Broadway's ANNIE Names Orphans!

After more than 5,000 auditions in a coast-to-coast search, ANNIE has announced casting for the orphans for the new production of the classic Tony Award-winning Broadway musical. ANNIE will open on Broadway in Fall 2012 at a Nederlander theatre to be announced. The production will be directed by three-time Tony Award winner James Lapine and choreographed by Tony Award winner Andy Blankenbuehler.

Casting for the orphans features Emily Rosenfeld as Molly, the littlest orphan; Tyrah Skye Odoms as Kate, the next-to-littlest orphan; Junah Jang as Tessie, the cry-baby orphan; Georgi James as Pepper, the toughest orphan; Madi Rae DiPietro as July, the quietest orphan and Taylor Richardson as Duffy, the biggest orphan. Jaidyn Young will be the standby for the roles of Annie, Pepper, Duffy and July. Richardson will understudy the role of Annie.

Junah Jang, Taylor Richardson and Emily Rosenfeld were all discovered at one of the production’s open casting calls.

As previously announced, 11-year-old Lilla Crawford (Billy Elliot) will star in the title role of ANNIE. Additional casting will be announced in coming weeks.

“We saw so many wonderful young girls for these roles,” commented producer Arielle Tepper Madover. “I wish we could have cast them all! The orphans are always a highlight of ANNIE and we think we have an amazing, unbelievably talented group with Emily, Tyrah, Junah, Georgi, Madi Rae and Taylor. I think audiences will fall in love with each and every one of them. We also are incredibly fortunate to have Jaidyn Young as our standby for the roles of Annie and several of the orphans. She’s enormously talented and we’re lucky to have her with us.”

ANNIE features music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin and book by Thomas Meehan, based on the newspaper character “Little Orphan Annie” by Harold Gray.

The original production of ANNIE opened April 21, 1977 at the Alvin Theatre and went on to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, seven Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical, the Grammy for Best Cast Show Album and seven Tony Awards®, including Best Musical, Best Book (Thomas Meehan) and Best Score (Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin). The show was one of the biggest Broadway musical hits of the 1970s, running for almost six years and playing 2,377 performances.

The score for ANNIE includes “Maybe,” “It’s the Hard Knock Life,” “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile,” “Easy Street,” “I Don’t Need Anything But You” and the eternal anthem of optimism, “Tomorrow”.

The creative team includes scenic design by Drama Desk Award-winner David Korins, costume design by Tony Award-winner Susan Hilferty, lighting design by two-time Tony Award-winner Donald Holder and sound design by Tony Award-winner Brian Ronan. Music director is Todd Ellison. Hair and wig design is by Tom Watson. Casting is by Telsey + Company. Animal training is by Tony Award-winner William Berloni.

ANNIE will be produced on Broadway by Arielle Tepper Madover, Roger Horchow, Sally Horchow, Roger Berlind, Roy Furman, Debbie Bisno, Stacey Mindich, Nederlander Presentations, Inc., Jane Bergère/Daryl Roth and Eva Price/Christina Papagjika.

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