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Little orphan Annie makes a comeback

After receiving noteworthy audience response on Broadway and in London, the acclaimed musical Annie hits the stage at the Tucson Convention Center, 260 S. Church Ave., tonight.

The brainchild of lyricist-director Martin Charnin and composers Thomas Meehan and Charles Strouse, Annie has already won seven Tony Awards and is known as the third longest running musical of the 1970s, completing over 2,300 performances.

"It's as wonderful as ever!" Jeffrey Lyons of WNBC-TV stated in a news release. "The Martin Charnin/Charles Strouse songs are as incandescent as ever. I'm proposing here and now on Annie revival every 20 years!"

In 1977, and after four and a half years in the making, the play finally was showcased on Broadway. Since then, the cast of Annie has completed five national circuits and two London productions. The show has also seen 27 major foreign reproductions.

According to Meehan, Annie is meant to represent "a metaphorical figure standing for innate decency, courage and optimism in the face of hard times, pessimism and despair."

"It is now 20 years since the musical Annie seemed to light up all our yesterday with hope," Clive Barnes of the New York Post stated in a news release. "It was a major success and the time might be thought ripe for it to come around once more. You can't do much wrong with Annie!"

The story begins when Annie, an 11-year-old orphan, escapes from the evil Miss Hannigan's New York City orphanage in search of her real family during the Great Depression.

After wandering through the city, Annie is brought to the mansion of Oliver Warbucks, a business man who wants to take in an orphan for the holidays.

As Annie sings her way through the trials and tribulations of discovering her past, "Daddy" Warbucks ends up falling in love with the little girl's outgoing personality and makes plans to adopt her.

Because of the huge success of the original production, a second musical titled Annie 2: Miss Hannigan's Revenge opened in 1989.

The show was later renamed Annie Warbucks before reopening in New York in 1993.

In 1982, Annie the movie (starring Albert Finney, Aileen Quinn, Ann Reinking and Carol Burnett) was released grossing nearly $20 million in movie sales.

The Broadway musical Annie opens tonight at the TCC. The show starts at 8 p.m., but show times vary throughout the weekend. For more information, call 791-4266.