‘Little Women’ shines in age of female empowerment
Between March 30 and April 7, Mesa Community College (MCC) Theatre & Arts performed their production of “Little Women.” To those who might not know, “Little Women” is a musical based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott about Jo March, an aspiring novelist, and the small town she is apart of, including her three sister, mother, grandmother and the various men she meets throughout those years. The four teenaged girls go through childhood to adulthood, from innocence to marriage, from life to death in this one of a kind production. To say the production is phenomenal would be giving it a poor review. Everything from the performance the actors give to the pit ringing out soundtrack worthy music below makes the MCC Music and Theatre & Arts a force to be reckoned with.
The hair and make-up design cast an impression of reality and the costume design evoked the style from that era. Below the stage, the band in the pit conducted music so efficiently and beautiful that at some points it seemed like a recording of a band rather than an actual one that can’t be seen by any of the audience. Each performer, both male, and female, brought everything they had onto the stage below the shining light and in front of people who they knew and didn’t. Even the performers who didn’t speak brough the illusion of a time long, long ago.
Aside from the “astonishing” performances given, the real stars of the show were all of the women who were able to connect the stories in the production to the stories of many women in this generation. Women like Beth March, who want to spend their days playing beautiful melodies. Women like Aunt March, who know what they must do to be a strong woman. Women like Meg and Amy March, who will follow their heart even in the face of adversary. Women like Marmie, who know what’s best for their families and cares about them before they care about themselves. Women like Jo March, who won’t let social standards or fear keep them from fulfilling their dreams, no matter how big. Xelha Casterjon, Katherine Baier, Danie Grief, Lauren Scoville, Mary Cox and Brenda Leonhardt presented themselves in such a powerful way that they are no longer little women, they are giants among men.
