time to marvel at the shock of Jo cutting off her hair, and poor Beth (Laura Young) barely gets the honor and grief she deserves when scarlet fever finally takes her.

The simple stage movements of the actors was a tasteful choice by Castronovo, and the fun and charming choreography by Christine Cobb seemed as though it were being performed spontaneously by the characters.

The audience was enchanted by a scene change in Act 1 that was cleverly masked by two couples “ice skating” across the stage.

A set designed by John Murphy made the perfect “Currier and Ives”-like setting.

A real treat was the musical direction of Nancy Wolfgang and Bill Hostetler. Though there were some minor orchestral issues with volume, the show was vocally superb.

The students in this production displayed tremendous vocal talent, without a single sour note. This was musically the best show to come out of YSU since 2004’s “Company.”

The five March women — Meg (Deanna Scott), Jo (Hauldren), Beth (Laura Young), Amy (Connelly) and “Marmee” (Molly Makselan) — were the focus of the entire show.

Makselan brought a quiet dignity to Marmee that made her the most emotionally accessible character. Her heartfelt performance of “Here Alone” was easily the most moving scene of Act 1 and she remained consistently compelling throughout the rest of the show.

Another standout performance came from Scott. Though the Meg that Knee wrote was slightly different from the Meg that Alcott wrote, Scott made her very real and likable.

A vocal performance major, Scott proved that her acting talent is as strong as her singing talent, if not stronger.

Her natural presence on stage made her easy to watch and brought sincerity to her character that is hard to achieve.

Young created the most delicate and lovable Beth imaginable and her sweet vocals matched the character very well, while Connelly’s Amy brought comic relief and energy to every scene she was in.

Hauldren, a senior musical theater major, led the women and commanded the stage in the same way that Jo commanded her family’s attention.

Her delicate and feminine vocals were slightly contradictory to the boyish tendencies of Jo and she was difficult to understand at times, but she was enjoyable to watch regardless.

Aaron Franek as Laurie and Joel Stigliano as Professor Bhaer were obviously crowd favorites. Franek’s charming and energetic portrayal of Laurie won over every heart in the house.

His comedic timing was impeccable as he befriended the March sisters, and when Franek and Connelly joined forces in Act 2’s “The Most Amazing Thing,” the chemistry was explosive.

His clear vocals made his performance one of the most memorable. Stigliano also brought a tremendous energy to the stage.

The audience smiled every time he appeared, and he presented a clearly developed character and motivation in every line he spoke and every gesture he made.

X“Little Women” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. today and Friday and next Saturday; and at 3 p.m. Sunday and Nov. 23, at Ford Theater in Bliss Hall (Wick Avenue) on the YSU campus. Call (330) 941-3105 for tickets.