COPPERFIELD! The New Musical
English author Charles Dickens’ semi-autobiographical coming-of-age novel, David Copperfield, is now the subject of a new musical adaptation, COPPERFIELD! The New Musical. Written by Jeffrey Scharf (book, music, and lyrics), COPPERFIELD! is playing a limited Off-Broadway engagement at The Duke on 42nd Street. The complex, chock-full two-act show details the adventures in the titular character’s life journey and celebrates his resilience and triumph over the difficulties he faced from birth to adulthood. After loss, abuse, and betrayal, he became a world-renowned writer and happily married man.
Directed and choreographed by Gabriel Barre, the classic story, combining fact with fiction, is set in England from 1835-70, and presented as a memory play, with the adult David Copperfield (a reflective Bobby Conte) serving as narrator. He recounts the major episodes, places, and people in his life in direct address to the audience. He observes the action on stage, interacts with his own younger self, and thoughtfully writes in his notebook. It’s a clear reference to how Dickens originally published the book, as a series of monthly installments published in 1849 and 1850; David Copperfield was then published in full as one book (which, to this day, has never gone out of print).
The first-person narration is interwoven with enactments of the protagonist’s most defining reminiscences, and a whopping 31 segments of original song and dance (orchestrations and arrangements by Sonny Paladino), performed by a multi-talented cast of thirteen actors/musicians. All but two of them – Conte’s mature Copperfield and the young David, played by the sympathetic and delightful Calvin Knegten (alternating with Henry Wichters, who is seen in the production photos) – appear in multiple roles. But because of the plethora of figures and subplots, the show’s multi-casting is sometimes confusing. Although, under Barre’s direction, the actors distinguish the individual personalities, demeanors, and speech patterns in spirited portrayals that often border on parodic exaggeration and bring laughs to the serious theme, it helps to have a prior knowledge of the story and its characters to follow along.
Among the most significant antagonists are David’s contemptible stepfather Mr. Murdstone (Will Reynolds, capturing his hateful and villainous qualities), who brings in his equally cruel sister Jane (a stern Tatiana Wechsler) to manage the household. He beats the young boy, brutally controls him and his loving mother Clara (a sweet, gentle, frightened, and obedient Cathryn Wake), singing “Mr. Murdstone Is the Master Now.” Murdstone separates them by sending her son off, first to boarding school, under the sadistic headmaster Mr. Creakle (Alexander Sovronsky), then, after the death of his mother in childbirth, to work twelve-hour days, six days a week, in the sweatshop of Murdstone’s wine-merchant business.
At school he meets the charismatic James Steerforth (portrayed with deceptive charm by Owen Squire Smith), who initially acts as an older brother to the only child, but later seduces and carelessly abandons Little Em’ly (Nancy O’Connor), David’s early crush and the fiancée of his close friend, fisherman Ham (Jed Feder). And after completing his education at another school, he meets the deceitful clerk Uriah Heep (also played by Reynolds, with a laughable accent and intonation), who claims to be “’umble” (as asserted in the song “Humble Is, Humble Was”) but defrauds his employer and causes him and his family severe financial hardship.
Other more likable characters who love and support Copperfield are his mother’s loyal housemaid Peggotty (Amelia Cormack), his great-aunt Betsey Trotwood (Kara Mikula) and her kindhearted cousin Mr. Dick (Aaron Michael Ray), who help him and take him in when he has nowhere else to go, and his spendthrift landlord Mr. Micawber (Andy Taylor), who provides both comic relief, singing with optimism that “Something Will Turn Up,” and moral conscience, exposing the illegal actions of the duplicitous Heep.
David’s two romantic interests – the impractical and inexperienced Dora (portrayed with apropos naïveté by Wake) and the steadfast Agnes (movingly embodied by Wechsler) – give him comfort in their friendship with one another and their unwavering devotion to him in marriage (first to Dora, then, after her untimely death and his period of grieving, to Agnes). Conte and Wechsler bring their rich voices to the emotional duet “If Only You Knew My Heart” and the company concludes the show with the uplifting finale “I Am Home” – two of its most memorable and affecting songs.
It’s all staged in Victorian costumes (by Jen Caprio, with hair and wigs by J. Jared Janas), on a minimalist bi-level set (byEdward Pierce) decked with ship riggings on the upper sides and roll-in furniture that identifies the changes in locale below. Members of the cast also move off the main stage, through and in front of the aisles, for an up-close and personal experience with the audience. The shifting scenes and moods are reinforced with dramatic lighting (by Jeff Croiter) and sound (by Shannon Slaton) that include flashes of red as the young David is being beaten by Murdstone and the lightning and thunder of a storm at sea that takes the lives of two of the contrasting supporting characters.
In keeping with Dickens’ novel, the new musical version of COPPERFIELD! is long and challenging. Some of the songs reiterate the dialogue rather than advance the story, and the large number of secondary characters, multi-cast actors, and subsidiary plotlines could use some tightening for a more clearly focused and compelling stage production. With that said, fans of the epic story will appreciate seeing it brought to life in the theater by a vibrant cast.
COPPERFIELD! The New Musical
At The Duke on 42nd Street
229 West 42nd St.
Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes, one intermission
Through December 6, 2026
