Little Women

Act One

The show begins in 1865 at Mrs. Kirk’s Boarding House, where Jo March receives yet another rejection from a publisher for her short story. When Jo asks Professor Bhaer, a fellow boarder, his opinion (“An Operatic Tragedy”), he admits that he doesn’t care for the gore and blood in her story. Jo is angered by his reaction and dismisses him as old. She wonders how she could possibly improve her story and admits that her writing was better when she was home in Concord, Massachusetts (“Better”).

The story now returns to two years prior in Jo’s childhood home, where she currently lives with her sisters Meg, Beth, and Amy, and their mother Marmee. Jo announces that she wants to put on a show, which she has titled “Operatic Tragedy”. Though her sisters discourage her from doing so, she is adamant that her play will be a hit and will only improve their Christmas (“Our Finest Dreams”). Marmee enters holding a letter from their father. He is currently away as a Union Army chaplain in the