By Chris Tolliver, Contributor
On March 6, 7 and 8, Canisius University’s Little Theater performed the musical “Little Women.” I went to see this show twice, once on opening night and the final show on Saturday.
To start, I thought the costumes were perfect. I loved the dresses that the actresses wore, especially the light blue dress that Aunt March wore. The suits that some of the characters wore, too, were spot on. In addition, I thought the singing was outstanding. The one thing is that the mics seemed to be very quiet during songs, and sometimes the orchestra seemed to overpower the singing, but when I could hear them singing, they sang beautifully.
One of the scenes that stood out to me both nights I saw the show was the scene in the second act where Jo was back in the attic after Beth had died. I felt like I could relate a little bit as I have lost a sister myself, so the scene stuck with me, but it clearly resonated with the entire audience too, as the tear-jerking second act progresses. I could kind of feel that grief myself, especially when she was revisiting memories from the past when Beth was still alive. One of my favorite scenes would have to be when Jo was finally able to publish one of her stories. I loved how even after trying so many times and having her stories repeatedly sent back by publishers, she never gave up and her dream finally came true.
In general, I thought this was the perfect musical to put on during March since this month is Women’s History Month. I felt like the performance dates were perfect since March 8 was International Women’s Day, and there were two performances that day. It’s an amazing show about female empowerment and how women should never give up, even if people are trying to bring them down. It was a beautiful example of the passion that women have, especially with Jo and her stories, and how no matter how many times publishers rejected those stories she kept sending them in. It was a wonderful display of women sticking together through everything. I really enjoyed seeing this show and look forward to Little Theater’s “Murder on the Orient Express” coming next.