Anyone remember Daddy Long Legs? Cute novel (by Jean Webster), adapted 5 times for film and once for TV as an anime series, about an orphan and her sponsor. Well, it’s headed for the musical stage, in an adaptation by John Caird and Paul Gorden, who created the Broadway musical Jane Eyre.

Caird will direct the show, which is a modest two hander starring Megan McGinnis and Robert Hancock, with a six-piece band under the musical direction of Laura Berquist. The premiere production will be under the auspirces of the Rubicon Theatre Company (in Ventura, CA), running from 17 October – 8 November 2009. Rubicon’s press release sums up the story for us:

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.

I remember it being a cute story and the subject matter made it ideal for an anime adaptation. I wonder how it will fare as a stage musical. Will go the Little Women route and end up being something merely mediocre or if it will end up being something special?

Purchases from Amazon.com

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:
1. Daddy Long Legs Novel by Jean Webster.
2. Daddy Long Legs DVD of the film adaptation.