Show Synopsis:
A young aspiring author named Jo is living in New York, and she is upset that her friend, the German professor Friedrich Bhaer, does not care for her latest story. She remembers when she was full of hope for her writing career as a young woman growing up in Concord, Massachusetts during the Civil War with her three sisters. She remembers a Christmas when they put on a play that she wrote while missing their father, who was fighting in the war. Jo meets a neighbor boy Laurie at a dance while her older sister Meg begins to fall in love with Laurie?s tutor Mr. Brooke. The third sister, Beth, becomes a friend of Laurie?s grumpy grandfather Mr. Lawrence and Jo learns the importance of sisterly love when Amy angers her but Jo saves her from falling into a frozen pond. Mr. Brooke and Meg become engaged, but Jo rejects Laurie?s marriage proposal and begins to focus on her writing career. Back in New York, Jo tells Professor Bhaer that she has sold a story to a notorious editor just before she finds out that Beth has scarlet fever and she must return to Concord. Beth dies and Jo grieves by writing the story of her life with her sisters, which becomes Little Women. Laurie and Amy marry and Professor Bhaer proposes to Jo and tells her that he has sold her manuscript for publication.	

Character:
Jo March, a fiesty, stubborn, and slightly awkward aspiring writer; does not care for the stiffing expectations of women.
Beth March, a shy and timid girl who loves her family and simple pleasures.

Song Context:
Laurie has asked Jo to marry him, and she cares for him deeply but knows that they should not be together. She rejects him in favor of finding her own path, without financial dependency on a man or the restriction of living up to others? expectations of her. Jo understands that she and her sisters are growing up and changing, and though she wishes it was not so, she tries to believe that she will change for the better and take the world by storm.

Fun Facts:
1. This musical was based on Louisa May Alcott?s famous novel of the same name, which is loosely based on Alcott?s life story and relationships with her sisters. 
2. Sutton Foster originated the role of Jo on Broadway. In an interview with the publicity team of the show, she said ?I honestly feel like I'm most one with Jo,"" she said. ""The sisters are all so different, and so specific. I'm not a Meg, I'm not a Beth?I don't know if anyone is a Beth! Amy ... well, maybe, because I was a bit of a terror when I was a child. But like Jo, I was always inviting friends over and writing scripts and making them act in these sort of murder-mystery plays, whether they wanted to or not. Jo's an incredible character to play. It's been really fun getting to know her more and more?because every night you perform it, you learn more and more about the part you're playing.? 
3. The exclamation ?Christopher Columbus? is commonly linked to the character of Jo March, since she uses it throughout the novel, despite the action being ?unladylike.?