After singing at the tree lighting, I went home, changed, and headed back to the Pearl for Portland Center Stage’s production of Little Women. The story begins at Christmas, so why not have this be an early winter production?
It was an interesting framing with Beasley playing the role of both Louisa May Alcott and Jo. Louisa would show up now and again to transition us between scenes and periods.
I don’t really like the Little Women story, but enough people do that it has been drilled into me. This production incorporated a lot of shrieking and yelling in the first part. This worked conceptually (the March girls would not be children that were counseled to be seen and not heard), but was a lot, sonically.
Things quieted down after the intermission, and I grimly awaited Jo’s capitulation to Friedrich, played by Kieran Cronin, who also played John, Mr. Laurence, and Mr. March.
Overall, a good, if loud, night at the theater.
