Photo Flash: First Look at DADDY LONG LEGS at St. James Theatre

Book is by John Caird with music and lyrics by Paul Gordon; musical supervision and orchestrations by Brad Haak, with additional orchestrations by Paul Gordon; designs by David Farley; lighting design by Paul Toben and sound design by Andrew Bruce. DADDY LONG LEGS is based on the novel by Jean Webster and is bought to the London by St. James Productions in association with Rubicon Theatre Company, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The Gem Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Skylight Music Theatre, TheatreWorks, David Elzer and Executive Producer Michael Jackowitz.

Set in the early 1900s in New England, DADDY LONG LEGS is the vivid account of a young orphan as she blossoms into a beautiful, intelligent and vivacious woman. An anonymous benefactor gives Jerusha Abbott an opportunity to attend college, requiring that she write to him monthly, even though he will not respond. Her letters to him paint a moving portrait of her former life in the orphanage, and the development of her mind and spirit.

Robert Adelman Hancock originated the role of Jervis Pendleton on the US tour of DADDY LONG LEGS in 2009. His extensive theatrical credits include the role of Sky in the US national tour of Mamma Mia!; Fiddler on the Roof at the Rubicon Theatre, California; James Joyce's the Dead at the Court Theatre, Chicago; A Christmas Carol at the Westport Country Playhouse, Connecticut; the world premiere of Muscle for the Pegasus Players, Chicago and Hair at the Hangar Theatre. TV and film credits include Royal Pains, Guiding Light and The Liver.

Megan McGinnis originated the role of Jerusha Abbott on the US tour of DADDY LONG LEGS for which she won the 2010 LA Ovation Award and the 2010 Cincinnati Acclaim Award for Lead Actress in a Musical, the 2010 Indy Award (Santa Barbara) for Performance and the 2011 Elliot Norton Award (Boston) for Outstanding Performance in a Musical. Her credits on Broadway areLes Misérables, Little Women, Beauty and the Beast, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Parade and The Diary of Anne Frank. Further theatre credits are Fiddler on the Roof, James Joyce's the Dead and The Sound of Music on US national tours. Her film credits include The Look, Anywhere But Here, Strong Island Boys and A Goofy Movie and television credits include Wings; Blossom; Blossom in Paris; Sister, Sister and Dear John.

John Caird is an Honorary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Principal Guest Director of the Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm and a freelance theatre and opera director and writer. His National Theatre productions include Hamlet and Humbleboy both with Simon Russell Beale, Stanley with Anthony Sher and his own new version of Bernstein's Candide which won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival. Elsewhere his recent directorial credits include Romeo and Juliet and The Tempestin Stockholm, Jane Eyre, Daddy Long Legs, Beggar's Opera and Kinshu in Tokyo and created new productions of the operas Don Carlos, Tosca, and Don Giovanni at Houston Grand Opera, Canadian Opera Company and Welsh National Opera. He was also the librettist and director for André Previn's new operaBrief Encounter which had its world première at Houston Grand Opera in 2009. His work for the RSC includes productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, Twelfth Night and revivals at the Swan Theatre of Ben Jonson's rarely performed plays Every Man in His Humour and The New Inn. His productions of Nicholas Nickleby, Peter Pan and Les Misérables, all co-directed by Trevor Nunn, won numerous awards both in London and New York. Caird's new production of Puccini's La Bohème recently opened at Houston Grand Opera. Future projects include Tosca, Parsifal, and his new musical with Paul GorDon Little Miss Scrooge. Theatre Craft, his book on directing for the theatre and musical theatre was published by Faber and Faber in 2010.

Paul Gordon won the 2011 Ovation Award for his score to DADDY LONG LEGS. In 2007 he won the Bay Area Critics Circle Award for his book to the musical, Emma, which was first developed at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto and has gone on to have productions at The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Repertory Theater of St. Louis and The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego where it won The San Diego Theatre Critic Circle Award for Best Musical in 2011. His other works include Analog and Vinyl, Death: The Musical, The Sportswriter and the aforementioned Little Miss Scrooge which will have its staged concert premiere this Christmas at the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura, California. Being Earnest, written with Jay Gruska, will have its world premiere at TheatreWorks in April 2013.

The St. James Theatre is located at 12 Palace Street, London SW1E 5JA You may reach The Box Office at 0844 264 2140. You may follow the theatre on their website, Facebook, or Twitter. For more information about DADDY LONG LEGS please visit the production's website. 

No additional fees are charged when booking tickets at the St. James Theatre box office or online at www.stjamestheatre.co.uk - only £1 postage per order.

Photo Credit: Jeanne Tanner

Megan McGinnis and Robert Adelman Hancock 

Megan McGinnis

Megan McGinnis and Robert Adelman Hancock 

Megan McGinnis

Robert Adelman Hancock and Megan McGinnis

Robert Adelman Hancock