LITTLE WOMEN,
GRAND AMBITIONS

Literature, ballet, and Los Angeles history
come together in an enchanting visit
to the world of the March sisters

The company of Little Women Ballet whirls through a lively period dance, with Laurie and Amy near the center

With the publication of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) established a new literary genre, the autobiographical novel, and set a standard for feminine creations in literature, one where they were no longer mere subordinate appendages to a dominant masculine narrative, defined solely within the context of the male protagonist, but where they stood in their own distinct characterizations, possessed and motivated by clear aspirations and ambitions.

The core of Alcott’s work follows the lives of the four young March sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, with the author turning to herself and her three sisters for inspiration.

Meg March and John Brooke (photo by Marcus Ubungen / LA Times)

The title, Little Women, is not intended as dismissive, but as evocative of potential and strength, such as the “Little Oak” for a sapling that will one day tower above the woodland. For what seems to be a mere coming-of-age story, in fact, chronicles the thorny passage each “little” woman must undertake to overcome formidable flaws within themselves and their society, a journey that concludes with the cultivation of their own independence and individuality.

The youngest March sisters share an intimate parlor vignette just feet from the audience

Little Women has had no limits of adaptations.

Seven versions have illuminated the silver screen, from a silent film in 1917 to the vaunted production in 2019 featuring Emma Watson and Meryl Streep, which gathered six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.

Now Alcott’s tale has a new manifestation at the Heritage Square Museum in Los Angeles’s Montecito Heights: Little Women Ballet’s Autumn Immersive Experience.

Jo lifts into a soaring arabesque supported by Beth in a tender sister duet

The eight historic buildings relocated here between 1969 and 2005 stand as the few, the very few, examples of L.A.’s grand architectural past to survive the city government’s reprehensible and still ongoing “demolition derangement” and stand in for 19th-century Concord, Massachusetts, the setting of Alcott’s novel.

Founder and artistic director of Little Women Ballet, Emma Andres, and her talented troupe of dancers have devised a near-perfect blending of literature, theatre, dance, and history that makes for one of the more delightful experiences an audience could wish for.

Amy and Laurie dance a flowing duet beside the piano in a candlelit parlor

Divided into small groups, with period-clad characters from the novel acting as guides and narrators, the audience is shepherded through the houses of the Square: the Parry House, a stunning example of Victorian Greek Revival Italianate style built in 1876; the Victorian Queen Anne Eastlake Hale House dating back to 1887; and the 1893 eight-sided Octagon House, one of only 500 still in existence. Inside each historical dwelling, Andres has a choreographed “chapter” awaiting that allows an intimacy with the dancers one seldom has the opportunity to enjoy.

The dancers were all of a level, and while Ludmila Malakhov, Sophia Moritz, Claire Simmons, Jacob Robleto, and Christopher Fores caught my attention, it was the exquisite gracefulness of Anna Lee Rohovec and Audrey Ye, the company’s pint-size prima ballerina in training, who held it the longest.

Guests and cast dance together in the stained-glass hall for Victorian social dance that closes the immersive

The evening ends as the novel does, with the family united in the appropriate venue of the Lincoln Avenue Methodist Church, a large structure combining Queen Anne and Carpenter Gothic styles, built in 1897.

There, with apple cider and assorted tasty treats, the company and resident Victorian dance specialist Lynnanne Hanson Miller, invite the audience to join in and celebrate the evening’s entertainment.

And believe me, worth the celebration it was.

Jo March and Professor Bhaer share the story’s iconic umbrella scene

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unless noted, photos by Edie Tyebkhan & Melissa O’Gara

Little Women Ballet: Autumn Immersive Experience
Little Women Ballet
Heritage Square Museum, 3800 Homer St. in Los Angeles
played October 2–4, 2026
for information, visit Little Women Ballet

for more shows, visit Theatre in LA

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