Annie (musical)

***Annie*** is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip *Little Orphan Annie* and loosely based on the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" written by James Whitcomb Riley. The musical includes music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and a book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years, setting a record for the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon Theatre). It spawned numerous productions in many countries, as well as national tours, and won seven Tony Awards, including the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical's songs "Tomorrow" and "It's the Hard Knock Life" are among its most popular musical numbers.

## Background

Charnin first approached Meehan to write the book of a musical about Little Orphan Annie in 1972. Meehan researched by rereading prints of the comic strip, but was unable to find any satisfactory material for a musical other than the characters of Annie, Oliver Warbucks, and Sandy, so he decided to write his own story. As Meehan, Charnin and Strouse were all from New York, and given what he saw as the downbeat mood of the then-current Nixon era and Vietnam War, Meehan set his story in New York during the similarly downbeat Great Depression. Meehan saw the character of Annie as a 20th-century American female version of the titular orphan characters created by Charles Dickens in works such as Oliver Twist and David Copperfield, with the mystery of Annie's abandonment and unknown parenthood as consistent with a strand of mysteries in Dickens' tales. Meehan's book was accepted by Charnin and Strouse, but considerable material had to be trimmed out – material which Meehan would later restore for his novelization.

## Production

The original Broadway production opened at the Alvin Theatre on April 21, 1977, and starred Andrea McArdle as Annie, Reid Shelton as Warbucks, Dorothy Loudon as Miss Hannigan, and Sandy Faison as Grace Farrell, with Danielle Brisebois as Molly, the youngest and smallest orphan. It was nominated for eleven Tony Awards and won seven, including the Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Book. Replacements in the title role on Broadway included Shelley Bruce, Sarah Jessica Parker, Allison Smith and Alyson Kirk. Replacements in the role of Miss Hannigan included Alice Ghostley, Dolores Wilson, Betty Hutton, Marcia Lewis, and June Havoc. Ann Ungar understudied and played for Dorothy Loudon in the role of Miss Hannigan. She also understudied Alice Ghostley and Dolores Wilson. The show closed on January 2, 1983, after a total of 2,377 performances, setting a record for the longest running show at the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon Theatre), until it was surpassed by Hairspray in 2009.

## Musical Numbers

### Act 1

* Overture – Orchestra
* "Maybe" – Annie and Orphans
* "It's the Hard Knock Life" – Annie and Orphans
* "It's the Hard Knock Life" (Reprise) – Orphans
* "Tomorrow" – Annie
* "We'd Like to Thank You, Herbert Hoover" – Ensemble
* "Little Girls" – Miss Hannigan
* "Little Girls" (Reprise) – Miss Hannigan
* "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here" – Grace, Annie, Ensemble
* "N.Y.C." – Warbucks, Grace, Annie, Star-to-Be, Ensemble
* "N.Y.C." (Reprise) / "Lullaby" – Warbucks
* "Easy Street" – Rooster, Miss Hannigan and Lily
* "You Won't Be an Orphan for Long" – Grace and Warbucks
* "Maybe" (Reprise) – Annie

### Act 2

* "Maybe" (Reprise II) – Annie
* "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile" – Bert Healy and the Boylan Sisters
* "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile" (Children Reprise) – Orphans
* "Easy Street" (Reprise) – Rooster, Miss Hannigan and Lily
* "Tomorrow" (Cabinet Reprise) – Annie, Roosevelt, Warbucks and Cabinet
* "Tomorrow" (Cabinet Reprise II) – Roosevelt and the Cabinet
* "Something Was Missing" – Warbucks
* "Annie" – Grace, Drake and Staff
* "I Don't Need Anything But You" – Warbucks and Annie
* "Maybe" (Reprise III) – Annie
* "New Deal for Christmas" – Warbucks, Grace, Annie, Roosevelt, Orphans and staff
* "Tomorrow" (Finale) - Company

## Recordings

The original Broadway cast recording was made on April 25, 1977, at the 30th Street Studio in New York City and released that year by Columbia Records. A CD containing bonus tracks was released on September 15, 1998, by Sony (ASIN: B00000AG6Z). The 1995 London studio cast recording, featuring the National Symphony Orchestra, stars Sarah French as Annie, Kim Criswell as Miss Hannigan and Ron Raines as Warbucks.