When Little Women: The Musical opened at Tulane’s Lupin Theatre, it marked more than the campus debut of a beloved literary classic. The production’s completely sold-out run also represented a deeply personal reunion with the story for director Dr. Laura Waringer, who found herself returning to a work that helped shape her artistic life.
Waringer, a faculty member in Tulane’s Newcomb Department of Music, had first encountered Little Women in a formative way 15 years earlier, when she performed the role of Beth in the musical’s London premiere. In this production, she returned to the work from the other side of the footlights, guiding a new generation of performers as director through the newly formed Performing Arts at Tulane, a collaborative initiative between the Department of Theatre & Dance and the Newcomb Department of Music.
“This production was deeply personal for me,” Waringer said. “Returning to this story as a director and working with my extraordinary students felt like a true full-circle moment.”
Based on Louisa May Alcott’s enduring novel, Little Women: The Musical featured music by Jason Howland, lyrics by Mindi Dickstein, and a book by Allan Knee. The story follows sisters Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy March as they come of age during the Civil War, navigating ambition, love, loss, and the bonds of family. Though set in 19th-century America, Waringer felt the emotional core of the story resonated strongly with contemporary audiences.
“Working with young artists who were themselves navigating questions of identity, ambition, and belonging made the themes of this piece feel especially immediate,” she said. “They brought their own insights, humor, vulnerability, and creativity to these characters, affirming how timeless this story truly is.”
The production also showcased the work of the Theatre & Dance department’s newest cohort of MFA design candidates, reflecting the collaborative spirit at the heart of Performing Arts at Tulane. For Waringer, the opportunity to merge her professional history with her role as an educator was particularly meaningful.
“As a performer, this show shaped me,” she said. “As a director, it was incredibly rewarding to watch students discover their own connections to it.”
The cast featured an ensemble of Tulane student performers, including Eliza Mullins, Josie Pines, Kayla Rutner, Lena Hanson, Hadley Magaziner, Sacha Codron, Cici Giebutowski, Grace Gilchrist, Nora Feinberg, and Allie Small, with additional performances by Tulane faculty members Beverly Trask and Jeffrey Gunshol, alongside professional actors Garrin Mesa and Luke Boucvalt.
The production’s sold-out run reflected an unusually broad and enthusiastic audience, drawing not only regular theatergoers but a wide cross section of the Tulane and New Orleans community. Attendees included students, faculty, staff, alumni, families, and community members, many of whom do not typically attend theatrical performances, underscoring the show’s wide-reaching appeal. The creative team found this diverse turnout particularly meaningful. The familiarity of Little Women, combined with the accessibility of musical theatre and Performing Arts at Tulane’s growing emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration, created an inviting entry point for new audiences.
