ANNIE Comes to Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre, 5/31

With red hair, grit, and plenty of spunk, America's favorite orphan proves her worth to a billionaire and a new generation as Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre presents Annie starting May 31. The seven - time Tony Award winner is the 2018 Season Family Show and stars 12 - year - old Claire Kauffman in the title role.

The Broadway musical, which opened in 1977, is derived from Little Orphan Annie, a 1920s Chicago Tribune comic strip by Harold Gray that was inspired by James Whitcomb Riley's 1885 poem of the same name. But the musical is set in 1933, during the Great Depression and centers on Annie, an orphan girl in New York City. Left on the doorstep of an orphanage as an infant, Annie is convinced her parents will one day return for her - proving their identity with the matching half of the locket they had left with their infant daughter. Through a miscommunication, chance, and a bit of luck, Annie ends up spending a week with billionaire Oliver Warbucks just before Christmas, and both of their lives are changed forever.

Filled with great musical numbers including " Tomorrow, " " It's The Hard Knock Life, " " Easy Street, " and " N.Y.C., " Annie is on stage through July 15, with 48 performances scheduled in the intimate setting of Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre. Kauffman is a fifth - grader at Zionsville Middle School who returns to the Beef & Boards stage after making her debut last season in the children's choir of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Reprising his role as Oliver " Daddy " Warbucks is Ty Stover, who will be portraying the billionaire for the fourth consecutive Beef & Boards production. Returning from the 2009 production to reprise their roles are Bobbi Bates as Grace Farrell, Jeff Stockberger as Rooster, and John Vessels as Drake. Kelly Teal Goyette, most recently seen as Mrs. Santiago in Ghost, the Musical, and Dragon in Shrek, the Musical, returns in the role of Miss Hannigan. Deb Wims returns to Indianapolis to play Lily St. Regis.

Tickets range from $ 44 to $ 69, and include Chef Odell Ward's family - friendly dinner buffet, fruit & salad bar, unlimited coffee, tea and lemonade. Annie offers a $ 10 Family Show discount off tickets for children ages 3 - 15. For reservations, call the box office at 317.872.9664 anytime between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays. For complete show schedule, visit beefandboards.com. Annie is sponsored in part by the Peyton Manning Children's Hospital at St. Vincent.

Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre, Indiana's only year - round professional dinner theatre, is celebrating 45 years of serving up exceptional entertainment in 2018.

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