While we were in elementary school, friend Ann Scamerhorn held a distinction among her classmates in 1980.
Her parents had driven the nearly two-hour trek to Chicago for her to see the national Broadway tour of the new musical “Annie,” after plenty of media attention for emerging child stage star Andrea McArdle, the young talent who launched the role in 1977 in New York.
Nearly half a century later, Ann says she still recalls that treasured family field trip and the experience.
Her captured memories and sentiments serve as key evidence of the everlasting impact live theater has on young minds and imaginations of every age.
The Tony Award-winning musical “Annie” is back for a short three-week stay at The Chicago Theatre through Dec. 1, and the Tuesday, Nov. 12 opening night was packed with Girl Scouts from Northwest Indiana, all very eager to meet this “Annie” and learn her story for the first time, along with canine pal Sandy sharing the spotlight.
For this national tour, the title role is played by 12-year-old Hazel Vogel, capturing hearts opposite of her foil played by comedic Stefanie Londino returning as Miss Hannigan, Christopher Swan as Daddy Warbucks, Julia Nicole Hunter as his secretary Grace, and Mark Woodard as President FDR. Also starring in the production are Rhett Guter as conman Rooster and Isabella De Souza Moore as his moll Lily St. Regis.
Director Jenn Thompson believes the near half-century of success for “Annie” is because the likable child lead character “sings directly into the face of great adversity with perseverance, guts and guile.”
Director Thompson holds her own distinction and personal connection to this musical.
She was cast as orphan Pepper in the original Broadway run which won seven Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Book for Thomas Meehan and Best Score for Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin. (Shortly after the original Broadway show debuted in 1977, a very young Sarah Jessica Parker also stepped in for a stint as the tap-dancing Annie.)
“Annie” was revived on Broadway in both 1997 and 2014 and has been made into a major motion picture three times in 1982, 1999 and 2014.
And of course, the musical is inspired and based on the popular syndicated newspaper comic strip drawn by the late Harold Gray, who hailed from Kankakee, Illinois. “Little Orphan Annie” was distributed by Tribune Syndicate and our own flagship Chicago Tribune until it ceased in 2010, leaving many unanswered questions. When the 86-year run of the Annie comic strip ended, many story and plot lines were left unresolved as the final panels of the comic strip had Annie nearly eaten by a shark and also being kidnapped at gunpoint by a terrorist.
While the current musical run makes no mention of sharks or terrorists, all of my favorite musical numbers remain alive and well, such as “Tomorrow,” “It’s the Hard-Knock Life,” “Maybe,” “I Think I’m Going to Like it Here,” “Easy Street,” “N.Y.C.” and “Little Girls.”
Tickets for “Annie” at The Chicago Theatre start at $39 when purchased in person at the Ticketmaster Box Office at The Chicago Theatre and at $54.50 when purchased online at chicagotheatre.com/ANNIE. For more details, visit www.AnnieTour.com.
Philip Potempa is a journalist, published author and the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. He can be reached at pmpotempa@comhs.org.
