ANNIE is Coming to the Washington Pavilion This Spring

The Washington Pavilion will present ANNIE! Tickets are still available for both evening performances April 30–May 1. To purchase tickets, go online or visit the Box Office at 301 S. Main Ave.
 
“We can’t wait to welcome the classic that everyone knows and loves in a brand-new production for a third time since the Washington Pavilion opened its doors 25 years ago,” says Regina Ruhberg, Director of Performances for Washington Pavilion Management, Inc. “Bring your loved ones and come enjoy this musical celebration of family, optimism and the great American spirit!”
 
Holding onto hope when times are tough can take an awful lot of determination, and sometimes, an awful lot of determination comes in a surprisingly small package. Little Orphan Annie has reminded generations of theatergoers that sunshine is always right around the corner.
 
ANNIE is directed by Jenn Thompson, who at the age of 10 stepped into the role of “Pepper” in the Original Broadway production, choreographed by Patricia Wilcox (Motown, A Night with Janis Joplin), music supervision by Matthew Smedal, with orchestrations by Dan DeLange. Talitha Fehr is the Music Coordinator and Jennifer Christina is the Music Director.
 
The design team includes scenic design by Wilson Chin (Pass Over), costume design by Alejo Vietti (Jersey Boys), based on lighting design by Philip Rosenberg, sound design by Ken Travis (Disney’s Aladdin), hair & wig design by Ashley Rae Callahan and casting by Paul Hardt of Hardt Casting, LLC.
 
In the title role of Annie is Rainier “Rainey” Treviño, an 11-year-old from Chesapeake, Virginia making her national tour debut. Returning principal cast includes Stefanie Londino as “Miss Hannigan,” Christopher Swan as “Oliver Warbucks,” Julia Nicole Hunter as “Grace” and Mark Woodard as “FDR.” Also starring in the tour are Jeffrey T. Kelly as “Rooster” and Krista Curry as “Lily. Seamus stars as “Sandy.”
 
The Orphans are Savannah Austin, Saylor Curran, Arianna Guller, Addie Jaymes, Kylie Noelle Patterson and Jade Smith.

The featured ensemble includes Savannah Fisher, Jerquintez A. Gipson, Caroline Glazier, Chance K. Ingalls, Kaleb Jenkins, Jaelle Laguerre, Tony Mowatt, Ryan Mulvaney, Kaylie Mae Wallace, Callie Alexa, Brooke Olivia Gatto and Trent Tyson.
 
Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as, “one of the best family musicals ever penned,” ANNIE features a book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin. All three authors received 1977 Tony Awards® for their work.
 
By permission of Tribune Content Agency, LLC, ANNIE is based on Harold Gray's popular comic strip “Little Orphan Annie” which premiered in the 1920s in the New York Daily News and became one of the most widely read strips in the 30s and 40s. Lyricist Martin Charnin bought a coffee table book called “The Life and Hard Times of Little Orphan Annie” as a Christmas gift for a friend in 1970. The clerk at the bookstore was too busy to wrap the book, so Charnin took the book home to wrap it. Instead, he read it and fell in love with the strip and set out to secure the rights. The friend never got the book.
 
The original production of ANNIE had its world premiere on Aug 10, 1976, at the Goodspeed Opera House (Michael J. Price, Executive Director) and opened on Broadway on April 21, 1977, at the Alvin Theatre (Neil Simon theatre). It 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). It closed on Broadway after playing 2,377 performances. ANNIE was revived on Broadway in 1997 and again in 2014. It has been made into a film three times (1982, 1999, 2014) and was most recently featured as a live television production on NBC. The show remains one of the biggest Broadway musical hits ever; it has been performed in 28 languages and has been running somewhere around the world for 45 years.
 
The beloved 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.” This production of ANNIE was licensed by Music Theatre International.
 

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