Program
Program
I first read Jean Websters novel some fifteen years ago and was immediately charmed
by its wit, heart and intelligence. I was also surprised that a novel of such extraordinary
sensitivity and economy of structure was not much better known, and was not regard-
ed, indeed, as a great American classic.
Written in 1911 in a farmhouse in Massachusetts, Daddy Long Legs is one of the most
delightful love stories of all time. It is also an eloquent account of the growth of a
womans spirit and independence at a time when women were just starting to claim the
social and legal equalities for which, in many parts of the world, they are still struggling.
Webster came from a highly literate and politically engaged family. Her mother
was Mark Twains niece and her father was Twains business manager. Her great-
grandmother and grandmother were involved in both the temperance and suffragette
movements and she herself attended Vassar College, the progressive womens college
on which Jerushas alma mater in the novel is clearly based.
In spite of her upbringing, Websters great leap of imagination was to see her own
world of enlightened privilege through the eyes of a character who starts out in the
world with no advantages whatsoever.
Jerusha Abbott is a sort of female Candide. She enters the world of college embarrassed
by her own ignorance and awkwardness, but her very lack of sophistication, together
with a wicked sense of the absurd, allows her to see the world of her peers as it really is,
untrammelled by any elements of self-interest. Her critique of the social and academic
world around her is marvelously matched when she meets her mentor and benefactor,
Jervis Pendleton, the extreme disparity between their two backgrounds allowing Web-
ster to develop her story into one of personal growth and emotional evolution.
As in the plot of Jane Eyre, Jerushas favorite novel, a girl who is born with nothing
to her name but her intelligence and clarity of spiritual purpose becomes the moral
compass for a rich and privileged man to map his way through the confusing and love-
less world in which he has grown up and to find a sense of belonging in the heart of the
woman he has grown to love.
Jean Webster died in childbirth at the age of 39, only five years after writing her great
masterpiece, but her message, in Jerushas words, is an enduring one - that the true
secret of happiness is to live in the now. Not to be forever regretting the past or an-
ticipating the future, but to get the most that you can out of this very instant. Life
may not last long as our final song says, but when lived to the fullest, as lived by Jean
Webster, it can make you immortal.
DAVENPORT THEATRE
354 West 45th Street, New York, NY 10036
Originally produced by a consortium that includes the Rubicon Theatre Company, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and
TheatreWorks Palo Alto, the Gem Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Skylight Music Theatre, and David Elzer.
CAST
Jerusha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Megan McGinnis
Jervis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adam Halpin
UNDERSTUDIES
Understudies never substitute for listed performers
unless a specific announcement for the appearance is made
at the time of the performance.
THE BAND
Conductor/Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brad Haak
Guitars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Craig Magnano
Cello . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeanette Stenson
ACT TWO
Sophomore Year Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jerusha/Jervis
My Manhattan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jervis
I Couldnt Know Someone Less . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jerusha
The Man Ill Never Be . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jervis
The Secret of Happiness (Reprise) . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jervis/Jerusha
Humble Pie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jervis
Graduation Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jerusha/Jervis
Charity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jervis
I Have Torn You From My Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jerusha
My Manhattan (Reprise) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jervis
All This Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jerusha/Jervis
WHOS WHO IN THE CAST
MEGAN McGINNIS (Jerusha). Broad- WILL REYNOLDS (Jervis u/s). Off
way: Side Show (Standby Daisy/Violet), Bway: Passion (CSC, dir. John Doyle);
Les Misrables (Eponine), Little Women The Illusion by Tony Kushner (Signature,
(Beth), Beauty and the Beast (Belle), dir. Michael Mayer) Tour: Mamma Mia!
