The Loyola Academy thespians performed the musical Little Women from Thursday, March 8 to Sunday, March 11. The show was double cast, so depending on the day that you saw the show, you saw a different cast. The Thursday/Saturday cast featured Catherine O’Connor as Jo March, Paige Finley as Amy, Clare McCabe as Meg, Claire Russell as Beth, and Tessa Volpe as Marmee. The Friday/Sunday cast consisted of Emma Samuelson as Jo, Alexia Housakos as Amy, Nonie Sharp as Meg, Lauren McPartland as Beth, and Elena Kittle-Kamp as Marmee.

The men of the show and the ensemble were not double cast and starred Kameron Schueneman as Laurie, James Cullinane as Professor Bhaer, Jack Serio as Mr. John Brooke, and Griffin Snow as Mr. Laurence.

From the acting to the lighting, all of the elements of the musical were beautifully executed, and it all came together beautifully from all the performances.

Senior Owen Baker, who worked to make the sets and then was on the lighting crew, had this to say about being involved in Little Women as his final show, “Working on the set for Little Women was fun because we got to mess around with two forced perspective tools: the raked stage and 3D appearance frame. This meant some math had to happen but the result came out so well, it was really worth it.”

The set was very unique this year, due to the fact that it had to have the illusion of having the second story of a house, but it could not be built to a have an actual floor because the actresses would not be able to walk up a set of stairs in their period-appropriate hoop skirts. This forced the construction crew to come up with a new and inventive way to portray a house with limited set space.

Another limitation that faced the show this year was the large pit orchestra. Compared to last year’s musical, the pit was much larger and had a lot more members, but they all had to fit into the same space. There were 18 members of the pit this year, compared to 8 previously. This proved a challenge to the organization of all the musicians, but they were still able to perform beautifully and showcase their talents.

Senior Max Calk, who plays the trombone, remembers his favorite part about being a part of the musical as, “definitely playing ‘Astonishing’ with the entire pit to close out the first act. It’s such an important piece to the show, and Emma and Catherine did such a good job with the vocals, it was so powerful and awesome to be a part of. It made us all feel really accomplished and proud to be involved with the show.” T

he main characters in the show had to work very hard in order to prepare for their roles. Because the ensemble was not a large part of the show, the main characters were doing almost all of the singing, meaning they were putting a lot of vocal stress on themselves. The entire cast was told to make sure they were not pushing themselves too hard and possibly damaging their vocal cords.

Actors had another added challenge in the costumes, because the show is set in the 1860s and women wore large shirts with hoops and petticoats, the actors had to learn how to move around and even sit without seeming unladylike for the time period.

With all of the moving parts in the musical, seeing it all come together and producing a final show after all of their months of hard work, all of the people involved with the show should be very proud of themselves. Great job thespians!