“Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born (as I have been informed and believe) on a Friday, at twelve o’clock at night.”
Anyone familiar with English literature—college English majors certainly—has already recognized the above quote. It begins the first chapter of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, the chapter itself entitled “I Am Born, as outstanding a chapter heading as there is on any library shelf.
Given all that, I’m happy to report that Jeffrey Scharf, who wrangled book, music, and lyrics for Copperfield!, this latest musical adaptation of the classic—and oh-so-neatly reworked—is savvy enough to retain the opening sentiment, if not quite verbatim.
(I say “this latest,” because David Copperfield, published in 1849-50, has been in the public domain before there was such a thing as the American musical and before copyright laws evolved. So, surely some version or other has been brought to the stage numerous times. How many is difficult to substantiate. The last Broadway entry was the 1981 Al Kasha-Joel Hirschhorn Copperfield–without exclamation point. Maybe AI can scare up others from over the decades.)
About Copperfield!, I’m eager to report that it’s as reputable and enjoyable a musical adaptation of a classic as I’ve ever been lucky enough to encounter. It’s also important to add immediately that equal praise goes to director-choreographer Gabriel Barre, whose productions over the years have been worthy but who here attains a crowning achievement.
First off, it should be noted that Scharf has given a slight spin on Dickens in that he emphasizes the search for home as a central theme—a universal literary trope again stressed in these two acts. He achieves that when he alters David first words as “Whether I shall be the hero of my own search for home…” (The song “I Am Home” is delivered three times, most significantly as the finale.)
The Scharf-Barre journey is taken by 35-year-old David (Bobby Conte) and young 10-year-old David (Calvin Knegten at the performance I saw, Henry Witcher alternating). Journeying alongside them in multiple roles are 11 actor-musicians playing, singing and acting simultaneously. (Sonny Paladino is music advisor and credited with the tangy arrangements and orchestrations.)
The innumerable Copperfield! pleasures include 35-year-old David and 10-year-old David regularly on stage at the same time. This, of course, neatly underlines the dramatic notion that something of the boy remains in the man and that the mature man retains something of the boy. By the way, it’s a point that Dickens himself didn’t necessarily stress. (Notice that the timeframe given in the program is 1835-70, 1870 being the year of Dicken’s death.)
The endless fun as well as the intensity and suspense of David’s checkered progress flashes excitingly by from the get-go: from David’s losing his mother, to coming first under Peggoty’s care, then to being cruelly treated by stepfather Murdstone and equally grim sister Murdstone, to his friendship with Steerforth, to his 73-mile shlep to Aunt Betsy Trotwood and her childishly wise companion Mr. Dick, to the jovial Mr. and Mrs. Micawber, to marrying the sweet but doomed Dora, and eventually to his marrying the longtime adoring Agnes Wickfield. It’s all here.
And all gamely represented on Edward Pierce’s two-level set as lighted, sometimes darkly, sometimes not, by Jeff Croiter and with Shannon Slaton’s engrossing sound design. Throughout, Barre keeps all eyes darting up, down, all around—the exhilarating tempos never ceasing. His story-telling intentions never faltering.
The instruments-playing ensemble members also never fumble as they charge around, often hurriedly shifting roles while keeping instruments at the ready, thereby making the most of Scharf’s pungent score.
Aside from the fully committed Conte, Knegten, these champions are, in alphabetical order: Amelia Cormack, Jed Feder, Kara Mikula, Nancy O’Connor, Aaron Michael Ray, Will Reynolds, Owen Squire Smith, Alexander Sovronsky, Andy Taylor, Cathryn Wake, and Tatiana Wechsler. Is there a stand-out? Taking on unforgiving Mr. Murdstone as well as phony-humble Uriah Heep and singing “Humbler Is, Humble was” twice, Reynolds makes an indelible impression. Then again, the others all take turns commandeering the spotlight.
From time to time, David Copperfield’s future—like Oliver Twist, among Dickens’ others—looks frighteningly uncertain. The future of the Scharf-Barre Copperfield! looks anything but. Its eventually showing up on school stages alone must be close to guaranteed. Just like London, where “Charles Dickens lived here” plaques are multitudinous, so should this joyful take should show up here there and everywhere in the years to come.
Copperfield! opened October 19, 2026, at The Duke on 42nd Street and runs through December 6. Tickets and information: copperfieldthemusical.com
