Act I
In 1866, Josephine March (Jo), a 19-year-old woman from Concord, Massachusetts, moves to New York City to a boarding house owned by Mrs. Kirk, hoping to publish her stories, which are thrillers. She becomes insulted when Professor Bhaer, a 34-year-old German professor who is one of the other boarders in Mrs. Kirk's boarding house, to whom she reads her stories ("Operatic Tragedy"), thinks they are beneath her. Her response brings to life her memories ("Better").
In flashback, Jo returns to various moments in her youth, beginning three years earlier in the attic of her family home, where she and her sisters prepare for a public performance of a Christmas melodrama, the Operatic Tragedy from the scenes before) that she has written ("Our Finest Dreams"). Marmee enters with a letter from their father, an Army chaplain in the American Civil War. As Marmee writes a response, she reflects on how difficult it is to be the pillar of strength in the home when she feels very much alone ("Here Alone").
At this point of her life, Jo's goal is to go to Europe with her Aunt March, for whom she works, but Aunt March will only take her if she becomes more lady-like ("Could You?"). Jo is anxious about her abilities to do so, but is convinced by her family to try at a St. Valentine's Day Ball. ("I'd Be Delighted") There, Jo befriends her new acquaintance, neighbor Laurie, while Meg dances with his tutor, Mr. John Brooke. They immediately are friends after some of Laurie's persuasion("Take A Chance on Me"), but secretly Laurie would like to be more than friends with her. His grandfather, Mr. Laurence, wants no connection between Laurie and the Marches at all until he is won over by Jo's younger sister Beth ("Off to Massachusetts"). Jo's feelings for Laurie are more familial than romantic, a fact she pronounces after Laurie saves Amy from a fall through the ice ("Five Forever").
But Jo's life goes into crisis after Mr. March's illness calls Marmee away. Aunt March refuses the trip to Europe after Jo cuts her hair, which she has sold to help raise money to get Marmee to Washington. She loses Meg to Meg's engagement to John Brooke ("More Than I Am") and Laurie to her own refusal to become engaged. Realizing that her life is not going to be as she had imagined, she decides to seek out a new path where she can be ("Astonishing!")
Act II
Back in the present, Jo has cause to celebrate with Professor Bhaer and her employer, Mrs. Kirk, as she has made her first sale as an author ("The Weekly Volcano Press"), but word of Beth's Scarlet Fever calls her away. The Professor acknowledges to himself that he has fallen in love with Jo ("How I Am"), while Beth says goodbye to Jo ("Some Things Are Meant To Be"). Thereafter, youngest sister Amy and Laurie come to share the news of their pending marriage ("The Most Amazing Thing"). Marmee encourages Jo to carry on in spite of her grief over Beth's death ("Days of Plenty"), and Jo comes to understand that her memories of her sisters and family are themselves astonishing ("Fire Within Me"), inspiring her to write Little Women.
Professor Bhaer comes to Concord on the day that Amy and Laurie are to be married. He professes his feelings to Jo ("Small Umbrella in the Rain"), and Jo accepts his offer of marriage. He then tells her that he has shown the manuscript of the novel Little Women, which she had sent to him, to The Weekly Volcano Press, which wants to publish it. Jo declares her happiness ("Sometimes When You Dream").
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