The grown-up David Copperfield (Bobby Conte, right) celebrates with the Peggotty family: from left, Peggotty (Amelia Cormack), her brother Mr. Peggotty (Alexander Sovronsky, rear), and nephew Ham (Jed Feder), in Copperfield! The New Musical.
The producers of Copperfield! have added the subtitle The New Musical, presumably to alert anyone who saw the notorious 1981 flop Copperfield, which ran only 39 performances, that this show is not a revival of that one, which New York Times critic Frank Rich described as “the kind of musical that sends you out of the theater humming every score other than the one you’ve just heard.” On the contrary, the new Copperfield! is an energetic and melodious delight. If Dickens at Christmastime is a tradition, and A Christmas Carol is starting to feel shopworn, Copperfield! is an ideal substitute.
The flighty Dora Spenlow (Cathryn Wake) is courted by David and becomes his first wife.
Director-choreographer Gabriel Barre’s production emphasizes musicianship and theatricality: he has cast outstanding actor-singers who can also play instruments—everything from accordions to spoons. The script splits the role of David into two and structures the work as a memory play: David (Calvin Knegten in the performance I saw) is the child, and DC (Bobby Conte) is the adult David, but they appear together frequently. This pairing reflects that the man was shaped by his childhood experiences, and the boy, whose father died before he was born, is observing his youthful hope of being a writer slowly come to fruition.
Charismatic older student James Steerforth (Owen Squire Smith, left) befriends young David (Henry Witcher, who alternates with Calvin Knegten) at Mr. Creakle’s school.
His experiences include his mother Clara’s delivery of him, attended by her loyal maid and companion Peggotty (Amelia Cormack) and her late husband’s man-hating great-aunt, Betsey Trotwood (Kara Mikula), who is determined the child will be a girl—and her heir. When Mikula sings “Betsey Trotwood Copperfield” in the first minutes, the show kicks off in high gear and doesn’t let up:
A girl, a girl,
She’ll have her auntie’s curl.
Eyes of blue and hair of flame.
Intellect that few can claim.
But after Betsey learns the baby is a boy, she storms off. “Aunt Betsey vanished into the night like a discontented fairy,” says David, “never to return.”
Fans of the novel will find most of the major characters and events in Jeffrey Scharf’s book (he also wrote the folk-inflected music and lyrics). The cruel Mr. Murdstone marries Clara, and, with his sister Jane, takes over Clara’s home and drives her to an early grave. David is sent to a boarding school run by the abusive Mr. Creakle (Alexander Sovronsky), yet there he meets a protector in James Steerforth (Owen Squire Smith), an older boy. Kicked out of school, David is given a job at Murdstone’s factory cleaning wine bottles for reuse, and he shares lodgings with the grandiloquent Mr. Micawber (Andy Taylor): “Under the impression that your peregrinations in this metropolis have not been extensive and you might—in short, lose your way—I have come to guide you to our residence.”
But when the Micawbers flee creditors in the dead of night, David walks to Dover to find his aunt. With the advice of her companion, Mr. Dick (Aaron Michael Ray), Betsey defies the Murdstones and takes him in.
In the song “By the Sea,” the cast plays instruments and rocks David as if he were on a rolling ship as Peggotty (second from left) describes her brother’s home—an overturned boat.
Scharf’s music is lively and varied, from wistful ballad to sea chantey, and the rhymes are overwhelmingly perfect, a rarity in modern musicals. When David returns home from the boarding school, he sings the moving “I Am Home”:
By the fire,
My mother waits to be embraced
All my dire
And gloomy days erased.
The welcome of her arms flung open wide.
As the adult David, Bobby Conte has a strong tenor that reaches down to baritone; he’s energetic and articulate throughout—an ideal leading man. All the actors play multiple roles well, but one may miss David’s school friend Traddles (just a chorus name now) and Barkis, Peggotty’s comic suitor.
However, two actors deserve special credit. Cathryn Wake plays David’s first wife, Dora, as more than the infuriating simp of the novel; here her vivacity and insecurity garner sympathy. Also, although Will Reynolds’s Murdstone is a traditional, black-clad cad, his Uriah Heep is more layered than in the book: obviously unctuous and repellent, but not a caricature.
Agnes Wickfield (left) meets Dora (right) at a tea, under the watchful eyes of Dora’s aunts (Nancy O’Connor, center left, and Kara Mikula, center right). Photographs by Jeremy Daniel.
Andy Taylor has the most thankless job as Micawber, a role that W.C. Fields played in Hollywood’s classic 1935 film. One of Fields’s trademarks was emphasizing the sesquipedalian language that Dickens supplied Micawber. Taylor doesn’t try to imitate Fields, but, for anyone who has seen the film, he can’t match the iconic comedian's delivery.
Scharf also glosses over Dickens’s more sordid parts, especially a character who turns to prostitution, and some notably vicious villains. Still, in every respect this production is engaging and joyously theatrical. It only runs to Dec. 6, but it deserves to outlast that other Copperfield! by much longer.
The Act Two Theatricals production of Copperfield! The New Musical runs through Dec. 6 at The Duke (229 W. 42nd St., 2nd floor). Evening performances are at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and Monday; matinees are at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. For tickets and more information, visit copperfieldthemusical.com.
Book, Music & Lyrics: Jeffrey Scharf
Direction & Choreography: Gabriel Barre
Music Supervision, Arrangements & Orchestrations: Sonny Paladino
Scenic Design: Edward Pierce
Costume Design: Jen Caprio
Lighting Design: Jeff Croiter
Sound Design: Shannon Slaton
