The Gem Theatre, in partnership with a handful of companies and producers nationwide, presents Daddy Long Legs (book by John Caird, music and lyrics by Paul Gordon) as its first offering of the season. With direction by Caird, the result is a gorgeous musical about a young woman who writes her life out in letters, and the man who is taken with her words in spite of himself. Her effect on him is no parlor trick: with so much lovely prose set to music, backed by strong character work in sterling performances, the viewer is likely to be just as taken with the delightful protagonists and their intriguing tale.
Based on a 1912 novel by Jean Webster, the story is another entry in the popular orphan-against-all-odds literary canon; here, late-teens Jerusha (Christy Altomare) is rescued from her hated orphanage by an anonymous benefactor, who sends her to college on the grounds that she write him letters and never expect any in return. Through her effusive and detailed monthly correspondence over the course of four years of school, the viewer learns about the foundling’s development as well as the identity of her sponsor, Jervis (Kevin Earley), who only wishes he could be as detached as his postal stonewalling suggests. Caird’s staging maximizes the lack of intersection between the characters: Jerusha lives downstage, facing life — and the audience — head on, whereas Jervis starts out a spectator from his upstage study. With much of the text coming from one-way written conversation, the youthful and appealingly petulant Earley makes capable character work out of reading someone else’s words, which is no small feat. Even so, Altomare’s wonderful, plucky Jerusha is a force to be reckoned with, exhausted by her own exponential development and with an untamed edge to her sweet singing voice. Beyond gaining ground academically and socially, Jerusha desperately wants to feel she knows the man behind the pseudonym “Mr. Smith,” in whom she confides completely; his height is the only detail she has and the basis for the pet name that gives the show its title.
Their words are set to music, and long passages certainly benefit from the lyrical treatment. Under an invisible live six-piece orchestra conducted by Harvey Kahl, the songs are pretty and earnest. A few nice refrains push past the threshold of memorability in a score that falls into an operetta-like sameness. However, music director Laura Bergquist and company recognize that the lyrics are what make these songs shine, and each beat is precisely deployed to unearth the longing and wonder in Jerusha’s words.
Its two characters always onstage, the production flows and drives forward through two acts; lighting design by Paul Toben shifts focus, but demands scenic changes to happen in plain sight. Designer David Farley complements his wide-open wood-paneled library with trunks that open to reveal clothes and objects and also double as furniture; his costumes are similarly multipurpose, single pieces evolving into outfits that demonstrate Jerusha’s maturity and let Jervis show another side of himself. One of the only story shortcuts is the welcome use of supertitles, projected onto two walls of the set in the form of proper letter headings: date and place, just enough to keep the timeline straight without interfering.
The marriage of no-tricks tech, thoughtful staging, and performances that never let up makes for an immersive two-plus hours that sweeps the viewer up in its tender story. The plot gets a shot of adrenaline with the development of Jervis’s hidden connection to Jerusha (no, he has naught to do with her father, it’s more inventive than that), although, as often happens, the resolution tends to feel strained and wonky compared with the exquisite and clever buildup. Yet above all, Daddy Long Legs charms with its distinctly romantic point of view — not schmoopy romance, but a romantic literary style that permeates story and song and should resonate deeply with viewers who in their youth devoured Jane Eyre, A Little Princess, and other florid classics about remarkable young women.