Thoroughly Modern Millie, Parade, Diary of Selected regional: A Room With a View
Anne Frank. London: Daddy Long Legs (Je- (Old Globe/5th Avenue) and Paul Gor-
rusha). National Tours: Fiddler on the Roof dons Emma (Old Globe). Composer of
(Hodel), James Joyces The Dead (Lily), Tavern for Audra McDonalds latest
Sound of Music (Liesl). Regional: Daddy album, Go Back Home. Carnegie Mellon
Long Legs (LA Ovation Award, Chicago graduate. willreynoldsonline.com
Jeff Nomination), Sense and Sensibility
(Chicago Shakespeare; Jeff Nomination). PAUL GORDON (Music & Lyrics) was
Recordings: Little Women, Parade, Sutton nominated for a 2001 Tony Award for
Fosters Wish (Flight), A Goofy Movie. composing the music and lyrics to Jane
BA in English, Columbia University. Eyre. He won a 2009 Ovation award for
his music and lyrics to Daddy Long Legs
ADAM HALPIN (Jervis). Broadway: and won the 2007 Bay Area Critics Cir-
Glory Days. Off-Broadway: Dogfight, cle Award for his libretto to the musical
Rent. National Tours: Kinky Boots, Rent. Emma, developed by TheatreWorks Palo
Recent Regional credits include: The Last Alto and later staged at The Old Globe
5 Years (Long Wharf Theatre; Connecti- Theatre in San Diego. Sense and Sensi-
cut Critics Circle Nomination); Fam- bility, commissioned by Chicago Shake-
ily Shots (world premiere; Human Race speare Theatre has just been nominated
Theatre); Triangle (world premiere; Lyric for 4 Jeff Awards including Best New
Theatre of Oklahoma); as well as North Work. Analog and Vinyl premiered at The
Shore Music Theatre, Pittsburgh CLO, Weston Playhouse in Summer of 2014.
The MUNY, Judson Theatre Co., Signa- Being Earnest premiered at Theatre-
ture Theatre (DC). Film: Grind. Original Works in April of 2013. His other shows
Cast Recordings: Glory Days, Dogfight, A include: Little Miss Scrooge, Death: The
Little Princess - all on Ghostlight Records. Musical, The Front, and The Sportswriter.
paulgordonmusic.com
HANNAH CORNEAU (Jerusha u/s).
Off-Broadway: Ethel Sings (Beckett). Re- JOHN CAIRD (Book & Direction). Re-
gional: Fiddler on the Roof (Arena Stage); cent Engagements: McQueen (Haymar-
Harmony (Alliance/Ahmanson; Ovation ket Theatre, London), Loves Labours Lost
Nomination). Chicago: Les Misrables (Stratford Festival), Twelfth Night (Tokyo),
(Paramount Theatre; Jeff Nomination); Tosca and Parsifal (Lyric Opera, Chicago),
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Bailiwick La Bohme (San Francisco Opera). Over
Chicago); Annual Playwrights Festival twenty productions for the RSC includ-
(Victory Gardens); A Little Night Mu- ing Nicholas Nickleby (Aldwych Theatre
sic (Writers Theatre). hannahcorneau.com and Broadway) and Les Misrables (West
@hannahcorneau End, Broadway and worldwide). For the
WHOS WHO IN THE CAST
National Theatre: Hamlet, Humbleboy, The Judy Show (DR2), Electra in a One
Money, The Seagull and his own new ver- Piece and The Realm (The Wild Project),
sion of Bernsteins Candide among many Romeo and Juliet (Columbia Stages), The
others. Other US productions: Jane Eyre Redheaded Man (Fringe Encores). Lon-
and Stanley (Broadway), Brief Encoun- don: Daddy Long Legs (St. James The-
ter with music by Andr Previn (Hous- atre) and others. Regional: Actors The-
ton Grand Opera). Numerous awards atre of Louisville, Dallas Theater Center,
including Oliviers for Nicholas Nickleby TheatreWorks, Round House Theatre,
and Candide, and Tonys for Les Misrables Williamstown Theatre Festival, Cin-
and Nicholas Nickleby. Johns book about cinnati Playhouse in the Park, Arizona
directing - Theatre Craft - is published Theatre Company, The Magic Theatre,
by Faber & Faber. Go to johncaird.com the Walker Art Center, and many more.
for more information about his career. paultoben.com
PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT
Production Manager. . . . . Duncan R. Northern THE ACTORS AND STAGE MANAGERS EMPLOYED
Assistant Production Manager . . . Katie Hesketh IN THIS PRODUCTION ARE MEMBERS OF ACTORS
EQUITY ASSOCIATION, THE UNION OF PROFESSIONAL
ACTORSAND STAGE MANAGERS IN THE UNITED STATES.
GENERAL PRESS REPRESENTATIVE
MATT ROSS PUBLIC RELATIONS THE DIRECTOR AND CHOREOGRAPHER ARE
Matt Ross Nicole Capatasto MEMBERS OF THE STAGE DIRECTORS AND
CHOREOGRAPHERS SOCIETY, A NATIONAL
Nancy Alligood Claire Wojciechowski THEATRICAL LABOR UNION.
CASTING DIRECTOR
Dale Brown Casting