By Stefene Russell
“Jo,” says Maureen McGovern emphatically when asked to name her favorite March sister from Little Women. “Didn’t we all want to be Jo?” Definitely—but McGovern is having a brilliant run as Marmee in Little Women: The Broadway Musical. Critics describe her portrayal as “glowing,” “warm,” “wise” and “shimmering.”
When the show went on tour, the thought of working with a whole new cast was overwhelming. “But we bonded as a family instantly,” McGovern says, “which is really important when you’re performing in 32 cities and touring the whole year”—not to mention playing at being a real family onstage each night.
The show is unusual by modern musical-theater standards, employing no special effects, no gimmicks. Bookwriter Allen Knee recognized that Louisa May Alcott’s powerful characters (there’s a reason her book has been in print since 1868) would hold their own against fog machines and laser shows. “There’s a need in all of us for great stories,” McGovern says.
Her favorite song in the show is “Days of Plenty,” a solo in which Marmee tells Jo that the best way to honor the memory of her sister Beth is to follow her dreams and get on with her life. The sentiment echoes McGovern’s biggest hit, “The Morning After,” which she says she is still proud of: “To this day, I get letters from people who tell me the song helped them through a death in the family, a divorce, depression.
“There have been some great shows, like Spamalot and Hairspray,” McGovern says, “but they just wash over you; they don’t require much. We extend our hand and say, ‘We have a story to tell, and it’s going to require every emotion imaginable.’”
Little Women: The Musical opens at the Fox Theatre on February 21 and runs through March 5. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 314-534-1678 or visit www.fabulousfox.com.
