GHHS Little Women Fall Play Guide For All
This is the Design on the posters and yard signs advertising the Play (Image: Lorelei Campbell and Atlas Iisaka).
The Grandview Heights High School fall play on November 3, 4, and 5 is Little Women. The play will be happening in the John Glenn Commons (the old middle school cafeteria). This is a recap of what the upcoming play is about and how things have changed ever since Covid started.
Ever since 2020 we have not had a normal play or musical. We had online viewing for a few years, then limited viewing. At first we had online performances of Charlie Brown the Musical, and Clue the Play, both of those were done in the old auditorium. Next we had Almost Maine in the John Glenn Commons, and then Putnam Spelling Bee in the new middle school gym. Throughout all that we also had to work in moving schools and not having an auditorium. We had to go through all of the costumes and props and put them into storage.
Things are getting a little more back to normal, whilst we are performing Kate Hamills interpretation of the novel (Little Women) by Louisa May Alcott. These are her Director's notes;
In the March household, in this play, there is not much room for expressing grief openly and fully--perhaps because in times like these, you might fear that if you let it out, it will never stop coming. Often when we cannot express sadness, we turn to anger/aggression.
The trap in this play--and all plays have traps--is to try to recreate the novel, or some idea of the novel, or some idea of the archetypes found in the novel. This adaptation is a retelling, and in some ways a conscious explosion of those archetypes. It is not polite. None of the characters are good or bad. They are not always likable--and that's particularly important for young women, the freedom to not be "likable" at all times--but they are human. They are imperfect people, and it is not a perfect family.
This is from one of the first dress rehearsals, at the John Glenn Commons (Photo: Giavanna Cantelmo).
The story follows the lives of the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—and details their passage from childhood to womanhood. Loosely based on the lives of the author and her three sisters, it is classified as an autobiographical or semi-autobiographical novel. The play talks about a variety of important topics, including sexism, homophobia, family duties, and poverty.
The movie from 2019 and the play are pretty similar. Although during the movie you find yourself liking some of the characters. At the beginning of the play the author said that none of the characters would be likable, all of the characters have faults. I found the opposite to be true. Hopefully you can watch both of them yourself and find the difference.
The History of Little Women
The first film came out in 1918, and then another adaptation came out in 1933. Soon after in 1949 another adaptation came out. Then around 50 years another version came out starring Winona Ryder, Kirsten Dunst, and Christian Bale. Most recently in 2019 another came out. It starred Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Meryl Streep, and Saoirse Ronan. There have been over 12 adaptations of little women into TV shows, one starring Maya Thurman Hawke. There have also been several adaptations into operas, and musicals, one even had Sutton Foster star in it.
This photo is from a rehearsal in the choir room (Photo: Viessa Cantelmo).
Hopefully everyone can try to support our music boosters, with this show and the shows in the future. All of the future performances can be found on the Grandview Heights High School website.