This show is so iconic, to witness this New North American Tour of the Iconic Tony Award-winning musical at The Dolby Theatre ∙ May 7 – May 18, 2025 – is astounding.Holding onto hope when times are tough can take an awful lot of determination, and sometimes, an awful lot of determination comes in a surprisingly small package. Little Orphan Annie has reminded generations of theatergoers that sunshine is always right around the corner, and now the best-loved musical of all time is set to return in this new production – just as you remember it and just when we need it most. This celebration of family, optimism and the American spirit remains the ultimate cure for all the hard
knocks life throws your way.Some highlighted cast members for me were Annie-Hazel Vogel, Miss Hannigan – Stefanie Londino, Oliver Warbucks – Christopher Swan. Sandy – Kevin. All of the cast members are fantastic, but these 4 had my undivided attention. Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as, “one of the best family
musicals ever penned!”, ANNIE features a book by Thomas Meehan, music by
Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin. All three authors received 1977
Tony Awards® for their work. The original production of ANNIE had its world
premiere on Aug 10, 1976, at the Goodspeed Opera House (Michael J. Price,
Executive Director) and opened on Broadway on April 21, 1977, at the Alvin
Theatre (Neil Simon theatre). It went on to win the New York Drama Critics
Circle Award for Best Musical, seven Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical,
the Grammy for Best Cast Show Album and seven Tony Awards including Best
Musical, Best Book (Thomas Meehan) and Best Score (Charles Strouse, Martin
Charnin). It closed on Broadway after playing 2,377 performances.ANNIE was revived on Broadway in 1997 and again in 2014.
It has been made into a film three times (1982, 1999, 2014) and was most
recently featured as a live television production on NBC. The show remains one
of the biggest Broadway musical hits ever; it has been performed in 28
languages, and running around the world for about 45 years. THOMAS MEEHAN (Book) is a three-time Tony Award winning
librettist for the Broadway musicals Annie, 1977; The Producers, 2001
(co-written with Mel Brooks); and Hairspray, 2003 (co-written with Mark
O’Donnell). He collaborated on many Broadway musicalsincluding I Remember Mama;
Ain’t Broadway Grand; Bombay Dreams (with Meera Syal); Cry Baby (with Mark
O’Donnell); Young Frankenstein (with Mel Brooks); Elf, The Musical (with Bob
Martin); Chaplin (with Christopher Curtis); Rocky; the upcoming Dave, The Musical
(with Nell Benjamin); and the off-Broadway musicals, Annie Warbucks; Death
Takes a Holiday (with Peter Stone) and the upcoming The Lady Eve (with Maury
Yeston). He was a long-time contributor of humor pieces to The New Yorker,
which were published in a collection entitled Yma, Ava, Yma, Abba, Yma, Oona,
Yma, Ida, Yma Aga… and Others, by Simon and Schuster. Mr. Meehan, in
collaboration with the poet J.D. McClatchy, co-authored the libretto of the
opera 1984, composed by Lorin Maazel, first performed at London’s Royal Opera
House at Covent Garden in 2005. He was an Emmy Award winning writer of
television comedy, and a collaborator on screenplays, including Mel Brooks’
Spaceballs, To Be or Not To Be, The Producers and One Magic Christmas. He was a
member of the Council of the Dramatists Guild.MARTIN CHARNIN (Lyrics). Martin’s career in the
entertainment industry began in 1957 when he created the role of Big Deal (one
of Jerome Robbins’ authentic juvenile delinquents) in the original company of
West Side Story. He played the role for exactly 1,000 performances. Since then,
he was involved in over 140 theatrical, television, film, and night club
productions as a director, producer, composer, or lyricist. He is one of the
dozen people who have won Emmys, Tonys, and Grammys, and the Peabody Award for
Broadcasting. Annie, which came to Broadway in 1977, originally ran for 2,377
performances, and has been revived there three times. He directed Annie 19
times (after directing the original production in New York), in London,
Montreal, Amsterdam, and Melbourne as well as Annie’s 14 national U.S.
companies. He collaborated with Charles Strouse, Vernon Duke, Marvin Hamlisch,
Mary Rodgers, and twice with Richard Rodgers on I Remember Mama and Two by Two.
