Pedigree Wins Cannes' Silver Lion Award for ANNIE'S SEARCH FOR SANDY Doc

After more than 35,000 submissions, PEDIGREE was awarded the coveted Silver Lion in branded entertainment at the 2013 Cannes Festival for Creativity for the documentary, "ANNIE'S Search for Sandy." The 2013 Cannes Lions received submissions from creative agencies and advertisers representing more than 90 countries around the world. "ANNIE'S Search for Sandy,"hosted by Al Roker, was produced by Al Roker Entertainment and ANNIE The Musical LLC and was sponsored by PEDIGREE Food for Dogs.

"ANNIE'S Search for Sandy" was documented through a television special in which PEDIGREE and animal trainer Bill Berloni conducted a nationwide search for a real-life shelter dog to play the role of Sandy, the other orphan in the beloved musical ANNIE. Bill, who discovered and trained the original Sandy 35 years ago, chose a dog who'd only known the hard-knock life. Abandoned, dragged by a car, and moments from euthanasia, Sunny was plucked from a Houston shelter to train for the big role. In the end, Sunny's life was not only spared, it was transformed. PEDIGREEshowed America that with a little love and good nutrition, all shelter dogs can shine

In a dual-effort to promote pet adoption and provide animal shelters with resources, a portion of proceeds from ticket sales at ANNIE and co-branded merchandise directly benefit the PEDIGREE Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping dogs find loving homes. The co-branded merchandise is available both at Broadway's Palace Theatre, the home of ANNIE on Broadway and online, with 100% of the proceeds going to thePEDIGREE Foundation. Additionally, a portion of the proceeds from each ticket sold, up to $250,000, is donated to the foundation.

"I don't want ANNIE to be just a revival," explains producer, Arielle Tepper-Madover, "it is very important to me that we work with the themes of the show - foster care, adoption and rescue dogs. Working with PEDIGREE to produce "ANNIE'S Search For Sandy" was a labor of love for us all and I'm very proud of the awareness that the documentary has raised for homeless dogs everywhere."

CLICK HERE to watch "ANNIE's Search for Sandy."

ANNIE, winner of seven 1977 Tony Awards including Best Musical, features a book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse and lyrics byMartin Charnin, with all three authors receiving Tony Awards for their work. The new Broadway production of ANNIE is directed by Pulitzer Prize and three-time Tony Award-winner James Lapine and choreographed by Tony Award-winner Andy Blankenbuehler. The new production opened November 8, 2012 at the Palace Theatre (1564 Broadway, between 46th and 47th Streets), where it is currently playing.

ANNIE 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 GRAMMY Award-winning original 1977 Broadway cast album has gone platinum, selling over one million copies to date. The current Broadway production at the Palace Theatre is a clear hit, breaking the house record at the Palace Theatre with a gross of $2.05 million for the week of Christmas, 2012.

ANNIE stars Emmy Award-winning "Glee" star Jane Lynch as Miss Hannigan, Australian star Anthony Warlow making his Broadway debut as Daddy Warbucks and 12-year-old Lilla Crawford as Annie, with Brynn O'Malley as Grace Farrell, Clarke Thorell as Rooster Hannigan, and J. Elaine Marcos as Lily St. Regis. The Orphans are Madi Rae DiPietro as July, Georgi James as Pepper, Junah Jang as Tessie, Tyrah Skye Odomsas Kate, Taylor Richardson as Duffy, Emily Rosenfeld as Molly, Brooklyn Shuck as standby for Molly, Kate, Tessie, July, Duffy, Sadie Sink as standby for Annie, Tessie, Duffy, July & Kate and Jaidyn Young as standby for the roles of Annie, Pepper, Duffy and July. The production also features Ashley Blanchet, Jane Blass, Mary Callanan, Jeremy Davis, Fred Inkley, Merwin Foard, Joel Hatch, Danette Holden, Amanda Lea LaVergne, Desi Oakley, Keven Quillon, David Rossetti, Sarah Solie, Dennis Stowe, Ryan VanDenBoom and Matt Wall.

Anthony Warlow is appearing with the permission of Actors' Equity Association. The Producers gratefully acknowledge Actors' Equity Association for its assistance with this production.

ANNIE features new orchestrations by Michael Starobin, additional orchestrations by Doug Besterman and Alex Lacamoire, vocal arrangements and musical direction by Todd Ellison and dance arrangements by Alex Lacamoire. ANNIE is produced by Arielle Tepper Madover, Roger Horchow, Sally Horchow, Roger Berlind, Roy Furman, Debbie Bisno, Stacey Mindich, James M. Nederlander, Jane Bergère/Daryl Rothand Eva Price/Christina Papagjika. Executive Producer and General Manager is 101 Productions/Wendy Orshan and Jeffrey M. Wilson.

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