The suffragettes, Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, and other finger-waving feminists, have nothing on Louisa May Alcott or her alter ego, Jo March.

Jo is the heroine of Alcott’s blockbuster, “Little Women.” The book’s theme is sisterhood and female empowerment, an automatic connect for women of all ages and the reason Alcott’s autobiographic novel has sold continuously since it was first published in 1868.

Individually, each of the sisters represents the different faces of a 19th-century woman.
Meg, the eldest, conforms. She marries young and begins her own family. Beth, the third sister, is the saint and sacrificial lamb. Subservient and dutiful, she puts her parents and siblings above all else, including herself. Amy, the baby, is the other extreme, focusing on art, material pleasure and self.

Jo, second in line, is a galumphing tomboy who sprints through life.

Willful, stubborn, hot-tempered, kind-hearted, an ambitious problem child, Jo flatly refuses to behave in a ladylike fashion. She openly thumbs her nose at social convention and when reprimanded snorts her contempt.

Jo is after — and gets — the whole enchilada: a successful professional life and a fulfilling family life. Saddled with few legal rights, little chance of higher education and almost no future outside the home, a nation of little women adored her for it.

(Having it all may be wishful thinking on Alcott’s, part. The author never married and died childless is 1886.)

When “Little Women: The Musical” hit Broadway in 2005, featuring power ballads about how to make a mark in the world and unapologetically old-timey, feel-good tunes, the show made waves.

The March family visits Telluride this weekend, when “Little Women” hits the Palm.
The performance, one night only, is Saturday, March 22.

Curtain is 8 p.m.

“This squeaky clean but wonderful show is definitely family entertainment,” said Shayne Mims, who plays Jo’s love interest.

Mims is a homeboy made good. He grew up in Dallas, but attended Ridgway high school after his parents made their move to the region.

“My parents were tired of big-city life,” he said. “My mom hailed from Northern California and my dad loved Colorado, so they literally threw darts at a map to find their new home,” said Mims. 

In Dallas, Mims would have graduated in a class of 1,300. In Ridgway, he was one of 17 seniors.

“Ridgway offered far more opportunities than Dallas, where you were forced to find your thing and focus on that alone. In my new home, I was able to play sports, be in the band and study drama. I knew I wanted to become an actor after seeing ‘Phantom of the Opera’ back in Dallas.”

At Adams State College in Alamosa, Mims majored in vocal performance and graduated in 2000.

A few years later, he wound up in a Manhattan conservatory, the American Music and Dramatic Academy, graduating in 2007.

Since then, Mims has never had to wait tables.

“I was cast as Commander Harbison in a regional production of ‘South Pacific’ one week after graduation, and performed in New Hampshire that summer,” he said.

Among Mims’ roles are the Reverend Shaw Moore in “Footloose,” Frederic and Pirate King in “The Pirates of Penzance,” and Lieutenant Kaffee in “A Few Good Men.”

He was cast in “Little Women” in October 2007 and is making his touring debut with the show.  

“My character, Professor Bhaer, first moved to the U.S. to help his widowed sister,” said the actor. “When she remarries, he finds himself alone in New York.”

“Little Women” opens when Jo lands in the city, peddling her blood-and-guts tales of violence.

“My character starts out as a staid professor of philosophy and German, very set in my ways — until this fierce young writer turns my world upside down,” said Mims. “I coach Jo along, but find her disruptive and annoying in her disregard for what anyone else thinks. In the end, however, she gets under my skin. I fall in love with Jo’s passion, energy and focus. The show ends when I visit her in Concord to announce that her manuscript has been bought. I also propose marriage.”

Professor Bhaer and Jo sing “Small Umbrella in the Rain.”

“The umbrella is small, so we are going to get wet. There will be issues, but we don’t care,” said Mims.

In this production, Paige Faure plays Mims’s leading lady.

“Paige is Jo incarnate,” he explained. “The woman is bold, determined, funny and fun to watch on stage. Paige is also beautiful, very easy to fall in love with. But I have to add that every one of my colleagues in this cast is strong.”

Tickets, $40, are available by calling (970)369-5669 or visit telluridepalm.com.