Set at the turn of the last century, Daddy Long Legs is a coming-of-age story about Jerusha Abbott, an orphan who is given an opportunity to develop her mind and spirit by an anonymous benefactor. A trustee of the John Grier Hall reads an essay by the young Jerusha and offers to send her to college. His only requirements are that Jerusha never know his identity, and that she write him monthly (though he will not respond). She sees him once in shadows and invents a nickname for her mysterious patron—Daddy Long Legs.
"When a musical moves beyond its original cast and on to new artists, it is a clear sign that,in showbiz parlance, the show “has legs.” With a glowing future ahead of it, PCPA Theaterfest’s production makes amply clear that these will be long legs indeed." -Steven Stanley Stage Scene LA
--Appropriate for all ages - great for the family.--
From the Tony and Olivier Award-Winning Director of Les Misérables And the Creators of Jane Eyre
Daddy Long Legs
Music and Lyrics by Paul Gordon Book by John Caird Based on the novel by Jean Webster
Presented by PCPA Theaterfest in association with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The Gem Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Rubicon Theatre Company, Skylight Opera Company, TheatreWorks, David Elzer and Michael Jackowitz
Cast Jerusha -- Ephie Aardema* Jervis -- Kevin Earley*
Ephie Aardema* (Jerusha) recently originated the role of Lucy Honeychurch in the musical A Room With A View at the Old Globe in San Diego. National tours: Fiddler on the Roof, (Chava), and The Sound of Music (Liesl.) Off-Broadway: Dear Edwina (Edwina). Regional roles include Natalie in Next to Normal, Peggy Sawyer in 42nd Street (IRNE Nomination), Sheila in HAIR, Luisa in The Fantasticks, and both Olive and Logainne in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Other favorite rolls include dinner, kaiser and spring. Ephie is an international award winning tap dancer and received a Congressional Medal for Outstanding Youth. She is the youngest-ever graduate of Circle in the Square Theatre School in NYC.Www.EphieAardema.com
KEVIN EARLEY*(Jervis) started his professional career at age ten as Kurt in The Sound of Music and, at thirteen, played Robert the youngest son in Shenadoah in his hometown of Chicago. He received his BFA in Musical Theatre at Webster Conservatory in St. Louis before returning to Chicago, where he worked at such theatres as The Marriott Lincolnshire, Drury Lane South, Drury Lane Oakbrook, Appletree and The Chicago Theatre, winning a Joseph Jefferson Award for his performance as the Balladeer in Assassins. Kevin soon found himself packing for New York to join the Broadway production of Les Misérables. Other Broadway credits include Trevor Gradon in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Ernest Defarge in A Tale of Two Cities
and, most recently, the title role/Prince Sirki in Death Takes a Holiday for the Roundabout Theatre. Kevin played Enroljas in the National Tour of Les Misérables. On the West Coast, Kevin received the L.A. Drama Critic’s Circle Award and a Robby Award for Rutledge in 1776, Robby nominations for Herman in Most Happy Fella and Barrett/Stoker in TITANIC, and Ovation Nominations for Can-Can, Sleeping Beauty Wakes, It Came From Beyond, and Side Show. Other credits include work at such theatres as The McCallum, The Hollywood Bowl, CLO South Bay, Colony Theatre, El Camino CPA, Cabrillo, Reprise! and the Laguna Playhouse in shows including City of Angels, The Music Man, Carousel, Guys and Dolls, Follies and Spitfire Grill. Kevin has also performed in L.A.’s Disney Hall, at the Hollywood Bowl, and Kodak Theatre and in concert with the California Philharmonic, Salon at the Taper and the Gindi Center. www.kevinearley.com
