Merrimack Repertory Theatre is excited to present Daddy Long Legs, a new musical from John Caird, the Tony and Olivier Award-winning director of Les Miserables and Nicholas Nickleby, and the creators of Jane Eyre. Set in 1912 New England, young Jerusha Abbott is given the opportunity to escape the orphanage she grew up in when an anonymous benefactor spots her potential and pays her way to attend university. As a condition of his generosity, she must write letters updating him on her progress, but he will never respond. What he does not expect is how charming and fascinating her letters will be, making his choice not to write back more difficult than he ever imagined. Daddy Long Legs, directed by John Caird with music and lyrics by Paul Gordon, at Merrimack Repertory Theatre, February 9 - March 4, 2012. Subscriptions and individual tickets are available online at MerrimackRep.org or by calling 978-654-4MRT.

The cast of Daddy Long Legs features Megan McGinnis (Jerusha Abbot) who received a Los Angeles Ovation Award for her performance and Robert Adelman Hancock (Jervis Pendleton), both in their MRT debuts. McGinnis and Hancock originated the roles of Jerusha and Jervis in the 2009 World Premiere of Daddy Long Legs at Rubicon Theatre Company. Megan McGinnis has previously appeared on Broadway as Belle in Beauty and the Beast, as well Les Miserables. Both McGinnis and Hancock are featured on the Daddy Long Legs cast album. Director John Caird has a long list of accomplishments, including Honorary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC); he is the recipient of Tony Awards for Les Miserables and Nicholas Nickleby. The creative team for Daddy Long Legs is Nell Balaban (Assistant Director), David Farley (Scenic/Costume Design), Laura Berquist (Musical Director) Jonathan Burke (Sound Design), and Paul Toben (Lighting Design).

A six-piece offstage band under original Musical Director Laura Berquist (Conductor for National and International Tours of The King and I, Titanic and Miss Saigon) will perform the superb score, which ranges in style from classical musical theatre, to folk, to pop. The period sets and costumes for Daddy Long Legs are by Olivier Award-winner David Farley, who recently received rave reviews for his inventive West End and Broadway designs for Sunday in the Park with George and designed the Broadway revival of A Little Night Music with Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones. He is assisted by Coordinators Teresa Scarano (Props) and David "Spanky" Reynoso (Hair and Make-up). Lighting design is by Paul Toben, who recently designed The Story of My Life on Broadway. Sound design is by Jonathan Burke (Rubicon's Fiddler and Man of La Mancha and work with The Geffen, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the Mark Taper Forum).

Daddy Longs Legs is based on novel by Jean Webster (July 24, 1876 - June 11, 1916), an American writer and author of many books including Daddy-Long-Legs and its sequel Dear Enemy. Her best-known books feature lively and likeable young female protagonists who come of age intellectually, morally and socially, but with enough humor, snappy dialogue and gently biting social commentary to make her books enjoyable to contemporary readers. Webster began writing the novel Daddy-Long-Legs in 1911 while staying at an old farmhouse in Tyringham, Massachusetts. It was published in October 1912 to popular and critical acclaim. It was made into a stage play and a 1952 British stage musical comedy called Love from Judy, as well as films in 1919 starring Mary Pickford, 1931 starring Janet Gaynor and Warner Baxter, a 1935 Shirley Temple adaptation called Curly Top and a 1955 film, Daddy Long Legs starring Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron.