A few of my fellow Ph.D. students and I journeyed into the West End on Friday to see the musical adaptation of one of my corpus texts: Jean Webster's Daddy Long Legs. My confession is that the terribly saccharine texts that make up my corpus (with the exception of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, it was the movie adaptation that I loved) were childhood favourites. Anne of Green Gables, Pollyanna, and DLL made my small heart over-brim with glee when I read them, especially DLL because I loved a good romance.
Fast-forward twenty years and I am researching these books with a hint of shame, particularly regarding Webster's classic. The romance I thought so adorable as a child looks a bit creepy through adult eyes.
Brief synopsis:
The orphan Judy is sent to college by an anonymous benefactor who she writes letters to, calling him 'Daddy-Long-Legs' as she has only seen his shadow, which resembles the spider. She occasionally shortens it to 'Daddy,' imagines he is quite old, and develops daughter-like feelings for him through the course of her letter writing, as he is the only 'family' she has. Never once does he respond, though (in his defense for this next bit).
It soon becomes clear that he is reading the letters, because he appears in his real-life form as Jervis Pendleton, the uncle of one of Judy's classmates. They fall in love, and Judy writes him (as 'Daddy') all about it. He also does a bit of interfering because he doesn't want her to go off with boys her own age and develop a more normal relationship (please note some of this summary is coloured with my opinion).
They of course get married. She is not at all perturbed by the fact that he is Daddy and Jervis, though her readers 100 years later might be (are).
So, enter the musical, which has gotten rave reviews, touring 16 American cities only to make its home in London for a span of 6 weeks. I was really excited to go see it, particularly as they have given Jervis a voice. The book is told mostly through Judy's letters to Daddy-Long-Legs, and so we only know her side of the romance, which is what makes Jervis's role so menacing. But the play does a gorgeous job of showing his struggle as well.
They are both on stage together the whole time, but without necessarily interacting. Instead she reads her letters aloud to him as she writes, and he occasionally echoes her using her words from the letters. Then, in moments of moral dilemma, he tries to write her a letter revealing himself as both 'Daddy' and Jervis, singing his frustration about the situation. We see why he steps in as Uncle Jervis, his curiosity about who this orphan is getting the better of him. We see him as jealous lover wanting her to stay away from the college boys. Most importantly, I think, we see his guilt for taking both sides of the coin - both as father-figure and lover. Suddenly transforming what was a delightful storyline with a rather troubling edge into a delightful storyline with a charming romance.
I have never walked away from a musical so light and happy. It reminded me of the feeling I got when I read the book all those many years ago, before I realised how troubling the 'Daddy'/Jervis character was, and it was nice to have that feeling restored. I highly recommend seeing the musical if you can, but, as they say on Reading Rainbow, 'don't take my word for it' - see for yourself it's charm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZqFg4D7t-I