JOHN CAIRD (Bookwriter/Director) is a freelance director and writer working in theatre, opera and musical theatre. Recent work in England includes Macbeth at the Almeida Theatre and Hamlet at the National Theatre, both with Simon Russell Beale. In Stockholm, John has recently directed productions of Strindberg’s Dance of Death and Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor, Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest, all at the Royal Dramatic Theatre where he is Principal Guest Director. In Japan, he has recently directed Jane Eyre at the Nissay Theatre, his own adaptation of Teru Miyamoto’s novel Kinshu at the Galaxy Theatre, and his own version of Bernstein’s Candide at the Imperial Theatre. Other productions at London’s National Theatre include Candide, J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, The Seagull with Judi Dench, Pam Gems’ Stanley with Anthony Sher, and Humbleboy by Charlotte Jones with Diana Rigg and Simon Russell Beale. John is an Honorary Associate Director of the RSC, where he has directed over twenty classic and new plays. His RSC productions of Les Misérables and Nicholas Nickleby have won numerous awards around the world, including the Olivier and Tony Awards. Other work includes Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Song and Dance at the Palace Theatre and the Siegfried and Roy Spectacular in Las Vegas. Television work includes Nicholas Nickleby, As You Like It and his own adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry IV for the BBC. In opera, John has directed Verdi’s Don Carlos and Aida at Welsh National Opera, Puccini’s Tosca at Houston Grand Opera and Brief Encounter, a new opera by André Previn, for which John also wrote the libretto. Brief Encounter had its World Premiere at Houston Grand Opera in March, 2009, and has recently been released by Deutsche Grammophon. Published work as a librettist and lyricist includes a new version of John Gay’s Beggar’s Opera with the composer Ilona Sekacz, first performed at the RSC; a new adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan which played at the RSC and the National; Children of Eden with composer Stephen Schwartz; Jane Eyre with Paul Gordon; a new version of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide with specially commissioned new lyrics by Richard Wilbur and Stephen Sondheim; and Brief Encounter with music by André Previn. “THEATRE CRAFT,” John’s new book on directing, was published by Faber & Faber in London and New York in March, 2010. www.johncaird.com
PAUL GORDON(Music, Lyrics/Orchestrations) was nominated for a 2001 Tony Award for composing the music and lyrics to the Broadway musical Jane Eyre, directed by John Caird and Scott Schwartz. He won a 209 Ovation award for his score to Daddy Long Legs and won the 2007 Bay Area Critics Circle Award for his book to the musical Emma. Daddy Long Legs, written with John Caird, had its first production at Rubicon Theatre in Ventura, California in the fall of 2009, winning three Ovation Awards. The production has since gone on to play numerous theatres across the country. His other works include Analog and Vinyl, Death: The Musical, Being Ernest, The Sportswriter, and Little Miss Scrooge. For more information, please visit www.paulgordonmusic.com.
DIRECTORS, DESIGNERS AND PRODUCERS
JULIE MCBRIDE (Musical Director) holds degrees from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the Mannes College of Music. Broadway and other New York credits include American Idiot, Next to Normal, In The Heights, The Addams Family, The LionKing, CHIX 6 ( Queens Theatre in the Park), Altar Boyz (Westchester Broadway Theatre), Inner Voices: Solo Musicals (Zipper Theatre), The Happy Elf (music written by Harry Connick Jr.), Judas and Me (NYMF), and Pride and Prejudice (Eastman Theatre). Regional credits include Daddy Long Legs (Northlight Theatre, La Mirada Center for the Performing Arts, and Laguna Playhouse), Unknown Soldier (Huntington Theatre), Suprema ( Oʼneill Music Theatre Conference), Room 16 (Goodspeed) and Tales From The Bad Years (Theatreworks Palo Alto). She has served on the faculties of Syracuse Universityʼs Tepper Program and The Juilliard School (Drama Division, MAP).
BRAD HAAK (Musical Supervisor/Orchestrations) serves as music director and conductor for Mary Poppins, now in its fifth year on Broadway. Other Broadway credits include music direction and arrangements for Elton John's Lestat, music direction for Chance and Chemistry – A Centennial Celebration of Frank Loesser (featuring Sir Paul McCartney) and orchestrations for Children and Art - A 75th Birthday Celebration of Stephen Sondheim. Brad is also Assistant conductor for the 1st National Tour of Disney's The Lion King. Other credits as Music Supervisor and Orchestrator for composer Paul Gordon include Jane Austin's Emma (Old Globe Theater) Jane Eyre in Tokyo, and Little Miss Scrooge. International credits also include Honk! in Singapore and Manilla, the Philippines. Recent regional credits: Follies at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and Les Miserables at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire. Brad is a graduate of Northwestern University and is a native of Chicago.
NELL BALABAN (Associate Director) has been a part of the Daddy Long Legs company since the show’s first workshop. Recent projects include Katharine Heller’s My Dad’s Crazier than Your Dad at last year’s New York Fringe Festival, Heartbreak House and Too Much Candy for Brave New World Repertory in Brooklyn; and The Boy in the Basement, for which she received an Outstanding Direction Award at the 2008 NY Fringe Festival. At Manhattan Theatre Club, she directed a staged reading of the new musical Lucky Break, and is currently developing several new shows including Death: The Musical with Paul Gordon. Nell has served as Assistant/Associate Director to Scott Schwartz on many projects including Golda’s Balcony (Broadway), Much Ado About Nothing (The Alley), Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (Paper Mill) and The Foreigner (Roundabout).
CHRISTINA M. BURCK(Production Manager) has served as Production Manager at Rubicon Theatre Company for the past six and a half years. In addition to production managing their main stage season, she has served as Production Manager/Stage Manager for Daddy Long Legs at various theatres across the country as well as Production Manager/Stage Manager for The Best is Yet to Come: The Music of Cy Coleman both at Rubicon and Off-broadway. Additional credits at include Production Stage Manager for Spit Like A Big Girl, You Can’t Take It With You, A Time for Love, Man of La Mancha, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Turn of the Screw, Mating Dance of the Werewolf, and the BeckettFest at Rubicon; and Far Away, Tartuffe, Stand-Up Shakespeare, Richard II, Diva on the Verge starring Julia Migenes, and The Cherry Orchard starring Alfred Molina and Stephanie Zimbalist at the Odyssey Theatre. Other credits include Assistant Stage Manager for The Full Monty and Fiddler on the Roof at Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities, The Awful Grace of God: A Portrait of Robert F. Kennedy at the Court Playhouse, ‘Night, Mother at Interact, As You Like It with Circus Theatricals, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune at the Tamarind, and Spit Like a Big Girl at The Met. Christina also served as Production Manager at the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble in West L.A. for over four years.
DAVID FARLEY (Scenic/Costume Designer) was nominated for the Tony Award for Costume Design, and he and Timothy Bird were nominated for the Tony Award for Best Set Design for Sunday in the Park with George at the Roundabout Theatre. They also won the Outer Critics’ Circle Award for Outstanding Set Design (Play or Musical), and David was nominated for Outstanding Costume Design (Play or Musical), along with an Outstanding Revival of a Musical nomination. He and Timothy Bird won the Olivier Award and the Evening Standard Best Design Awards, as well as the Critics’ Circle Award, for the productions at the Wyndhams Theatre and the Menier Chocolate Factory. Current shows include Terrible Advice at the Chocolate Factory, London, directed by Frank Oz; and The Rocky Horror Show on tour in Europe, directed by Sam Buntrock. Other recent theatre includes Romeo and Juliet at Dramaten, Stockholm, directed by John Caird; A Little Night Music at the Walter Kerr Theatre, New York, and The Garrick Theatre, West End, Directed by Trevor Nunn; Kiss Me, Kate at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Ontario, directed by John Doyle; Dialogues Des Carmelites (Guildhall), directed by Stephen Barlow; The Tempest at Dramaten, Stockholm, directed by John Caird; Oklahoma! at Chichester Festival Theatre directed by John Doyle; Sunday in the Park with George at the 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle; 13, directed by Jeremy Sams’ on Broadway; Sweeney Todd (Gate Theatre, Dublin); set, costumes (and the plant!) design on Little Shop of Horrors which also transferred to the West End; Take Flight and The Last Five Years (Menier Chocolate Factory); tick, tick BOOM! (Chocolate Factory, Rubicon and Coronet Theatres); Corpse! (Salisbury Playhouse); The Lemon Princess (West Yorkshire Playhouse); and A Little Fir Tree and Macbeth (both at the Sheffield Crucible).
PAUL TOBEN (Lighting Designer) Recent New York credits include: The Story of my Life (Broadway), The Judy Show (DR2), Saturn Nights (Incubator Arts Project), Electra in a One Piece and The Realm (The Wild Project), Futurity (HERE Arts Center), and Romeo and Juliet (Columbia Stages). Regionally, Paul’s work has been seen at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, TheatreWorks, Northlight, Theatre by the Sea and Flat Rock Playhouse, among others. Paul spent three seasons at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, including designs of Caravan Man and Demon Dreams. Paul has served as Associate Designer for Anything Goes, Everyday Rapture, Bye Bye Birdie, Sunday in the Park with George and Pal Joey (Broadway); Play Dead (New York & Las Vegas); and for National Tours of Spring Awakening, A Bronx Tale and Annie. www.paultoben.com
T. THERESA SCARANO (Prop Supervisor), a native of Roswell, New Mexico, currently lives in Southern California. Her multi-faceted career of over 25 years spans theatre and dance in varying capacities, including tech director and prop designer, as well as set designer and builder. She has stage managed for California Ballet, Kairos Dancers and currently for Dancing Images Dance Company. Theresa served as both Scenery Warehouse Manager and Prop Master at San Bernardino Civic Light Opera. She originated and authored a theatre program at Riverside County Juvenile Hall, in which she directed adolescents in performances presented for various audiences including Juvenile Court Judges. Theresa was the manager of Santa Barbara Civic Light Opera’s set rental division prior to it becoming The Set Company, where she then worked as Director of Operations. She is currently director of Premier Sets.
KARYL LYNN BURNS (Rubicon Producing Artistic Director) co-founded Rubicon with husband James O’Neil in 1998. Karyl Lynn has overseen over 80 productions, special events and festivals. For more than a decade prior to starting Rubicon, Karyl Lynn was CEO of State of the Arts, an arts management and marketing firm. Clients included Ventura Chamber Music Festival, New West Symphony, Ensemble Theatre Company, PCPA Theaterfest, Theatre League, Broadway Producer Normand Kurtz, and the late Tony® Award-winning playwright Dale Wasserman. An active arts advocate, Karyl Lynn co-founded ArtCom (now the Santa Barbara Performing Arts League). She served on the Conceptual Oversight Group for Working Artists Ventura (WAV), and has served on the Downtown Cultural District Committee for the City of Ventura, and the Events & Festivals and Arts Advisory Committees for the City of Santa Barbara. She is a past President of the Board of Access Theatre, the company that pioneered the term “accessible theatre” and integrated the talents of artists who were disabled and hard-of-hearing with those of actors who were non-disabled. Karyl Lynn worked with students from Oak Meadow School who received the United Nations “Global 500” Award for their work on environmental issues. For The Dream Foundation, she produced a PSA directed by Mimi Leder and starring Jeff Bridges. As an event planner, Karyl Lynn and her staff coordinated the 10th Annual “Cool Comedy, Hot Cuisine” in Santa Monica with Robin Williams, Howie Mandel and Bob Saget, emceed by Bob Costas. She managed and promoted a charity concert for Scleroderma Research with singer Sheryl Crow at the Santa Barbara County Bowl. Her company also coordinated several charity film premieres, including “Evita,” “Casper” and “Wild America.” For Capps for Congress, she managed a luncheon with First Lady Hillary Clinton as keynote speaker. In addition to her producing work for Rubicon, Karyl Lynn is also an award-winning actress and sound designer.
