America's favorite bite-sized, redheaded optimist comes to Wharton Center on April 18. This year, the classic show celebrates its 30th anniversary.
"It's a perfect time for it. It's a positive show and it's a family show. You always want to go to something where you leave changed and you leave changed for the better," said Wharton Center Public Relations Director Bob Hoffman.
This is the third time "Annie" has come to Wharton Center. It came to Wharton while Ken Beachler was the director of public relations.
"It is really for the whole family and it being a comic strip that a lot of people grew up reading, it has immense appeal," he said.
The original author of the "Little Orphan Annie" cartoon, Harold Gray, wrote the comic strip about a boy named Otto, but the character was later changed to Little Orphan Annie. It was first published in the New York Daily News in August 1924.
The strip's popularity soared and the comic started appearing in hundreds of other papers. In the comics, Annie was adopted by a wealthy Mrs. Warbucks, who became Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks in the musical.
"Annie" debuted on Broadway in 1977 and played there for a nearly six years. Famous performers in past tours of "Annie" have been Sarah Jessica Parker, Molly Ringwald and Alyssa Milano.
"Annie" is also a favorite in community theater. The Lansing Civic Players sold out the first two nights when they performed the musical three years ago.
"The music is so identifiable. I know, at least in community theater, that children in a show attract audiences. I've seen it as well the last time it was at Wharton and it was great," said Chris Goeckel, whose now-13-year-old daughter Amy played Annie.
Amy is seeing the play at Wharton Center with a friend whose dog played Sandy.
"It's a good story about a little girl who deserves everything, but she's poor and finally does get what she needs and it's a good musical and everybody knows the songs," Amy Goeckel said.
The State News spoke with current cast member Elizabeth Broadhurst, who plays Grace Farrell, to find out whether touring with "Annie" is an "Easy Street" or a "Hard-Knock Life."
State News: Can you tell us a little about your character?
Elizabeth Broadhurst: Grace Farrell, the secretary to Daddy Warbucks, goes to get Annie from the orphanage, hoping Daddy Warbucks will take a liking to her. She is secretly in love with Daddy Warbucks.
SN: How did you get this role?
EB: Being in New York through the auditions they held there and going through that process. I went to school at The Boston Conservatory, graduated in 2002 then moved to (New York City) to start working and continue training. It was a big step for me after a couple years of hard work.
It's very difficult because it's kind of this balance between being very elegant in her simplicity and being very graceful without having to do too much. Yet she has this funny kind of goofy side that kind of slowly comes out in the show as Daddy Warbucks starts to kind of lighten up.
SN: What's unique about this cast?
EB: A lot of the people in the show are veterans to the business and have been in the theater world and some of them in the film and television world, and they really set the bar high.
SN: What do you like about performing?
EB: The audience is different each night so you feed off the different energies of the audience, but at the same time you're in your own space and worlds with the other actors. It gives you the chance to be spontaneous. That's really exciting, and at the same time you're always striving for perfection.
SN: What do most people neglect to think about when they think of "Annie?"
EB: It's set in the (Great) Depression. There's a lot of political commentary. One of the scenes is (set in) a Hooverville. It's ironic that a lot of these themes are what our nation is dealing with right now. You think it's a children's show and you think of a place and a time that is relevant right now. This show speaks to adults as well as children … all these jokes and issues are the things we deal with in our everyday lives.
SN: Do you think "Annie" is too optimistic or do you think it's realistic?
EB: I think it's very realistic and I think it's realistic because it's about relationships and it's about love and it's about the joy that a child can teach you, and an optimism that a child can teach you.
SN: What would people not know about the show unless they were in the cast?
EB: We have two dogs that play Sandy. One is the understudy. One of the actors in the show is the trainer as well as the performer and the company has to be very respectful to his work and to Marissa (O'Donnell), the one that plays Annie.
SN: What's unusual about the work you're doing in this show?
EB: It is unusual to work with animals and to work with children. It just brings a different energy onstage and offstage. I think it also helps the actors, specifically my part, having to play off Marissa and how fun she is and we're laughing together as our characters, but also as friends. It really helps transfer the kind of work we're having to do onstage. You obviously become a family when you're working on a project and traveling together, but with the children it makes it feel even more like a family.
SN: What are some of the benefits and drawbacks to being on the road?
EB: You're living out of suitcases so you need to have as much of the things that you need to kind of have some semblance of a normal life, but it can't be too much because we're staying in hotels and it just takes a little bit more energy to make sure you take care of yourself. It might be frustrating because every week the scenario changes, but ultimately it is really fun to learn new things about a city and it's really interesting to meet new people.
SN: Where do you see your performing career going from here?
EB: I see more musical theater, a lot of roles similar to this one. I think that something this show has taught me is where I'd fit best in the musical theater world.
