Who can resist the story of Little Women? Set against the backdrop of the Civil War, four girls endure privations because of their family’s anti-abolitionist stance. With their father bravely off fighting, they must do without much hristmas, but their mother, Marmee, played ably by Olivia Beaudet, challenges them to give up their wonderful Christmas breakfast and bring it to the starving Hummel family who have no warm shelter or food. The four “little women,” however, soon show themselves to be less than saintly.

The older Jo, played excellently by Sophie Rickman, doubles as a narrator. She tells of young Amy, Teo Perez, who is more concerned with the fad of having and giving limes than spending money wisely, and who gets a terrible beating with a ruler on her hands by a stern teacher. She narrates how headstrong young Jo, portrayed by Margaret Floeckher, who would love nothing more than to be allowed to write all day, chafes at having to tend to the tyrannical Aunt March, a satisfyingly angry and hard-hearted Ellie MacFayden. The spoiled young Amy throws all of Jo’s precious writings into the fire in revenge for not being invited to a play. Jo is only able to forgive her when Amy falls through the ice when skating with Jo and young Laurie, the able Nicholas DiPippo from next door. Young Meg, Grace Mitchell, harbors a secret admiration for Mr. Brook, Laurie’s tutor.

The first act contains some well-acted, smug young ladies who scoff at the March girls’ dresses, and a fine scene of real waltzing, with true box steps, to “The Blue Danube Waltz.” The young Beth, Victoria Edwards, just wants peace in the house. She selflessly nurses the Hummel’s baby, and then becomes sick with scarlet fever herself. When Marmee gets a telegraph telling her that her husband is wounded in a hospital in faraway DC, the girls gather around her touchingly, promising they can get by with Hannah’s help. (Lauren Conder.)

In a twist that cleverly shows the four sisters growing up, while giving more actresses and actors the chance to play leading roles, the second act begins with a new, older, Meg (Julia Molloy), a new older Amy (Saachi Chandrakant), an older Beth (Olivia Liberis,) and an older, handsome Laurie (Michael Crandall-McBride.) Sophie Rickman, who has played the narrator as older Jo, now plays older Jo herself. Marmee writes that the young women, in answer to Meg’s question, should marry not for money but for love. Mr. March (Amara Kern) arrives home, albeit on crutches, to the delight of all. Laurie’s tutor, Mr. Brooke (Julia Galipeau) has been a true gentleman in escorting Marmee to her husband’s side, and Meg’s love for him blossoms. Mean old Aunt March, a terrible snob, feels Mr. Brooke is below Meg’s station in life and threatens to cut her off without a penny if Meg marries him. But Meg has the maturity to marry him anyway.

Meanwhile, Jo wants to see more of the world and moves to a boarding house in NYC. There she meets the charming German Prof. Bhaer, played by Veronica Daly, who doubles as Hannah. He is so kind to children that Jo feels her heart stir. The dramatic tension builds as Laurie proposes to Jo, and she turns him down flat. In her stubborn way, she knows she’s too awkward and odd and headstrong to fit into Laurie’s high society. But mostly she doesn’t want to lose her best friend. The girls then experience death for the first time, as Beth succumbs to scarlet fever.

In a flight of fancy, the mercurial Aunt March takes only Amy with her to Paris. Amusingly, the “Can Can” by Offenbach is danced by two boys! Then they all go to the theater, and a delightful trio of dancers (Claire Nelson as Pitti Sing, May Shade as Yum Yum, and Ruby Dwyer as Peep Bo) perform a charming version of “Three Little Maids at School” from Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado. This is not a standard in the usual versions of Little Women, but with the kimonos and the fans the graceful girls both sing and dance beautifully, and it adds a nice cosmopolitan touch. One of the lookers-on, in a fur jacket, has a keen British accent. In the happy finale, the entire impressive cast joins to sing “Angels We Have Heard on High,” even the littlest K-2 members.

One must remember that this cast of 36, many with double or triple parts, all have to perform with masks on. This not only makes it harder to hear them, but it limits their ability to use facial gestures to show emotion. Still, this warm hearted Christmas story comes across beautifully. Without a stage, they all had to make their entrances and exits from the far two ends of the space in CTK’s social hall. But this consideration, by the director Roberta Weiner, was no doubt to keep the children as safe as possible in this time of endless pandemic. No one could miss the feeling at the heart of this play, or the tremendous rehearsing involved, masks or not.