Copperfield! The New Musical

This Off-Broadway musical is drawn from David Copperfield, the 1850 novel by Charles Dickens. Jeffrey Scharf wrote the book, music and lyrics, and Gabriel Barre directs and choreographs. Act Two Theatricals produces this New York staging, which is billed as a limited run of 10 weeks.

Dickens released the novel in 19 monthly installments across 1849 and 1850 before it appeared as a single volume. David himself narrates, following his own life from infancy to maturity. Of all the books Dickens wrote, it was his personal favorite, and parts of it echo his own experiences.

The musical takes an unusual shape. The cast plays the score on instruments right on stage, and the story does not march through David's life in order. It unfolds inside his mind, as an adult David looks back and asks what he has made of himself. The novel has had other lives too: a 1935 film directed by George Cukor, a 2019 film directed by Armando Iannucci, and a 2022 novel, Demon Copperhead, that moves the story to modern Appalachia.

Do not confuse it with the 1981 Copperfield, a different musical that had a brief Broadway run.

David's boyhood is a run of hard places. At home, his stepfather Mr. Murdstone rules like a cold disciplinarian, and his sister Miss Murdstone is every bit as severe. At Salem House school, the headmaster Mr. Creakle is cruel. Later David is sent to labor in a London warehouse under the hard-driving Mr. Quinion.

Kinder people appear along the way. Peggotty, his mother's maid, acts as a second mother. Her family includes Mr. Peggotty, Ham and Em'ly. David's great-aunt Betsey Trotwood seems bossy and odd but proves shrewd, and her gentle cousin Mr. Dick is easily flustered. In London, David lodges with the endlessly optimistic Mr. Micawber, who loves a long speech. At school he is befriended by Steerforth, the admired head boy, whose charm hides a darker side.

As an adult David finds success and love, and also loss. Dora Spenlow, his first love, and Agnes Wickfield both matter to him. Uriah Heep, the scheming clerk of the lawyer Mr. Wickfield, who slides into heavy drinking, becomes a menace. The pull of the story is how David sorts out who he is and what his life is worth.

Scharf wrote the music and lyrics, and Sonny Paladino created the orchestrations and arrangements. Because this is an actor-musician production, the performers are the band: they play the score themselves while acting their roles. In rehearsal the company traded instruments such as ukuleles, cellos, flutes and guitars.

As of October 2026, Bobby Conte plays melodica and piano in the show as well as the title role, working alongside the actor who plays his younger self. Nancy O'Connor is the music director and conductor, and she also plays Em'ly and other parts. It marks her debut as an actor-musician.

Pierce and Barre designed a flexible, bare-bones playing space in which instruments double as props. Barre chose the actor-musician approach so that the company can seem to live inside David's imagination.

Most actors take on several parts, and the cast list bills many of them as a named role or two plus others. The same actor plays Mr. Murdstone and Uriah Heep, and another plays both David's mother Clara and Dora. In all, 18 performers appear: 14 actors in named roles, two of whom share Young David, and four swings.

As of October 2026, Bobby Conte plays David Copperfield, and Calvin Knegten and Henry Witcher share Young David. Will Reynolds plays Mr. Murdstone and Uriah Heep, Cathryn Wake plays Clara and Dora, and Kara Mikula plays Aunt Betsey Trotwood and Mrs. Steerforth. Andy Taylor plays Mr. Micawber, Amelia Cormack plays Peggotty and Mrs. Micawber, and Tatiana Wechsler plays Agnes Wickfield and Miss Jane Murdstone.

Two of them bring notable credits. Conte originated the role of Calogero in A Bronx Tale The Musical on Broadway in 2016, then appeared in the 2022 revival of Company and the 2024 revival of The Who's Tommy. Taylor originated roles in the Broadway premieres of Titanic and Once, both Tony winners for Best Musical.

The musical grew up far from New York. Excerpts were shown at a showcase in Oakland, California, in spring 2016. The Academy for New Musical Theatre workshopped parts of it, and the Elite Theatre hosted a staged reading. In August 2017, three sold-out performances of the complete show, still as staged readings, took place during New Works Night at Mountain Community Theater.

The first full production ran from December 13 to December 23, 2018. Jewel Theatre Company, whose home is the Colligan Theater in Santa Cruz, sold out the run under the title David Copperfield, The New Musical. In that version, the grown-up David narrated his own past. Kyle Stoner played David, Kelly Ground was Aunt Betsey and Martin Rojas Dietrich played Mr. Micawber.

The New York staging is its first Off-Broadway run. Bobby Conte's casting as David was announced on July 30, 2026, together with the creative team and dates, and the full cast and design team followed on August 17, 2026. Previews began on September 29, 2026, and the official opening is set for October 19, 2026.