Theatre Raleigh Opens Its Summer Season with the Musical Daddy Long Legs

Here’s to the Anonymous Benefactor, that chestnut from Romantic and gothic potboilers of yore. Over the years, Abel Magwitch, John Beresford Tipton, and even Charles Montgomery Burns (on two very special occasions) have all partaken of the philanthropy that dares not speak its name. With only two actors on stage in the chamber musical Daddy Long Legs, the A. B. will be easy to spot. It’s the male character, Jervis Pendleton, the youthful but wealthy trustee of an orphanage, who takes an interest in the home’s oldest ward, nineteen-year-old Jerusha Abbott. As a single woman without money or family at the dawn of the twentieth century, Jerusha’s prospects are quickly dwindling when Jervis decides to pay for her college education in exchange for regular letters on her progress. Jerusha chafes at disclosing so much of her life to a mystery man. Falling in love with her, Jervis agonizes over whether he should remain anonymous. Megan McGinnis, who originated the role of Jerusha in the musical’s New York and West End productions, directs Theatre Raleigh’s summer season opener.