Reviewed by Judy Richter
Eighteen-year-old Jerusha Abbott (Hilary Maiberger) is living in an orphanage in upstate New York in 1908 when she learns that an anonymous benefactor will finance her education at a prestigious women's college.
The main stipulations are that she must write to him every month, that he will never write back and that she can never learn his identity.
Because she had seen only his shadow as he was leaving, she knows he's tall, so she calls him Daddy Long Legs.
Most of the story in the book by John Caird is told through her letters, many of them set to music and lyrics by Paul Gordon.
Jerusha faithfully writes to him, talking about how excited she is to go to college and then how overwhelmed she is when she gets there and realizes how much she doesn't know. For example, she tells him that Julia Pendleton, one of the girls on her floor, is a snob who brags that her ancestors came to America on the ark.
Over time, though, Jerusha becomes more confident as well as more curious about Daddy Long Legs and what he looks like.
Meanwhile, her benefactor, Jervis Pendleton (Derek Carley), reads her letters with growing interest. Since he's Julia's uncle, he visits her at school and meets Jerusha, who has no idea he's her benefactor. They spend more time together and become fond of each other.
In the meantime, she develops her writing talent and becomes more socially aware. She's upset that she's old enough to vote but that women haven't yet won the right to vote.
Still she doesn't know that Jervis is her benefactor, posing a dilemma for him because he wants to marry her. But of course there's a happy ending.
It's all quite engaging thanks to the show itself as well as Robert Kelley's direction and the two appealing actors. Both Maiberger as Jerusha and Carley as Jervis are good singers and actors.
Musical director William Liberatore conducts two other musicians from the piano, providing supportive accompaniment.
Joe Ragey's two-level set (lighting by Steven B. Mannshardt) is complemented by scenic projections reflecting the college campus, Jervis's office and other locations. Period costumes are by Fumiko Bielefeldt, with sound by Jeff Mockus.
Running about two hours with one intermission, this is a charmingly romantic show that fills one with holiday cheer.