The beloved tale of Annie has been capturing the hearts of theatregoers around the globe for generations. And now the legendary, joyous and inspiring production returns to Australian stages.
The ever-popular Broadway musical Annie will light up Sydney’s Capitol Theatre from March next year in an exciting new production directed by Karen Johnson Mortimer and produced by John Frost for Crossroads Live.
It’s one of the most awarded and loved musicals of all time. With its iconic score, featuring classics like It’s the Hard-Knock Life, Tomorrow, Easy Street and N.Y.C, Annie is truly a timeless masterpiece, with a book and score written by Tony Award winners Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin.
“Annie is the show that people ask me about more than any other. ‘When is Annie coming back’, they say,” said John Frost. “There’s now a whole new generation of children who may not have seen this audience favourite so it’s time to see Annie again.”
“And there’s a whole new generation of young performers – we can’t wait to start auditions and find our Annies, as well as our Peppers, our Duffys, our Kates, our Tessies, our Julys, our Mollys and our Fridays. Auditions will start later this year.”
Based on the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie which debuted in 1924 and ran for over 80 year, the musical Annie burst into popularity in 1977 when it opened on Broadway.
The musical won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book (Thomas Meehan) and Best Score (Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin), the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, seven Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical, and the Grammy for Best Cast Show Album.
After the Broadway run of almost six years, it has played in more than 22 countries worldwide including the UK, Argentina, Japan, Germany, Sweden, Spain and Australia. Annie became a smash-hit movie musical in 1982 starring Aileen Quinn, Albert Finney and Carol Burnett that is adored worldwide and a fixture of popular culture references.
Annie first toured Australia from 1978 with a cast that included Jill Perryman, Hayes Gordon, Kevin Johnson, Nancye Hayes and Anne Grigg. Annie returned to the Australia stage in 2000 produced by John Frost starring Anthony Warlow, Amanda Muggleton, Jane Scali, Philip Gould and Angela Kelly.
For this production, Annie’s lyricist and original Broadway director Martin Charnin wrote a new song for Anthony Warlow to sing in the show, an unprecedented honour for him.
A further production toured Australia in 2012, again starring Anthony Warlow alongside Nancye Hayes, Todd McKenney, Chloe Dallimore and Julie Goodwin, which led to Anthony heading to the USA to reprise his role of Daddy Warbucks on Broadway.
A celebration of hope, family and friendship. This small but mighty young girl has returned to stick out her chin and grin once more!
Annie will play Sydney’s Capitol Theatre from March 2025. Tickets go on pre-sale from 22 July. Waitlist now at www.anniemusical.com.au to be first in line to purchase tickets.
Image: Siena Elchaar as Annie in the 2012 Australian production – photo by Jeff Busby