PBS brings ‘Little Women’ to new generation
Era of exploring female perspectives presents perfect opportunity to revisit timeless classic
Am I a Jo, a Beth, an Amy or a Meg?
It’s a question that generations of readers have asked themselves while immersed in “Little Women,” Louisa May Alcott’s cherished coming-ofage tale about four sisters in Civil War-era Massachusetts.
Though many admirers of the book see themselves in Jo, the bookish tomboy and obvious stand-in for Alcott herself, others find aspects of themselves reflected in beautiful, nurturing Meg; shy, frail Beth; vain, materialistic Amy. Still others identify with their virtuous mother, Marmee.
Which may be why, like “Pride and Prejudice” or “Great Expectations,” “Little Women” over the decades has been adapted numerous times — into films, TV shows, an opera, a musical and even two anime series. The latest incarnation of “Little Women,” a three-part “Masterpiece” miniseries, premieres Sunday on PBS.
Co-produced by the BBC, the series was written by Heidi Thomas, creator and showrunner of “Call the Midwife,” another period drama focused on the lives of women. Starring Emily Watson as Marmee, Angela Lansbury as the formidable matriarch Aunt March and Maya Hawke as aspiring writer Jo, it tells a tale of young women coming of age in a fraught period that will resonate with contemporary viewers — bonnets and all.
“It’s a book that exists outside of its own context, outside of its own time, outside of its own geography,” Thomas said. “The relationships between the girls are extraordinarily durable, very passionate and alive. They don’t feel like characters in a Victorian novel, and I think for that reason it hasn’t dated.”
The idea of revisiting the March family first arose in conversations between the BBC and executive producer Colin Callender, whose company Playground is known for its small-screen adaptations (“Howards End” on Starz, the upcoming “King Lear” for Amazon). They approached Thomas, whose “Call the Midwife” is one of the most popular shows on British television.
But there was a problem: The BBC wanted the series ready for a Christmas 2017 broadcast in the UK — leaving just a year to complete the project from soup to nuts and barely six months to generate camera-ready scripts, in between writing and producing another season of “Call the Midwife.”
Thinking it an “outrageous ask,” Thomas initially hung up on the BBC’s head of drama Piers Wenger when he pitched her. But after mulling it over for “about 48 and a half hours,” she accepted.
“I just knew it was a chance that may not come again,” she said, recalling how she hunkered down to write in her favorite leather armchair for marathon sessions, even investing in a pair of flight compression socks to ward off vein thrombosis.
“There were days where I sat there so long I couldn’t stand up, but when you love what you do, 18 hours is not a very long day,” she said.
Thomas was motivated by a desire not to disappoint. (Thomas has at least satisfied British viewers: The series aired over Christmas, as scheduled, to highly positive reviews.)
When working from a classic, “you tend to be judged on what you leave out, not what you put in,” Thomas explained. The key is “identifying the sacred moments of the novel” and proceeding from there.
One moment she considered sacred? The scene in which Amy falls through the ice while skating. She made the BBC promise it’d have the budget to make it convincing.
But revisiting the book as an adult was also an eye-opening experience for Thomas. “When I first read ‘Little Women,’ I stood in the shoes of the girls. I very much saw myself as a fifth sister, as a lot of us do. Now I was standing in Marmee’s shoes at the shoulder of those girls.”
She was determined that her version of “Little Women” would depict the entire March family — not just Jo. “It was very important for me that Meg and Amy and Beth all have their moments to shine.”
Still, finding the right actress to portray Jo was critical. The role eventually went to Maya Hawke, a newcomer (of sorts) making her onscreen debut, despite coming from a family steeped in the business. (She is the daughter of actors Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman.)
Like Thomas, Hawke, 19, felt an intense connection to Alcott’s novel. Growing up with dyslexia, she found reading a constant challenge. “Little Women” is the first book she finished on her own.
“(Jo) had a lot to overcome to be able to do what she loved, and that inspired me to overcome my own personal difficulties,” said Hawke, whose onscreen siblings are played by “Scream’s” Willa Fitzgerald (Meg), “Big Little Lies” star Kathryn Newton (Amy) and Welsh newcomer Annes Elwy (Beth).
“Little Women” also marks Lansbury’s first television role since 2005, when she gueststarred in crossover episodes of “Law & Order: SVU” and “Law & Order: Trial by Jury.”
Shockingly — or perhaps not — Lansbury, 92, says “Little Women” is the first time she’s worked with a female director in her 70-year career. Even for the younger performers, accustomed to a slightly more equitable industry, the project felt different. “There wasn’t a need to communicate the female perspective because everyone already had the female perspective,” Fitzgerald said.