HEBER CITY — In the musical adaptation of Little Women, the story is driven by Jo March’s relentless—and sometimes overly optimistic—ambition. We see this many times, but the most poignant is in the Act I finale, “Astonishing,” where Jo refuses to settle for the expected: No convenient marriage to a wealthy man, no shrinking of her dreams to fit the mold. And at the Timpanogos Valley Theater (TVT), Meagan Grass approaches this song—and all of her other numbers—with verve and immense vocal skill.
Jo’s ambition parallels the community theater where I saw this production: Reaching beyond expectations, striving for something bigger than its scale might suggest. The results are mixed: Some moments shine, thanks in large part to some excellent character acting in key roles and stunning vocal skill across the board. Other moments falter, often due to underperformed characters and a flimsy script.
That script is not to blame on the TVT, of course. It comes with the package that is Little Women: The Broadway musical—with music by Jason Howland, lyrics by Mindi Dickstein, and book by Allan Knee—which premiered in 2005. It has become a mainstay for regional and university theaters and, though I don’t feel the adaptation does the source material justice, it is a favorite of many theater-goers. The TVT production was directed by Kristen Hughes and featured double-casting; an “Orchard” and a “Concord” cast. I attended the TVT staging in Heber City on Friday, May 2nd, reviewing the “Orchard” cast.
Vocals Impress, Key Performances Shine
Allow me to give the glowing review first: If we viewed this production solely as an opportunity to showcase local vocalists, it would be an overwhelming success. The cast punches well above their weight class in that regard. In the Orchard cast, stand-out performances included Jo (Megan Grass, noted earlier), who had consistently energetic, top-class vocal performance; Laurie (Jefferson Murdock), whose clean vocal tone in a fairly diverse role helped anchor many of the key moments he participated in; and Professor Bhaer (Nathan Moulton), who brought gravitas and contemplative depth to his character through a strong vocal performance that also let his choices for the character shine through.
Though I am happy to single out those three, I was not put out by a single vocal performance in the show’s 23 songs—and the main deterrent to including every impressive vocalist is that it would make my list of stand-outs nearly as long as the cast list itself.
Outside of vocals, several key actors shined. Kylee Murdock’s take on Amy March offered spot-on comedic timing, magnetic charm, and strong physicality in her performance—pouty and childish when playing young Amy but demure and elegant when playing the older version—which allowed Murdock to energize the scene whenever she was on stage. Adriana Hammon’s Meg March was also able to draw in the audience thanks to strong line delivery; Hammon successfully imposed a dynamic emotional range on her character. Moulton’s Bhaer (noted for his strong vocal performance earlier) grounded us in Act II; his willingness to lean into stillness and hesitation gave his character, and the show at large, some much needed heft.
Design
On the production side, the set design is minimalist but clever. By swapping out a few pieces of key, recognizable furniture, the set cleanly establishes new locations without creating an excess of dead time between scenes. This is especially important given how quickly the script skips us between locations and across time. So compliments go to the set’s creator (Gary Harter), the stage hands, and stage manager Jenn Iverson for keeping us grounded amidst these rapid changes.
A Few Stumbles
Meagan Grass’s Jo shoulders the heaviest load in the production—and every compliment I’ve lobbed her way has been fully authentic. However, despite that energetic performance, Jo came off as excessively one-noted in emotional range. In Act I, I believed in Jo’s ambition and youthful vigor. But as we moved into the end of Act I and the key moments of Act II, I had a harder time buying into her hurt and loss. The moments where I best believed Jo’s pain were the moments where Grass chose to set aside the big acting and physicality and to lean into a moment of silence; one painful pause in the song “Astonishing” stands out as especially poignant on that front, showing an emotional depth I wish I’d seen more of throughout the performance.
A number of performers failed to elevate their role as written. Exemplifying this, Beth is an emotional lynch-pin for the story but was played in a fairly flat tone, so gentle and softspoken that we barely remember she’s on stage. Had the script provided better material, this would have been less of an issue; sadly, as the script treats Beth as a functional non-entity, this performance turns Beth’s eventual fate into more of a shrug than a tear-jerker.
On the technical side, TVT broadly made good use of what they had but hit some audio issues on the night I attended. Most significantly, mic issues—likely equipment related—notably undercut at least three major songs.
Concluding Thoughts
There are many ways in which TVT exceeds all reasonable expectations: The show featured astonishingly good vocals, a hefty helping of strong character actors, and some clever production work. But in other ways, the show struggled—weighed down by its script and with several performances stuck in one mode, lacking the dynamism needed to bring their characters to life. Though this production may not have fully realized its Jo-esque ambitions, it was far from a failure. The high energy of the cast and the impressive amount of local talent on offer still left a positive overall impression—and I know I will be keeping my eyes on the Timpanogos Valley Theater’s future productions.
