Daddy Long Legs (musical)

Daddy Long Legs is a stage musical based on the novel of the same name by Jean Webster. It was written by John Caird, with music and lyrics by Paul Gordon. Set in turn-of-the-century New England, the musical tells the story of orphan Jerusha Abbott of the John Grier Home and her mysterious benefactor who agrees to send her to college, who she dubs as "Daddy Long Legs" after seeing his elongated shadow. Under the conditions of her benefactor, Jerusha sends him a letter once a month, entailing her newfound experiences with life outside the orphanage.

The musical was developed as part of the Ann Deal/Fashion Forms Plays-in-Progress Series at Rubicon Theatre in Ventura County, California in 2007. After premiering at the Rubicon in 2009 and several regional productions in the United States, the musical premiered in London's West End at the St. James Theatre in 2012, and Off-Broadway at the Davenport Theatre in 2015, where it currently runs today. The musical opened in Tokyo in 2012 and Canada in 2013.

Productions

World Premiere

The production premiered at the Rubicon Theatre on October 17, 2009, with direction by John Caird, music and lyrics by Paul Gordon, musical direction by Laura Bergquist, scenic and costume design by David Farley, lighting design by Paul Toben, and sound design by Jonathan Burke.^[1] Megan McGinnis starred as Jerusha Abbott and Robert Adelman Hancock starred as Jervis Pendleton.

West End

The production opened in London's West End at the St. James Theatre on October 31, 2012 and ran until December 08.^[2] McGinnis and Hancock returned to their roles as Jerusha Abbott and Jervis Pendleton.

Off-Broadway

Producer Ken Davenport presented a private New York industry reading of the musical on January 24, 2014, with McGinnis and Hancock reprising their roles.^[3] The musical eventually opened Off-Broadway at the Davenport Theatre on September 27, 2015, with an open-ended run.^[4][5] McGinnis once again reprised her role, with Paul Alexander Nolan as Jervis Pendleton. Aside from the original creative team, the production has sound design by Peter Fitzgerald, lighting adaptation by Cory Pattak, and musical direction, arrangements, and orchestration by Brad Haak. The role of Jervis was temporarily played by understudy Will Reynolds from October 29 to November 19, after Nolan's departure to join the company of Bright Star.^[6] Adam Halpin, McGinnis' real-life husband, then assumed the role on November 20.^[7] On November 29, it was announced that the production will be streamed live online on December 10, 2015—a first for any Broadway or Off-Broadway production.^[8] According to the provided statistics, the livestream was watched by 150,055 people from 135 countries.^[9]

US regional productions

After the premiere at the Rubicon Theatre, other productions of the musical were staged at US regional theatres, as part of what was called as a "rolling world premiere", due to the various changes done to the show on the road. Theatres where the production was staged included the Theatreworks' Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts in Palo Alto, California from January 20 until February 14, 2010;^[10] the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park from March 13 until April 10, 2010;^[11] the Northlight Theatre in Illinois from September 16 until October 24, 2010;^[12] the Cleveland Play House's Allen Theatre at Playhouse Square from October 21 until November 13, 2011; the Gem Theatre in Detroit, Michigan from October 12 until November 20, 2011;^[13] the Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell, Massachusetts from February 9 until March 4, 2012;^[14] the Skylight Music Theatre's Cabot Theatre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin from March 9 to April 1, 2012; and Florida Studio Theatre's Gompertz Theatre from February 5 until April 5, 2014.^[15] McGinnis and Hancock returned to play the roles of Jerusha and Jervis in some of the stagings. Several stagings featured Ephie Aaderma, Christy Altomare and Penny McNamee as Jerusha and Kevin Earley as Jervis.^[16]

International productions

The Japanese premiere of the production opened at the Theatre Creation in Tokyo from September 2–19, 2012, and toured to theatres in Niigata, Oita, Osaka and Fukuoka where it closed on October 3, 2012. The production returned to the Theatre Creation on January 5–9, 2013.^[17] Caird's book and Gordon's lyrics were translated into Japanese by Maoko Imai. The Japanese productions starred Sakamoto Maaya as Jerusha and Inoue Yoshio as Jervis.

The Canadian premiere of the production, starring McGinnis and Hancock, opened at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre Mainstage in Winnipeg, from March 14 until April 6, 2013.^[18][19]

Music Theatre International (MTI) currently holds the worldwide licensing rights to the musical.^[20]

Characters

• Jerusha Abbott - the "Oldest Orphan in the John Grier Home". She is selected by Jervis Pendleton, under the alias "John Smith", to be educated in a local women's college under the instruction that she must send him a letter once a month, which he will never answer. She gives Pendleton the nickname "Daddy Long Legs" due to his tall shadow.
• Jervis Pendleton - a shy and socially awkward philanthropist. Under the guise of Mr. John Smith (nicknamed "Daddy Long Legs" by Jerusha), he provides for her college education due to her promising writing skills.

Musical numbers

World Premiere

Source:^[21]

Off-Broadway

Source:^[22]

Original casts

Off-Broadway understudies

• Jerusha Abbott - Hannah Corneau
• Jervis Pendleton - Will Reynolds

Reviews

The show received mixed to positive reviews. According to the stage aggregator Show-Score, the show received a score of 76%, combining both average scores from critics and audience reviews. The performers, especially McGinnis, received praise for their performances. However, critics are divided on the show itself, most faulting the epistolary approach to the libretto.^[23]

Alexis Soloski, reviewing the Off-Broadway production for The New York Times, found that Gordon's music and lyrics "have a charm and ease, though the songs can blur into one another in ways that are sometimes purposeful and sometimes not" and Caird's book "appealing" and direction "more of less nimble". She wrote of McGinnis having a "bright spirit, a mass of curly hair and a dulcet soprano" and of Nolan being "softly debonair" and possesses a "tender tenor that nicely encircles Ms. McGinnis’s voice in their duets."^[24]

Steven Suskin, reviewing the Off-Broadway production for The Huffington Post, found that the "letter-by-letter format inevitably leads to too many similar sections", yet found the musical "imaginative" and Caird's two-actor scheme "economical", in contrast with his "ponderously overdone" work for Jane Eyre (another collaboration between him and Gordon). He wrote of McGinnis to be charming, despite the "baldly expository opening number ('The Oldest Orphan in the John Grier Home')" and of Nolan to be "sweetly sympathetic here as he was harshly disruptive in Zhivago."^[25]

Recordings

The World Premiere cast recording, featuring McGinnis and Hancock, was released by Paul Gordon Music in February 1, 2010.^[26] The Japanese cast recording, featuring Sakamoto and Inoue, was released in 2013 and included 26 tracks in the Japanese language, translated by Maoko Imai.^[27] The original Off-Broadway cast recording, featuring McGinnis and Nolan, was released by Ghostlight Records on November 13 (US digital release), November 20 (international digital release), and December 18, 2015 (CD release).^[28][29][30]

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Official website
• Daddy Long Legs at the Lortel Archives
• Daddy Long Legs at the Music Theatre International Website