July’s heat can at times be a fits-and-starts summer scenario for theater lovers. In some ways, such dramatic droughts defy logic. What better way to sit out the possibility of a triple-digit forecast than in the cool sanctuary of a theater? That is, after all, the secret sauce in blockbuster summer movies.
This month a few fine Charleston performance halls have been alive with the sound of thespians, with two local companies currently up and running.
Little Women hits a high note
Those with a ken for a congenial, merry musical can do no better than Little Women: The Broadway Musical. Based on both of Louisa May Alcott’s novels written in the late 1860s, the production blithely marches through the trials and triumphs of the March sisters that is certain to recharge them.
With an adaptation by Allan Knee, music by Jason Howland and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein, its rollicking ride through a Concordesque town is prime fare for a Broadway show. In fact, it enjoyed a run there in 2005 and substantial tours thereafter.
There is a built-in audience of once and future Alcott-heads: Some like me had a childhood shaped by the book and the pin-curled, take-no-prisoners Jo March. New batches of potential fans might include my rising eighth-grade daughter, as the book has landed on her summer reading list.
Charleston Stage’s July production, which runs through July 26 at the Dock Street Theatre, launches the company’s 2026-27 season on the early side to accommodate other season picks. Directed by Marybeth Clark, it features musical direction by Michael Lopez and choreography by Laura Bland.
For the show, a simple set by Cody Tellis Rutledge arranges period furnishings in front of an arboreal backdrop, with the Marches mainly marching through a Civil War-era, New England home, as well as flights of fancy from writer Jo’s outsize imagination, all while bobbing and weaving through issues of class, wealth and gender and easy-on-the-ears tunes.
A warm, war-pining Marmee, grandly portrayed and sung by Rylee Coppel, holds down the fort, while Meg, played with warmth by Campbell Ella, beams maternal as well; Amy (the terrific Kailei Hinton) sets her sights on society and Beth, portrayed with grace by Kelsie Engen, smiles beatifically. All the while, the irrepressible Jo bucks the patriarchy with a swash-buckling pen in hand, and does so with heart, pluck and spark courtesy of Alexa Niles. There’s also moony Laurence, played with rosy-cheeked charm by Jackson Griffee, besotted with the whole March proposition, and comedic gold in Kathy Summer’s portrayal of the starchy Aunt March.
But this show is made or muffed primarily by the quality of its vocals, and they were in stellar form, particularly Coppel’s poignant golden tones in songs like “Here Alone” and Griffee’s crowd-thrilling star turn in “Take a Chance on Me.” You’d do well to dodge the heat and hum along at this charming evening of live theater.
And for the men
Over at Cannon Street Arts Center through Aug. 1, Pure Theatre has conjured an altogether different sort of theatrical experience. It’s one that, curiously enough, trains its chilling gaze on three men driven to unsavory deeds–each to please a woman.
Red Shirts is the world premiere of this superbly wrought Southern noir play by Pure co-founder Rodney Lee Rogers, based on his previously published anthology. For the company’s Summer Slam pre-season offering, director Sharon Graci wrangles three monologues spun one after the next in order of accelerating depravity.
Take Daniel, a mild-mannered stunt man featured in the first narration, “The Red Shirt.” He’s in serious lust with a Charleston divorcee, one who happens to be a Middleton at that. On a visit to her tricked-out, squeaky-clean home, Daniel finds himself indulging in impulses new to his benign nature. In the sure hands of ensemble member David Mandel, he is a relatable everyman on the brink of breaking bad.
In “The Wave,” we meet Christopher, a worse-for-the-wear Los Angeles musician played with committed grit by Scott Pattison. He’s already lived in the margins, further informed by the belief that the end is approaching on a not-too-distant, designated day. When he falls for a woman fresh off an abusive interlude with a producer, a prank to please her raises the stakes, and before long he’s contemplating craven retribution on her behalf.
And let’s not forget Leonard. Realized with deft menace by Robbie Thomas, the local thug at the center of “Old Tom” is no stranger to cruelty, and licks his chops at demonstrating this with his latest victim. But stranger things are in store for him in the witchy wilds of Johns Island, adding unsettling wrinkles to his hit plan and forcing him into a reckoning he hadn’t reckoned with.
All in all, this absorbing, skillfully disturbing work is transfixing, even when you can’t believe your ears.
The choice is yours, Charleston. Or, you could just double and help ensure Charleston’s theater scene remains a year-round proposition. That’s no drama.
IF YOU GO: Little Women: The Broadway Musical runs through July 26 at Dock Street Theatre, 135 Church St. More: charlestonstage.com. Red Shirts runs through Aug. 1 at Cannon Street Arts Center, 134 Cannon St. More: puretheatre.org
Help keep the City Paper free.
No paywalls.
No subscription cost.
Free delivery at 800 locations.
Help support independent journalism by donating today.
