✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Theatre

Little Women the Musical, Park Theatre review ★★★★★

11 Nov 21 – 19 Dec 21, 7:30 PM – 10:10 PM

Director Bronagh Lagan presents a musical version of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women that's sweet, sentimental and soft-boiled

By Natasha Sutton Williams on 18/11/2021

1 CW reader is interested
Little Women the Musical, Park Theatre review. Photo: Tristram Kenton
Little Women the Musical, Park Theatre review. Photo: Tristram Kenton
Little Women the Musical, Park Theatre review 3 Little Women the Musical, Park Theatre review Holly CW
Little Women the Musical is almost exactly what you would expect when hearing the title. If you love the 1868 story by Louisa May Alcott then seeing the four March sisters live and breathe before your very eyes could be a joy. If you haven’t read the book, and you haven’t seen the film adaptations (both the recent 2019 version with Saoirse Ronan and Timothée Chalamet, or the 1994 version starring Winona Ryder) you might wonder why this intimate story has been adapted as a piece of musical theatre.


Of course, you can have musical theatre that is quiet, warm, with low stakes, but is undeniably charming. However, that well-known phrase in musical theatre, ‘If you can’t say it, you sing it. If you can’t sing it, you dance it’ rarely applies to this production. There is no doubt that protagonist Jo (played by Lydia White) is bursting with ideas and dreams of becoming a famous writer and travelling the world, no mean feat for a woman in 1868, but at multiple points in the musical the songs come as a ponderous afterthought, tagged onto the dramatic action that has already been acted out.


And so to the story. If you don’t know it intimately, you probably know it vaguely through cultural osmosis. The four impoverished March sisters live with their mother – lovingly nicknamed Marmee – in Massachusetts as their father serves as chaplain for the Union Army in the American Civil War. We watch the young sisters change and grow, each with distinct personalities that at times chafe against one another, but ultimately their unbreakable sisterly bond means that love abounds. Protagonist Jo wants more from life than to become a lady in fine society, and with a rebellious fire in her belly rages against anyone who disagrees with her. It gets her far in a patriarchal system that doesn’t want to budge.



Lydia White (Jo), Savannah Stevenson (Marmee), Hana Ichijo (Meg) , Anastasia Martin (Beth) and Mary Moore (Amy) in Little Women the Musical. Photo: Pamela Raith


The musical cast are capable; they all consistently project energy on the stage, but there is something lacklustre about the whole production directed by Bronagh Lagan. Ultimately this comes down to the music. It’s a soundscape where one song merges with another, there are almost no dynamic shifts, so the first song sounds like the 12th song, which sounds like the 24th song. Yes, there are 24 songs. It’s two hours and forty minutes long.


The all-female string quartet offer real verve, and it’s great to see the production has made real efforts to employ female creatives for a female-driven narrative. But the whole production feels flat. The script needs cutting, and every song needs to drive the action forward, not just a few of them. The problems lie at the heart of the pre-production process, when the creative team were constructing the book (Allan Knee), music (Jason Howland) and lyrics (Mindi Dickstein) to plot the highs and lows of the narrative.


All this being said, if you adore the story of Little Women, and are desperate for a palate cleanser from all the ills of the world, this might just be the sorbet you need.



What Little Women the Musical, Park Theatre review
Where Park Theatre, Clifton Terrace, London, N4 3JP | MAP
Nearest tube Finsbury Park (underground)
When 11 Nov 21 – 19 Dec 21, 7:30 PM – 10:10 PM
Price £19.50+
Website Click here for more information and to book



Most popular

Things to do in London this weekend: 3–5 February
Things to do in London this weekend: 3–5 February
London exhibitions on now — Peter Doig, Courtauld Gallery
Top 15 exhibitions on now in London
Zadie Smith new novel, The Fraud, to be released in 2023, photo Justin Holler
An A to Z of trends for 2023

Editor's Picks

The Book of Dust, Bridge Theatre
The Book of Dust - La Belle Sauvage, Bridge Theatre
Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club. Eddie Redmayne 'The Emcee' and Jessie Buckley 'Sally Bowles'. Photo: Marc Brenner
Cabaret, The Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre review
Moulin Rouge! The Musical. London company. Photo: Matt Crockett
Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Piccadilly Theatre review
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
1

theatre

musical

off west end

You might like

  • The Wife of Willesden, Kiln Theatre review. Photo: Marc Brenner

    Zadie Smith's The Wife of Willesden returns to the Kiln Theatre

  • The Book of Dust, Bridge Theatre

    The Book of Dust - La Belle Sauvage, Bridge Theatre ★★★★★

  • Moulin Rouge! The Musical. London company. Photo: Matt Crockett

    Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Piccadilly Theatre review ★★★★★

  • Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club. Eddie Redmayne 'The Emcee' and Jessie Buckley 'Sally Bowles'. Photo: Marc Brenner

    Cabaret, The Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre review ★★★★★

  • Rare Earth Mettle. Photo: Helen Murray

    Rare Earth Mettle, Royal Court Theatre review ★★★★★

  • The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Duke of York's Theatre. Nia Towle (Lettie) and James Bamford (the Boy). Photo: Manuel Harlan

    The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Duke of York's Theatre ★★★★★



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×