Annie

Annie is an eleven-year-old orphan living under the thumb of the boozy, resentful Miss Hannigan at a New York City municipal orphanage during the Great Depression, holding on to a note her parents left promising they would return for her. When billionaire businessman Oliver Warbucks decides, on his secretary's suggestion, to take in an orphan for the holidays as good publicity, Annie is chosen, and her unshakable optimism begins to soften a man used to getting whatever he wants, while Miss Hannigan and her con-artist brother scheme to cash in on Annie's search for her real parents.

Annie is based on Harold Gray's comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with a book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin. It opened on Broadway in 1977 and won the Tony Award for best musical, and its song Tomorrow has become one of the most recognized songs in American musical theater.

The score is bright, brassy golden-age Broadway, built to showcase both an eleven-year-old lead and a scene-stealing comic villain, and its landmark songs include Tomorrow, Annie's unshakably hopeful anthem; It's the Hard-Knock Life, the orphans' rowdy group number; and Easy Street, Miss Hannigan's comic showcase with her brother and his girlfriend. Watch for Sandy the dog, a live animal performer in most productions, and for the contrast between the orphanage's grime and Warbucks' opulent mansion, which the design usually plays up for maximum effect. It suits families and especially young performers and audiences, since Annie is one of the most widely produced shows for youth and community theater.