JAMES O'NEIL (Rubicon Artistic Director) co-founded Rubicon Theatre Company in 1998. Jim’s Rubicon directing credits include Fiddler on the Roof (Indy Award), the World Premiere of The Spin Cycle by David Rambo, Will Rogers' America, A Delicate Balance, The Diary of Anne Frank, Man of La Mancha, The Night of the Iguana, A Streetcar Named Desire (Indy Award), Driving Miss Daisy (NAACP Award), All My Sons (2004 Ovation Award for Best Production of a Play), Sylvia, The Glass Menagerie, Jesus Christ Superstar, Love Letters and Romeo and Juliet. Other directing credits include The Lion in Winter, The Petrified Forest, Inherit the Wind and regional premieres of John Ford Noonan’s A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking and Rupert Holmes’ Drood! Prior to starting Rubicon, Jim worked for more than 25 years as a producer, director and actor. He received his BFA from California Institute of the Arts. While on staff at Landmark Entertainment Group, Jim directed a multi-million dollar animatronics/special effects show in Japan, supervising all aspects of production and creative direction for themed attractions in Sanrio’s Harmonyland. As Associate Producer/Artistic Associate for Santa Barbara Repertory Theatre, Jim helmed a new works program. As an actor, he received rave reviews in the role of Pontius Pilate in the National Tour of Jesus Christ Superstar starring Ted Neeley, Carl Anderson and Irene Cara. Other roles include Dr. Prospero in the American regional premiere of Return to the Forbidden Planet at the American Heartland Theatre in Kansas City, John Adams in 1776, John in Oleanna, John in Lips Together, Teeth Apart, The Duke/Dr. Carrasco in Man of La Mancha, and Adam in the first reading of Dale Wasserman’s Western Star. For Rubicon he has appeared in Love Letters, The Rainmaker, The Devil’s Disciple,Dancing at Lughnasa, The Turn of the Screw and most recently as Claudius in Hamlet (Indy Award). Jim is the recipient of an Outstanding Contribution to the Theatre REP Award and a Friend of Education Award from the California State Board of Education (for Rubicon’s outreach programs), and accepted the L.A. Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Sustained Excellence on behalf of Rubicon.
DAVID ELZER (Producer) is the Ovation Award-winning theatrical producer for The Marvelous Wonderettes (Los Angeles & Off-Broadway), The Best Is Yet to Come (Off-Broadway and at Rubicon), Sister Act: The Musical, Jewtopia (Off-Broadway), The Laramie Project (Laguna Playhouse) and Catalpa and Shyness is Nice (at the Alliance). David’s latest project is the smash-hit, critically-acclaimed world premiere musical Having It All. He also produced the LA Drama Critics’ Circle and LA Weekly Award-winning Life Could Be A Dream, which ran at the Hudson Theatre in Hollywood and at the Laguna Playhouse. Through his publicity company DEMAND PR, David represents many theaters in Los Angeles including Rubicon Theatre Company, Celebration Theatre, Colony Theatre Company, Cabrillo Music Theatre, Furious Theatre Company, La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, NoHo Arts Center, Open Fist Theatre Company, Theatre Tribe and West Coast Ensemble.
