Guest Review

The remarkable new musical, The Ballad of Little Jo, tells the reimagined story of the real woman, Little Jo Monaghan.  The limited facts of her story are best captured in the playbill:  “When the well-liked rancher Jo Monaghan died in 1904 of pneumonia at the age of 56, his death was mourned by many in his town of Rockville, Idaho. Although he was quiet and kept mostly to himself, he had developed a reputation in his 37 years in the area as a good man and a hard worker. As his body was prepared for burial, a secret was revealed: “Little Jo” was a woman."