Daddy Long Legs at HCT

I vaguely remember watching the movie Daddy Long Legs, starring Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron, on my black and white TV late at night when I was in high school. However, I was totally unfamiliar with the stage musical so I didn't really know what to expect when I attended HCT's production of this show last night. I ended up absolutely loving it! At the turn of the century, Jerusha Abbott (Kelly Coombs) is the oldest orphan at the John Grier Home but a young and wealthy Trustee named Jervis Pendleton (David Paul Smith), impressed by one of her essays about living at an orphanage, decides to send her to college so she can become a writer. He will pay her tuition and all of her living expenses on the condition that he remain anonymous and that she writes him a letter once a month to inform him of her progress. Not knowing his name she decides to call him Daddy Long Legs, referring to the tall shadow she saw leaving the orphanage, in her letters which prove to be enchanting to Jervis. Against his better judgment he meets her without revealing that he is her benefactor and then falls in love with her. Jerusha also falls in love with him but, when she pours her heart out about him to Daddy Long Legs in her letters, it creates much confusion as he struggles to decide whether to reveal himself to her. I love Jerusha as a character because she grows and develops so much as a person throughout the course of the show and I really appreciate the fact that she pays her benefactor back before beginning a relationship with him because she proves herself to be his equal. She has such a thirst for knowledge (I love that she has a new favorite subject to denote each year in school) and for new experiences (I love her sense of wonder while on a cultural weekend in Manhattan) so it was easy for me to relate to and sympathize with her. Coombs is absolutely delightful in the role and Smith is incredibly earnest as Jervis. They both have amazing voices and palpable chemistry with each other. I particularly enjoyed the scenes while Jervis is jealous when Jerusha mentions Jimmy McBride in her letters. It is really impressive that the two of them carry this show entirely by themselves with demanding songs, rapid-fire dialogue, high energy blocking, and multiple costume changes which happen right on stage. I was also very impressed by the live band on stage consisting of Kelly DeHaan on piano, Josh Ogden on cello, and Bryan Matthew Hague on guitar. The music is quite stirring, especially the guitar, and I really liked the songs "Like Other Girls," "Things I Didn't Know," "What Does She Mean By Love?" and "The Secret of Happiness." The set is ingenious with two levels and a pulley system between them to allow the characters to be separate while in the same scene and the inclusion of props stored in strategically placed suitcases and trunks quickly transforms the space multiple times without a pause. The actors utilize the space very effectively (I was sitting on the extreme right side of the theatre and there were only a few times when I couldn't see the action which is sometimes more of an issue). My only complaint, which is a minor one, is that I grew impatient in the second act for the characters to just get together already (I don't think this is a spoiler because, to me, it is a foregone conclusion) because the action gets bogged down a bit and many of the songs are reprises. Nevertheless, I loved this show much more than I was expecting to and I highly recommend it (go here for tickets). It runs on the Jewel Box Stage through June 12.

Note:  I also highly recommend Les Miserables which is currently playing on the Young Living Stage. Many performances are sold out but some matinees have recently been added later in the run (go here for tickets).