MICHAEL JACKOWITZ (Executive Producer) is the Executive Producer of a number of new musicals, including: the American Premiere of My Fairytale, a musical about Hans Christian Andersen by award-winning composer Stephen Schwartz at PCPA Theaterfest for the 2011 Centennial Celebration of Solvang, CA; Abyssinia: Praise Singer, a musical at Hackney Empire in London as part of the 2012 Olympic Festival; Séance on a Wet Afternoon, the new opera by Stephen Schwartz(OSB, NYC Opera and upcoming at Opera Queensland in Australia in 2013); and The Best Is Yet To Come: The Music of Cy Coleman devised and directed by David Zippel (Rubicon Theatre Company, Ventura / 59E59 Off-Broadway). Michael is also a Producer of the 50th Anniversary revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying on Broadway starring Daniel Radcliffe (8 Tony Award Nominations, including Best Musical Revival). Past productions include: The Food Chain by Nicky Silver at the Westside Theater directed by Robert Falls and starring Hope Davis and Phyllis Newman; AVOW by Bill C. Davis at the Century Theater; tick, tick…BOOM!, by Jonathan Larson directed by Scott Schwartz at the Coronet Theatre in L.A. following its successful run at the Rubicon Theatre; I Do, I Do at Queens Theater in the Park with Donna McKechnie; My Antonia, an adaptation of the Willa Cather novel by Scott Schwartz at Rubicon and Pacific Resident Theatre Company in L.A. (LA Weekly Nominee, Best Production). Concurrently, Michael produced the World Premiere of It’s Only Life (Ovation Award: Best Book/Music/Lyrics of an original work) by John Bucchino, directed by Daisy Prince. Michael is co-partner of M&M Productions with Marvin Kahan and is a graduate of the Commercial Theater Institute’s Producing Seminar, class of 1996. He continues to serve as Rubicon Theatre’s Director of New Work and currently enjoys his “day job” as a physician at The Farber Center, NYC’s first freestanding state-of-the-art radiation oncology practice. www.michaeljackowitz.com
RUBICON THEATRE COMPANY (Co-producer) is a non-profit regional theatre company based in Ventura, California. True to the vision of founders Karyl Lynn Burns and James O’Neil, Rubicon offers an environment where artists are nurtured and respected, and where commitment and risk are encouraged. Rubicon has received critical and popular acclaim for fresh, invigorating interpretations of classics, dramas, comedies and musicals; and for the presentation of World Premieres. Rubicon recently received the L.A. Drama Critics Award for “Sustained Excellence,” and has received multiple L.A. Stage Alliance, Ovation, Garland, NAACP and Indie Awards. Rubicon has presented a diverse repertoire of productions and events with esteemed artists including Ed Asner, George Ball, David Birney, Susan Clark, Dana Delany, Cliff DeYoung, Bonnie Franklin, Joseph Fuqua, Joel Grey, Harold Gould, Larry Hagman, Stacy Keach, Michael Learned, Amanda McBroom, Robert Morse, Ted Neeley, Linda Purl, Jenny Sullivan, Joe Spano, Bruce Weitz, Lillias White and Stephanie Zimbalist. The late Jack Lemmon and John Ritter both made their final stage appearances with Rubicon. Deeply rooted in the region it serves, Rubicon offers extensive outreach and education programs. The company is governed by an active Board of Directors and supported by a Board of Advisors and volunteer auxiliary. www.rubicontheatre.org
CINCINNATI PLAYHOUSE IN THE PARK (Co-producer) Founded in 1960 and recipient of the 2004 Regional Theatre Tony Award and winner of the 2007 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical for Company, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park is celebrating its 50th season this year. The Playhouse is known for its artistic excellence, commitment to new works, extensive educational programming and as an artistic home for some of America’s best actors, directors, designers and theatre professionals. Since 1992, the Playhouse has been led by Producing Artistic Director Edward Stern and Executive Director Buzz Ward. During their tenure, the theatre has produced more than 25 World Premieres, many of which have achieved success nationally and internationally and now attracts nearly 200,000 people annually to its two theatres and maintains a subscriber community of more than 15,000. The Playhouse family includes a Board of 55 dedicated trustees, an exceptional full-time staff of 71 and hundreds of talented artists. www.cincyplay.com
THEATREWORKS (Co-producer) Led by Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley and Managing Director Phil Santora, TheatreWorks is celebrating its 40th season of award-winning theatre in the Silicon Valley. As one of the largest regional repertory companies in the San Francisco Bay Area, it produces eight mainstage productions annually at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts and the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto, as well as the New Works Festival, play readings and a variety of education outreach programs. Nationally recognized as a premiere breeding ground for new musicals, TheatreWorks presented its 53rd World Premiere with this co-production of Daddy Long Legs. Please visit www.theatreworks.org
