A continuing act of kindness has life-changing effects in Daddy Long Legs, a "rags to riches" tale of newfound love adapted from the classic movie. With music and lyrics by Tony Award-nominated composer/lyricist, Paul Gordon (Jane Eyre), and Tony-winning librettist/director, John Caird (Les Misérables), it tells the story of a heroine who grows into a determined young woman and makes a promising future for herself.
Jerusha Abbott is the “Oldest Orphan in the John Grier Home” until a mysterious benefactor decides to send her to college to be educated as a writer. Required to write him a letter once a month, she is never to know the benefactor’s identity – so she invents one for him: Daddy Long Legs. Although she knows that he will never respond to her letters, she grows more and more fond of this elusive and kindly “old” gentleman. But another relationship soon begins to develop in Jerusha’s life. Jervis Pendleton is the well-do-do, “youngish” uncle of one of Jerusha’s roommates, who introduces her to a world of literature, travel and adventure. Through her correspondence with Daddy Long Legs and her growing intimacy with Jervis, Jerusha’s letters chronicle her emergence as a delightfully independent “New American Woman.” Yet, there is one startling fact that Jerusha has yet to uncover – a fact that will change her life forever.
