Little Women
Closed 2h 0m
Little Women
73

Little Women NYC Reviews and Tickets

73%
(139 Ratings)
Positive
68%
Mixed
25%
Negative
7%
Members say
Great acting, Disappointing, Entertaining, Slow, Intelligent

About the Show

Primary Stages welcomes back Kate Hamill, playwright and star of their production of "Pride and Prejudice," with her fresh new take on Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel of love and duty, "Little Women."

Read more Show less

Show-Score Member Reviews (139)

Sort by:
  • Default
  • Standing in our community
  • Highest first
  • Lowest first
  • Newest first
  • Oldest first
  • Only positive
  • Only negative
  • Only mixed
300 Reviews | 64 Followers
93
Must see, Intelligent, Great writing, Great staging, Great acting

See it if you have a literary background or just love the classic novel

Don't see it if you are expecting conventional casting or are bored by Victorian literature

115 Reviews | 61 Followers
92
Smart, sane, perky and so well acted and smartly staged,, Interesting and compelling., I don't get the lack of love for this great show!

See it if Somewhat adapted for a new age, but not radically re-formatted, this needs to be enjoyed. Kate Hamill has done it well again!

Don't see it if You require an absolute, in the box retelling of the story. You're a dolt. Read more

232 Reviews | 20 Followers
90
Intelligent, Great staging, Great acting, Entertaining

See it if You like a classic done with a little modernization.

Don't see it if You like classics without any changes or like comedies

257 Reviews | 26 Followers
90
Engaging, Refreshing, Entertaining, Absorbing

See it if you enjoyed Little Women in any form and want to revisit; you like period plays;

Don't see it if you prefer musicals; you have no interest in seeing Louisa May Alcott's novel come to life

460 Reviews | 188 Followers
86
Intelligent re-envisioning of a classic, Humorous, Thoughtful, Entertaining, Clever

See it if a fan of Kate Hamill’s acting and work (that is, her tendency to take classic literature and give it a humorous yet intelligent spin).

Don't see it if you're expecting a precise version of Louisa May Alcott’s 1868-69 classic. Hamill’s work likes to twist (and shout in) the iconic moments. Read more

56 Reviews | 4 Followers
86
Great writing, Ambitious, Clever, Absorbing, Great acting

See it if you enjoy interesting family dramas with outstandingly portrayed and acted leads. See a dated piece of literature with an excellent rewrite.

Don't see it if you don't enjoy family dramas and literature that has been revised and refreshed to meet the needs of the 2019 theatre goer..

don
506 Reviews | 1005 Followers
85
Thought-provoking, Resonant, Entertaining, Clever

See it if Great to see a writer perform. Color blind casting works Nice revision. . Kristolyn Lloyd on her way to super-stardom.

Don't see it if You need "without alterations". You want to wait for the musical version next season. At our viewing the new performer was still on book.

812 Reviews | 132 Followers
83
Refreshing, Great staging, Heartwarming, Great acting, Delightful

See it if you enjoy a well acted and heartwarming play about four very individual young women growing up and interacting with each other.

Don't see it if you like a sophisticated drama or don't like old fashioned stories. Read more

Critic Reviews (16)

The New York Times
June 4th, 2019

“Lloyd makes a charming and entirely sympathetic Jo...There’s a peculiar lack of warmth to Lapine’s production as a whole...These Marches don’t feel much like a unit, and the first act, performed with too-manic energy, is hobbled by our not knowing most of them in any depth...The play is more frolicsome and complex on the page than in this production, which seems undecided whether to aim itself at school-age audiences, grown-ups or — ideally — both.”
Read more

Time Out New York
June 4th, 2019

"Reimagines Alcott's beloved 19th-century coming-of-age tale through a modern lens...During the play’s first fabulous act, director Sarna Lapine keeps the episodic tale moving swiftly and smoothly as the cast leans into the humor without sacrificing the heart. Act II, by comparison, seems rushed and disjointed—and, perhaps, a little too woke...Yet the talented women associated with this production, both on stage and off, sustain its magic for so long that it seems ungrateful to belittle them."
Read more

New York Magazine / Vulture
June 5th, 2019

“Hamill’s ‘Little Women’ is trying to make the old feel new...and, frustratingly, it’s trying both way too hard and not hard enough...Its characters reduced either to one-dimensional conveyors...or to mouthpieces for modern indignation...The constant hammering home of the play’s big — and relatively facile — ideas, along with the production’s winky, overplayed lightheartedness, puts the show in territory that veers dangerously close to children’s theater.”
Read more

Lighting & Sound America
June 12th, 2019

"If you're going to do 'Little Women,' you've got to come up with something fresh to say about it, something this production doesn't really do...The playwright's approach hammers the characters into two-dimensional figures...This is an aimless entertainment that dutifully makes its points without much force or warmth or any sense of fun."
Read more

Talkin' Broadway
June 6th, 2019

"A sublime example of how to make 19th century works relevant to modern audiences...A color-conscious cast highlights elements of the characters that have remained unseen in other adaptations...This Jo commands the stage with equal measures of fire and kindness, and seeing a black woman in the part can't help but remind us of how much our society expects from women of color."
Read more

New York Stage Review
June 4th, 2019

“Hamill’s now gone hog-wild-radical with Alcott’s ‘Little Women’...If you’re fond of that authorized version...you may have a difficult time with Hamill’s loosey-goosey alteration...Hamill gives it a contemporary spin for these LGBTA/LGBTQ days...Classics are classics because they so universal in myriad ways that they stay cogent no matter when they’re encountered. They hardly require upstart ideas on nudging them into renewed life."
Read more

New York Stage Review
June 4th, 2019

"Director Sarna Lapine’s austere approach to the visuals, which includes modest approximations of Victorian dress that the characters do not change as several years go by, becomes Hamill’s uncluttered retelling of the story. Lapine paces the actors at a fairly brisk clip...Hamill’s adaptation of 'Little Women'—for all of its contemporary attitudes and talk—is a relatively straightforward interpretation of the novel."
Read more

TheaterScene.net
June 18th, 2019

"Hamill's adaptation of the Alcott novel is entertaining and engrossing though the modern sensibility is likely to bother devotees of the novel. The amiable and energetic cast keeps the story moving swiftly along. However, there is little sense of period which might disturb some: is it likely Jo would wear men's clothing in 1861 New England, away from the Bohemian centers that someone like novelist George Sand frequented? And all the talk of 'gender roles' seems excessively 21st century."
Read more