He wrote for, or directed, Fred Astaire, Ethel Merman, Jack Lemmon,
Ann-Margaret, Jack Benny, Anne Bancroft, Betty Hutton, Sutton Foster, Sarah
Jessica Parker, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Bebe Neuwirth, Barbra Streisand, Johnny
Mathis, Larry Kert, Chita Rivera, Jane Lynch, Tony Bennett, Jason Alexander,
and Jay-Z, among countless others, and for his wife, Shelly Burch (who
originated a leading role in the original company of Nine). Most recently,
“Tomorrow” from Annie became one of the 100 most performed musical numbers in
the last century. CHARLES STROUSE (Music). A graduate of New York’s P.S. 87,
Townsend Harris H.S., and the Eastman School of Music, Charles has studied
composition with Aaron Copland, Arthur Berger, and David Diamond in the US and
Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Charles has composed copious chamber music, two piano
concertos, a string quartet and two operas. After which, being broke like most
composers, he was a rehearsal pianist and dance arranger for many shows, played
in bar rooms, ballet classes, at weddings and strip joints (a particular boon
for one who was to write the music for the film The Night They Raided
Minsky’s). One morning in 1960 he awoke to find he had written (with Lee Adams
and Mike Stewart) Bye Bye Birdie (Tony Award), which is still among the most
performed musicals in America, followed by Golden Boy with Sammy Davis, Jr.
(Tony Nomination). Then came, Applause (Tony Award), It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane,
It’s Superman, Rags (Tony Nomination) and Annie (Tony Award). In-between, there
have been scores for movies including Bonnie and Clyde and All Dogs Go to
Heaven. Throughout his career, Charles has received the Richard Rodgers, Oscar
Hammerstein, Frederick Lowe and the Leonard Bernstein Awards for musical
achievement. He is married to director/choreographer Barbara Siman and is the
father of Benjamin (attorney, author, composer), Nicholas (psychotherapist),
Victoria (screen writer) and William (also a screen writer).JENN THOMPSON (Director) is thrilled to be helming the
National Tour of Annie after having appeared as Pepper in the original Broadway
run. Recent credits include a World-Premiere musical about another indomitable
red-headed orphan; Anne of Green Gables – A New Musical at Goodspeed Opera
House, the very same theatre that premiered Annie more than 45 years ago. Other
shows at Goodspeed include: Bye Bye Birdie, Oklahoma! And The Music Man. Other
recent credits include Diary of a Wimpy Kid – The Musical at Children’s Theatre
Company in association with Kevin McCollum and Buena Vista Theatrical as well
as Chains for Off-Broadway’s Mint Theatre, where Jenn’s 2016 production of
Women Without Men garnered both Lortel and Off-Broadway Alliance Award
nominations for Outstanding Revival as well as 5 Drama Desk Award nominations
including Outstanding Director and Revival. In addition to extensive
productions in NYC, Jenn’s work has been seen at theaters across the country
including; Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Denver Center, Hartford Stage,
Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Portland Stage, City Theatre, Theaterworks
Hartford, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival and many more. Jenn is married to
actor Stephen Kunken, they live in Brooklyn NY with their daughter Naomi. This
is for Martin, Charles, Tom and Peter. jennthompsondirector.comPATRICIA WILCOX (Choreographer). Broadway: Motown the
Musical (Astaire Award and the NAACP Award for Best Choreography), and A Night
with Janis Joplin. Off-Broadway/National: Little Shop of Horrors, An Officer
and a Gentleman, Children’s Letters to God, Bowfire, Blues in the Night (NAACP
Nomination), Seussical. Regional: A Swell Party (The Kennedy Center), The
Secret Garden (DCPA), The Music Man and Bye Bye Birdie (Goodspeed Opera
House-Connecticut Critics Circle Award), Diary of a Wimpy Kid (CTC), Peter and
the Starcatcher (Pioneer), Camelot (NSMT), Jesus Christ Superstar (Sacramento
Music), Hair (ATC), Guys and Dolls (Paper Mill). Winter Olympics: Choreography
for Ice Dancing. PattiWilcox.com WILSON CHIN (Scenic Design). Broadway and
Off-Broadway: Pass Over (Broadway, Lortel Award nomination), Next Fall
(Broadway), Cost of Living (Manhattan Theatre Club), A Commercial Jingle for
Regina Comet (DR2), Space Dogs (MCC), The Thanksgiving Play (Playwrights
Horizons). With director Jenn Thompson: The Secret Garden (Denver Center
Theatre), Oklahoma! and Anne of Green Gables (Goodspeed Musicals). Opera: Lucia
di Lammermoor (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Eine Florentinische Tragödie/Gianni
Schicchi (Canadian Opera, Dora Award). Film/television: Pass Over (dir. Spike
Lee), “Game Theory with Bomani Jones” (HBO), “Blindspot” (NBC). Eastern Region
Board member.What a great show, filled with funny bits, great songs, wonderful talent, everything you would want from a Broadway Musical, run don’t walk to see ANNIE.
*Note some content was taken off of their website.
