A Piecemeal ‘Little Women’

Amanda Karr’s adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel is painfully dreary. “Little Women, Part I” at the Knightsbridge Theatre suffers terribly in comparison with the recent film adaptation that, at times, it eerily recalls.

According to the director’s notes, Alcott originally published “Little Women” in two parts. Karr has taken the story from the Christmas when the father (Dan Coplan) is away at war to the engagement of Meg (Caitlin McKenna) and John (Steve Johansen).

The 19 scenes are strung together so episodically that the action doesn’t really have a sense of continuity. As director, Karr allows the long and sometimes physically noisy scene changes to amplify this problem.

The play opens with the sisters joining hands and then walking in a circle in a symbolic and totally out-of-place gesture. Some scenes cling too long to Kodak-moment family poses before going to the next, making the production a bit too self-conscious.

Like Winona Ryder in the movie, Alcott’s alter ego Jo (JulieAnna Laffer) is much too pretty. They are hardly girls whose only beauty is their hair. In this production, there is also a hair continuity problem--when Jo sells her mass of tight blond curls, her hair suddenly becomes a straight, pixie-styled wig. Curly hair usually becomes curlier, not straighter, when shorter.

Far worse, Laffer’s version of tomboyish behavior is more contemporary lout than 1860s mannish. None of the male characters match her noisy clomping around or her loose-limbed, gawky mannerisms.

As the saintly Beth, Chloe Knox bears an uncanny resemblance to Claire Danes, who played the part in the movie. Knox may be a bit too sweet, but thankfully avoids being too cloyingly cutesy.

The acting is not uniformly good and, at times, is abysmally amateurish.

The women’s costumes seem mismatched. Most obviously misjudged is the odd ensemble worn by the unpleasant and gruff Aunt March (Nancy Solomons).

This production drags so grievously that reading the book seems faster.

BE THERE

“Little Women, Part I,” Knightsbridge Theatre, Braley Building, 35 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena. Fridays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Jan. 25. $15. (626) 440-0821. Running time: 2 hours, 50 minutes.