Who: Megan McGinnis, Adam Halpin, Paul Alexander Nolan, Paul Gordon, John Caird, Michael Jackowitz
What: Livestreamed reunion of cast, crew, creatives benefiting the Actors Fund
Where: Broadway Podcast Network on YouTube and Facebook Live
When: Thursday, May 21, free (donations accepted), 8:00
Why: In May 2016, I raved about director John Caird and composer and lyricist Paul Gordon’s Daddy Long Legs, saying it was “absolutely lovely” and proclaiming that “Megan McGinnis gives one of the most charming and engaging performances of the season.” Directed by John Caird at the Davenport Theatre, the show centered on an American orphan’s coming-of-age as a young woman in a male-dominated society in the early twentieth century. On May 21 at 8:00, McGinnis, who played Jerusha Abbott, Adam Halpin, who costarred as Jervis Pendleton, producer Michael Jackowitz, Caird, who also wrote the book, and Gordon will have a virtual reunion as part of Ken Davenport’s ongoing series “The Producer’s Perspective.”
In announcing the event, Davenport explained, “I discovered the secret of happiness. It’s a virtual reunion of Daddy Long Legs! In 2015, we streamed Daddy Long Legs live to the world, and it became the very first Broadway or off-Broadway show to take our performance virtual. We were seen by over 150k people in 135 countries around the world. And when all the press articles started appearing on our efforts, and when our box office went up, and when our two stars started getting recognized on the street, we knew we were on to something with this streaming thing. And now, five years later, streamin’ is the only thing we have. Since my out-of-the-box-thinking and super courageous artists on Daddy Long Legs were so instrumental in ushering in the idea of theater-to-stream, I couldn’t think of a better group to reunite online during these cray-cray times.” You can watch the show on BroadwayHD (use code DLLBHD) to prepare for the reunion, which is free, but donations will be accepted for the Actors Fund Covid-19 Emergency Relief efforts. Davenport has been one of the busiest theater people around, hosting informal virtual interviews nearly every night, with such luminaries as Stephen Schwartz, Sierra Boggess, Alex Brightman, Ashley Park, Alan Cumming, David Henry Hwang, Marilu Henner, Jenn Colella, Santino Fontana, and more from wherever they are sheltering in place, with Des McAnuff, Kelly Devine, Michael Greif, and others appearing soon. The talks are archived here.