Annie

Annie (1977), a musical comedy by Thomas Meehan (book), Charles Strouse (music), Martin Charnin (lyrics). [Alvin Theatre, 2,377 perf.; Tony Award.] In the midst of the Great Depression little Annie (Andrea McArdle) has been left at an orphanage run by the harridan spinster Miss Hannigan (Dorothy Loudon), who makes life miserable for her and the other girls. A secretary to billionaire Oliver Warbucks (Reid Shelton) comes looking for a waif who can spend Christmas at the Warbucks mansion, and Annie is selected. Warbucks takes an instant liking to her and invites Annie to live with him. He also takes her to Washington, where she meets the president, and he advertises on radio to find her real parents. The broadcast brings a deluge of fraudulent claimants (including Hannigan's crooked brother) before the FBI learns that Annie's real parents are dead. So Daddy Warbucks adopts her, along with another waif she has befriended—a dog named Sandy. Notable songs: Tomorrow; It's the Hard Knock Life; Maybe; Little Girls; Easy Street. The Mike Nichols–produced musical, which was first done at the Goodspeed Opera House, was suggested by Harold Gray's famous comic strip, “Little Orphan Annie.” Reflecting the view of several critics, Martin Gottfried in the Post condemned the show for its “greasepaint sentimentality,” “mawkishness,” “cheap nostalgia,” and “unabashed corniness,” only to conclude, “the damn thing works.” Annie was popular with families at a time when there were few such shows on Broadway, and “Tomorrow” was the last show tune for many years to achieve widespread popularity. A sequel, Annie II, closed out of town in 1990, a rewritten version of it called Annie Warbucks (1993) struggled Off Broadway, and a 1997 revival of the original failed on Broadway. Nevertheless, Annie remains one of the most frequently produced musicals in amateur theatre.