'Little Women' musical premieres in London after three-decade wait

Decades after three Californian youth theatre students decided to write a musical based on Louisa May Alcott's coming-of-age classic 'Little Women', they have achieved a sell-out world premiere at London's Theatre Royal.

"Jo – The Little Women Musical" began when Redfeld saw and loved the 1994 film of 'Little Women', starring Winona Ryder as the young heroine Jo March and Susan Sarandon as her mother Marmee.

"We were the age of the kids when we wrote it," said composer Dan Redfeld, speaking before the concert performance this week. "Now we're coming back to it at the age of the adults," he added. "As you do in youth theatre," Redfeld said, he thought: "Let's write a musical."

The 9/11 attacks in 2000 led funding to disappear. After that, Covid slowed their attempt to revive it, but gave them time to revise. The show at last has funders and big stars. Following one-night premiere, the team is working to arrange more performances, but said they could not yet disclose details.

A selling point is the show's lush sound provided by a nearly 30-strong orchestra that harks back to the West End musicals of the late eighties and nineties that were the creators' influences when they began writing "Jo".

Kerry Ellis, who sings Marmee, and has previously starred in dozens of major musicals, said such "luscious orchestras" have become rare. "This is very special because of that," she said.

The West End premiere was preceded by an album, released last year, and recordings at London's Abbey Road Studios, where 'The Beatles' and so many others have gone before.