Up In Lights Productions is proud to present the beloved and timeless story of the March sisters, in LITTLE WOMEN: The Musical. Louisa May Alcott's novel comes to life as it follows the adventures of Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy March as they grow up in Civil War America. Now, this wonderful narrative has been brought to life as an exhilarating new musical filled with glorious music, dancing and heart. LITTLE WOMEN embodies the complete theatrical experience, guaranteeing a night filled with laughter, tears, and a lifting of the spirit. This powerful score soars with the sounds of personal discovery, heartache and hope -- the sounds of a young America finding its voice. Kick in the holiday season with this heartwarming tale for the entire family.

The story opens in New York City, 1866. The Civil War is over and Jo March, played by Leslie Hoxworth, is an impassioned and ambitious girl who has recently arrived from Concord Massachusetts to work as a governess for Mrs. Kirk (Elizabeth Velasquez) and more importantly, to try to launch a career as a writer of blood-and-guts thrillers. To ease the blow of yet another rejection, the always dramatic Jo reads and re-enacts one of her stories to a boarder in the house, Professor Bhaer, played by Joey Revier. Taken aback by the violence he hears, the Professor comments on her uniqueness, however he believes she could do better. Furious at him, Jo responds singing “Better” and in the process, her memory of the past comes alive. The scene segues back to Concord just three years earlier, a few days before Christmas. We are in Jo's favorite place, her attic, where she has just completed her Christmas melodrama, which she and her sisters - the oldest and romantic Meg (Kalli VanderTop), the youngest and determined Amy (Stephanie Francis), and the angelic Beth (Leah Nikula) - intend to perform for the entire town. During the song, “Our Finest Dreams” Jo extracts from her sisters a promise that the four of them will remain together forever.

Following this excitement, Marmee (Paula Satchell) the girls' mother and backbone of the family, returns home and after reading them a letter from their father, who is serving as an Army chaplain, she tries to write a letter of her own to her husband, in “Here Alone.” The song is a powerful demonstration of the hard journey the March family has been on and the strength Marmee is struggling to maintain.  Aunt March, played by Angela Johnson, is an over-bearing matriarch, who continually expresses her strong opinions on the March girls.  And Jo, has found herself working for her Aunt who has promised to take Jo with her to Europe to further her much-needed education.  But only if Jo can change her un-lady-like ways.  The two discuss what it would take to achieve approval in the song “Could You.”

Jo, who has agreed to change, is presented with her first real opportunity to prove how lady-like she can be when she and Meg are invited to Annie Moffat's St. Valentine's Day Ball.  The event is one that Meg has looked forward to all year, however nerves get the best of her and she feels she is not up to it until Marmee, Jo and Beth reassure her confidence and teach her to dance during the song “Delighted.” At the ball, Jo and Meg meet Laurie (Hayden Stanes), the engaging boy-next-door, and his tutor, Mr. John Brooke (Steffan Scrogan). After Meg goes off dancing with Mr. Brooke, Laurie confesses his desire for a friendship with Jo.  Laurie begs Jo to accept him into their family, as he sings “Take A Chance On Me.”  Agreeing to give him a chance, Jo and Laurie’s beautiful friendship begins and the two return home from the ball.   

However, Laurie's gruff and hot tempered grandfather, Mr. Laurence (Brinn McNally), is fervently against any relationship between his grandson and the March family, but after hearing Beth sing and play the piano, he is so touched by her and the memories the song evokes that he joins Beth in the duet “Off to Massachusetts.” Upon his departure, Laurie races in carrying Amy, who has fallen through the ice in an ice-skating accident. Jo and Amy have not spoken to each other since Amy, in a fit of jealous rage, burned Jo's best story. Jo opens up her heart, forgives her, and together the four girls reaffirm, 'the March sisters forever!'  Inspired, Jo invites Laurie into the fold as the brother they never had.  The five explode with joy and excitement as they welcome Laurie through the song “Five Forever.”

When Marmee is called to Washington to attend to her ailing husband, Jo's world begins to unravel. She sells her hair to help finance Marmee's trip and thereby loses her own trip to Europe when Aunt March is outraged by her behavior. She loses Meg when her sister becomes engaged to the recently-enlisted John Brooke, and finally she loses Laurie when her confidante and best friend, seemingly out of nowhere, proposes marriage to her and she turns him down. Left alone she cries out for a different life anxious to be “Astonishing.”

Returning back to the present, Jo is found back in New York and overjoyed as she finally sells her first story: a rewritten version of 'An Operatic Tragedy' which she happily re-enacts for Professor Bhaer and Mrs. Kirk. The story comes to life behind her, as Clairissa (Kyra Finlinson) is captured by Braxton (Leo Battle) and the brave Rodrigo (Travis Fry) appears to save the day.  But when she receives news that her beloved Beth has contracted scarlet fever, she abruptly returns to Concord, leaving behind a bewildered Professor, who comes to see just how smitten with Jo he has become.

Jo, desperate to heal her ailing sister, takes her to Cape Cod where Beth gently tries to convince her of the truth and let her know that the hardest part is leaving her. The family mourns the devastating loss of Beth, but when a grown-up Amy returns, now played by Lynzee Smith-Newton, one senses life does, and must, go on. Laurie, who had gone to Europe to get over Jo, returns with Amy, and the two confess to Jo that they have fallen in love and will be married in the spring in “The Most Amazing Thing.” Unable to write, desperately missing Beth, regretting she had ever left Concord, Jo makes her way up to her long-unattended attic where Marmee finds her and passionately tells her that Beth's memory must be honored through her “Days of Plenty.” Jo gradually recalls earlier times that she and her sisters had in this very attic, which leads her to discover her true calling, writing the story of her own life with her sisters, 'Little Women'.

On the day of Amy and Laurie's wedding, Professor Bhaer arrives in Concord with the manuscript of the novel that Jo has sent him. After struggling with his feelings, he professes his love and proposes marriage while singing “Small Umbrella in the Rain.” And though Jo admits she will never be an obedient wife, this is a very good match. He then surprises her with the news that Henry Dashwood of The Weekly Volcano Press has agreed to publish her novel of Little Women.

LITTLE WOMEN, will be presented by Up In Lights Productions for the first time in Northern Colorado, at the Rialto Theater, 228 E. 4^th St., Loveland, CO 80537, on November 14, 15, 21, and 22 at 7:30pm and November 16 and 23 at 2:00pm.  Tickets are available at the Rialto Theater Box Office or by calling 970-962-2120 or online by visiting www.UILProductions.com.  Ticket Prices are $14 for Adults and $12 for Students and Senior Citizens.  Box Office Hours are 12:30 – 5:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. Saturday.  The Box Office is open 45 min. prior to all shows. 

Cast Members not yet mentioned are:  Tara Zumfelde as the Hag, Stevie Hedgespeth as the Troll, LaRee Battke as Rodrigo 2, Jacob Weber as the Knight, and Jacob Love.