How Randall L. Wreghitt, lead producer of the show, and his armada of associates (Dani Davis, Ken Gentry, Chase Mishkin, Worldwide Entertainment, Ruben Brache, Lisa Vioni, Jana Robbins, Addiss Duke Associates, John and Danita Thomas, Thomas Keegan, Scott Freiman and Theatre Previews at Duke) arranged it, I'll never know—I never ask, I just enjoy—but the gorgeously glistening, constantly twinkling post-play setting seemed magically in sync with the bulk of the show's first act, which takes place in the winter of discontent for four Concord damsels and their mother, who keep the homefires burning after the man of the house has marched off to the Civil War.

Thanks to a formal-attire edict from the moneybags above, this was easily the best-looking Broadway assemblage of '05, if not the best-looking since the tuxedo-mandatory Tony to-do last June. Against all that seasonal garnishing and the traditional firefly lighting, everybody in attendance was beautiful. Even the orchestra—a jazz trio—was beautiful.

It has to be said, however, that Sutton Foster was much the queen bee of the evening, arriving in a stunning Armani ("I can actually say a designer and be okay about it," she giggled), riding the waves of praise she was getting from all sides for her multi-layered bravura work as Jo March, the spunky second-born, a wanna-be writer and stand-in for Louisa May Alcott, who lightly fictionalized her own girlhood in her classic novel.

Allan Knee, who wrote the book-heavy adaptation around 18 songs by composer Jason Howland and lyricist Mindi Dickstein, admitted his job was made much easier when Foster entered the project. "Once she came into the show," he said, "you could begin to write somewhat modified, because you know your talent and she can handle anything."

Foster herself was appreciative of the part. "It's an amazing journey every night," she said. "I'm playing a character who grows into a woman. How often do you get a role like that? I feel just so blessed and lucky. It's the role of a lifetime, and I brought a lot of who I am to this part. I guess it's inevitable when you're part of creating something like this. I completely identify with Jo—absolutely!—more than any other character I've ever played."

She did a little big-screen research into previous Jo Marches—Katharine Hepburn in 1933, June Allyson in 1949 and Winona Ryder in 1994. Her favorite—surprise, surprise!—was Allyson. "I really respected all three performances, but there was something about her movie in particular where I really saw a musical in it, something about it I really loved."

Foster is already building a fan base with her work. Tennis champ Alexandra Stevenson, whom producer Marty Bell, a friend (you'd think manager), identified as "a Wimbleton semi-finalist who wants to be in musical theatre when she grows up," had the typical response: "Sutton captured the character perfectly. I liked how she was so theatrical and comical and dramatic—all in one. I think I'd like to do something like that."

Maureen McGovern, the Titian-haired cabaret star, is marvelously at home as the matriarch of the brood, Marmee, a consistently comforting presence throughout. "I love her strength, her humor, her compassion—all those wonderful things," she admitted. "You see bits and pieces of Marmee in the girls, too. I think it's a strong cast, and we all work off each other so easily and so well." Amy McAlexander as Amy, Jenny Powers as Meg and Megan McGinnis as Beth complete the sisterhood—and half the cast. "There are only ten actors, but everybody gets their strong moments," said McGovern. "It's a beautiful way to tell a story." Director Schulman has shrewdly and slyly double-cast what she's got, giving the illusion of a thick cast. (McGovern even chips in a cameo of "The Hag.")

This is McGovern's first time back on Broadway since the 1989 Threepenny Opera revival headlining Sting—but not that you may have noticed. "I ruptured a blood vessel on my right vocal chord a week before we opened, missed 21 shows and got back in for the last ten days before it closed. It was Georgia Brown's last show, it was [director] John Dexter's last. I missed that opening night altogether. That's why this is so meaningful."

In Little Women, Laurie happens to be the boy next door, sweating with swain potential for Jo till the first kiss and first act, eventually setting his sights in the second act on Amy.

"It's interesting," said director Schulman, "that a woman, at that period in time, feels betrayed when someone asks her to marry. I think it's because she felt she had shared her innermost feelings with him and he didn't get it. Being a man of his time, he still didn't understand what she was saying—and she didn't understand she could possibly have both things because they were opposite to each other. If you were a career person and got married, you had no career. She could never see the two things coming together. We always knew we'd stop the first act when she made a decision to leave home. It was the most emotional moment up until then because she never thought it would ever happen."

The likable Laurie in question, Danny Gurwin, said the part was pretty much in place last summer when the show tried out in Durham, NC. "It started out well and hasn't changed much. I've actually been lucky in terms of changes, and I think the character has actually grown a bit. It's so wonderfully written I'm honored to be a part of this project."

John Hickok, who succeeds Gurwin in the affections of Jo as the bashful Professor Bhaer, was breathing the sign of relief of one who has reached his Broadway beachhead. "We had a blast tonight," he confessed. "We were actually playing a lot on stage with each other tonight. There was a lot of fun new stuff, and everybody was just enjoying what they were doing. The audience was so responsive. It was like floating on a cloud."

(Hickok has one of two Rossano Brazzi roles being musicalized on Broadway this season. Brazzi quietly courted Allyson in the 1949 remake (his first Hollywood effort). The other role is the father of the groom whom Mark Harelik will play in Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas's The Light in the Piazza, which will bow April 18 at the Vivian Beaumont.)

Janet Carroll, who plays the sisters' vinegary, poker-hard Aunt March, permits a little Edna May Oliver to creep into her characterization. (Oliver set the standard for this part back in '33 and, indeed, parlayed that starchy persona into a lucrative screen career.)

"Actually, I drew on my grandmother, my mother and the great teachers I've had. In this role, I'm representing everything that went before me, and I'm hopefully honoring Louisa May Alcott's dream. They said, 'We want you to be a vital force of life, the backbone of the family, a true Concord, MA figurehead.' That was the goal I was going for, anyway."

The chanteuse among the producers, Jana Robbins, looks as if she could step in at a moment's notice for McGovern. "That was the advantage I had as a producer. I was also an actress. For all my backers' auditions, that's what I did: I sang all of Maureen's songs. And that's how I raised a lot of money for the show. But I'm not attached to this show in any way as an actress. Maureen had the flu for seven performances, and several people called me and said, 'So, Jana, are you going on?' I said, 'I'm not the understudy.'

"As an actress right now, I have a Mercedes commercial running, and I'm still doing my cabaret shows, Gypsy in My Soul, and my Cy Coleman show, Hell of a Ride. But I don't know as an actress what my next theatre job is. I'm just happy to be producing." Continued...