A is for Annie

Starting off the A to Z Challenge, A is for Annie.

The songs "Tomorrow" and "It's a Hard Knock Life" are the most famous songs from Annie, either from the Broadway versions or the multiple movie versions as well. Annie is also the 3rd show that I was in at a local community theatre. Annie is not one of my favorite musicals - pretty much based on the fact that I have seen it so many times before that it just started to lose its appeal to me. I have seen all the movie versions except for the latest one which was out last year. I have not seen it on Broadway, but I am familiar with most of the actors/actresses who had the leads in them.

In the original Broadway production of Annie, the title character was played by Philadelphia native Andrea McArdle. She was originally cast as a chorus member, but got moved up to play Annie during rehearsals after the producers decided that other actress that got casted as Annie wasn't tough enough for the role. Being from Philadelphia, it's pretty neat that a Philly native had such an iconic role. Featured in the picture below is Andrea McArdle as Annie and Reid Shelton as Daddy Warbucks.

My local theatre company did Annie in 2010. For most of the shows there, I have usually been a chorus member. It suits me just fine because I know I don't have the greatest voice out there and being in chorus sometimes has its perks. In Annie, I was only in two scenes in the first act which were the scene featuring the song, "We'd Like to Thank You, Herbert Hoover", and the other scene featuring the song, "NYC".

On the right is a picture of most of the cast and the left is a picture of Annie and Sandy in our production.

On the right is a picture of my in my costume (as a hot dog vendor for "NYC") and some family members & friends who came on opening night. On the left is a picture of all the chorus members including myself.


What I didn't expect to happen in 2010 was the loss of my grandma just two weeks before opening night. We also had opening night on my birthday, which due to the circumstances, didn't make it any easier. She died on March 6 and opening night was March 19. To be honest, I don't know how I got through the opening weekend shows without the support of the rest of the cast and crew. They were there for me and they celebrated my birthday at a surprise birthday party for me (which I was under the impression was just a regular cast party) the following night. It was done to make me I guess be happy and smile in light of such a grieving time in my life. I definitely felt special and appreciated the effort that went into it.

This is me and another cast member at the cast party.



Some of us were singing songs from "Glee" while we were supposed to be striking the set.
 

Hope you enjoyed reading about my experience in Annie and some of the fun times I had in the show.

Happy Reading and Keep on Writing!
Meg