Rolling world premiere
Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women
Sound Design Concept
Referencing many quote from the original book, the script was written in a somewhat narrative, descriptive language. For example, the actor often self-narrate the scene “Jo thought Laurie to be such a strange boy.” Because of the established language, the sound design then naturally grew towards a more motif-driven, almost “Peter and the Wolf” approach, allowing the sounds to have a well-defined musical presence that represent the characters individually.
Musically, I was interested in the idea that each character has a specific instrument representing their personalities, which also allows me to heighten character dynamic development through dynamic musical relationships (harmony, dissonance, counterpoint, etc). For example. the beginning and the end of show both began with Jo’s solo viola, then the sisters joined in one by one, allowing us to transition from Jo’s individual journey into the warmth and strength of the March sisterhood. Overall, a blend of classical compositions that depicts the sense of strength, warmth, and light-hearted spirit.
System wise, I aimed for a balance of frontal image, surrounds, onstage depth fills, and specials. With the narrative and intimate nature of the show, the more prominent spacial audio movements mostly take place during transitions that has a larger leap across physical location and time. For example, Jo’s move from her home to NYC consists of layers of cityscape and movements (trains, horses, children laughing and running, crowd noises) across the speakers.
Production Team
Produced by City Theater, co-commissioned by People’s Light, Northlight Theatre, and Portland Center Stage
Playwright: Lauren Gunderson
Director: Kaja Dunn
Dramaturg: Kristi Good
Scenic Design: Anne Mundell
Costume Design: Hugh Hanson
Lighting Design: Latrice Negron
Sound Design & Original Music: Pan-Pan Gou
Stage Manager: Taylor Meszaros
Production Manager: Rachel D’Amboise
Artistic Director: Clare Drobot
Cast: Annalisa D’Aguilar, Zanny Laird, Alex Manalo, Nanct Mcnulty, Nell Murphy, Brenden Peifer, Juan Rivera Lebron, Evan Vines
Behind the Scene
Some of the piano, viola and vocal scores
The character-specific instrumentation consists of Jo as viola, Meg as harp, Beth as piano, Amy as flute, Laurie as clarinet, and Professor Baer as Cello. I aimed to highlight each character’s personality with the characteristic of the instrument and the relationship between.
For example, the introduction of the March Sister started with Jo’s viola theme that consists of a forward, energetic movement. It is then grounded by Meg’s gentle yet steady harp strung. Amy’s cheeky and bouncy flute abruptly cut Jo off and started a back-and-forth fight with the viola. Everything is then eventually resolved by Beth’s sweet piano.
Videos of early piano drafts for Jo and Beth’ themes
For Jo, I wanted to highlight the sense of curiosity, warmth and resilience she embodies; therefore, the movement of swinging forward and backward suggests Jo’s continuous growth and reflection.
Beth’s theme encapsulates her sweet fragility and immortal presence through the soft piano touch and the shape of the melodies. I was really drawn by the idea of her descending, fallen life that then ascends to be a star in the sky.