Dickens’s Davy Copperfield is the musical retelling of the classic tale that covers and crystalizes the first ten years in the hardscrabbe life of young “Davy”.
When Charles Dickens wrote it, David Copperfield was released monthly, and became a popular newspaper column. In Janet Stanford’s script, each chapter is announced with a subtitle that hints about the upcoming milepost. In Davy’s first scene, we see him loved and cherished by his Mum and longtime housekeeper. But his life is soon shattered as everything deteriorates around him. He’s buffeted with ongoing travails, losing any sense of home, and is essentially tossed into the air with each misfortune. Interestingly, as a newborn he was literally tossed out by the visiting Aunt who peers into the blanket expecting to see a girl and, in her dismay, heaves him into the air, barely caught by the family, a simple way of foreshadowing that young Davy is about to be tossed into an unsettled and insecure life.
Once his father dies and his Mum remarries, Davy is shipped off to a strict boarding school. He finds a way to make friends and even settles into a sense of home, but even that doesn’t last when his life turns upside down after his Mum dies. With his stepfather controlling Davy’s meager funds, the boy is sent off for child labor, working in a bottle factory in freezing and dangerous conditions. When he reaches the end of his rope there, the only thing left is to find his only remaining blood relative, who, according to the stepfather, abhors him and has set up a household with a lunatic from the insane asylum. What kind of refuge is that? Still, Davy’s life has become so unbearable that his only recourse is to trudge across the countryside to Dover where she lives. Even the couple of books strapped together in a belt, all that has passed down from his long-deceased father, get stripped away from him. He’s penniless, ragged, destitute, but he keeps going.
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The story reveals the strength and courage of a youngster determined to see for himself if life will give him a chance to feel a sense of home.
The ensemble performers take on multiple roles, complete with sound effects — clear direction by Janet Stanford helps to orchestrate all the moving parts, and movement director Robert Bowen Smith assures a fun pace with the cast portraying various characters, chickens, stubborn goats, and even a charming carriage riding off along the side of the stage with a steady clippety clop from the horse.[ezcol_1third]
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Dickens’s Davy Copperfield
closes March 31, 2017
Details and tickets
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Each performer is a standout, hailing from heavy-hitting productions throughout the area. I caught David Schlumpf as Elf and Jessica Lauren Ball as Cinderella, Alexandra Palting in Princess and the Pauper, Jaysen Wright in Roberto Clemente, Emily Kester in Double Trouble and Sophie Schulman in Junie B. Jones– dynamic actors all. To get this incredible range of performers is reason enough to see the show. The creative story telling of this classic tale seals the deal.
Sophie Schulman as Davy is an absolute gift. As Davy, Schulman sparkles with energy and captures the rambunctious spirit of a lad who originally dreams of being a hero then settles into survivor mode with each smack down from Fate. Davy is confronted with hardship, humiliation and threats along the way but comes through with an unrelenting inner spirit that shows how even the lowest point can be endured.
And then there’s the music and lyrics by Timothy Guillot, as good as if not better than much of what I’ve heard on Broadway shows. “I’m Going Home” is a soothing and memorable refrain and the other songs also complement the energy and pace of the story. Davy’s journey shows how home can be interpreted many different ways, no matter the knocks and bruises along the way.
Themes of being a hero and Going Home open and close the show. Interestingly, the show could be a metaphor for what many feel is an unrelentingly dark time, with youngsters being tossed from their families to fend for themselves, safety nets being snatched away and basic necessities no longer available to large swaths of people. Watching this lad, cast and played with such verve by a young actress. is adoringly soothing encouragement to endure hard knocks and keep walking ragged and barefoot along the road to find a possible hoped-for home.
Dickens’s Davy Copperfield . Book by Janet Stanford . Freely adapted from Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield . Director: Janet Stanford . Music and Lyrics by Timothy Guillot . Cast: Jessica Lauren Ball. Emily Kester, Alexandra Palting, David Schlumpf, Sophie Schulman, Jaysen Wright . Movement Director— Robert Bowen Smith . Scenic designer—Andrew Cohen . Costume designer—Katie Touart . Lighting—Max Doolittle , Sound– Justin Schmitz . Stage manager—Che Wernsman . Produced at Imagination Stage . Reviewed by Debbie Minter Jackson.
