Canine Stars For ANNIE Announced As Tickets Go On Sale

The canine stars who will play the role of Sandy in the upcoming Australian production of the ever-popular Broadway musical Annie. Taking on the role of Annie's loyal companion will be Bodhi, who has featured in Neighbours, and Sandy who will share the role of Sandy.

Tickets are now on sale for this legendary, joyous and inspiring production of Annie which will light up Sydney's Capitol Theatre from 27 March next year.

Groodles Bodhi and Sandy are trained by Luke Hura, the country's leading film, television and theatre dog trainer. In addition to these prized pooches, Luke trained Koko, the star of the film Red Dog, as well as Buddy who played Sandy for last production of Annie in 2012. Luke has been tasked with training the dogs to perform a variety of tricks ‘set to script' as well as teaching the future actresses who will play Annie, how to work with the dogs to ensure they perform correctly and don't misbehave on stage.

“After rigorous paw-ditions across the country, we unanimously agreed that Bodhi and Sandy were the perfect dogs to play our Sandy,” said John Frost. “Working with dozens of children under stage lights while performing in front of adoring audiences, the dogs require a high level of training and skill in order to meet the physical demands of the role. We know Luke will have a wonderful time training Bodhi and Sandy and we have no doubt Australian audiences will fall in love with them too.”

It's one of the most awarded and loved musicals of all time. With its iconic score, featuring classics like It's the Hard-Knock Life, Tomorrow, Easy Street and N.Y.C, Annie is truly a timeless masterpiece, with a book and score written by Tony Award winners Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin.

Based on the popular Harold Gray comic strip “Little Orphan Annie” which debuted in 1924 and ran for over 80 years, the musical Annie burst into popularity in 1977 when it opened on Broadway. The musical won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book (Thomas Meehan) and Best Score (Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin), the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, seven Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical, and the Grammy for Best Cast Show Album. After the Broadway run of almost six years, it has played in more than 22 countries worldwide including the UK, Argentina, Japan, Germany, Sweden, Spain and Australia. Annie became a smash-hit movie musical in 1982 starring Aileen Quinn, Albert Finney and Carol Burnett that is adored worldwide and a fixture of popular culture references.

Annie first toured Australia from 1978 with a cast that included Jill Perryman, Hayes Gordon, Kevin Johnson, Nancye Hayes and Anne Grigg. Annie returned to the Australian stage in 2000 produced by John Frost starring Anthony Warlow, Amanda Muggleton, Jane Scali, Philip Gould and Angela Kelly. For this production, Annie's lyricist and original Broadway director Martin Charnin wrote a new song for Anthony Warlow to sing in the show, an unprecedented honour for him. A further production toured Australia in 2012, again starring Anthony Warlow alongside Nancye Hayes, Todd McKenney, Chloe Dallimore and Julie Goodwin, which led to Anthony heading to the USA to reprise his role of Daddy Warbucks on Broadway.

A celebration of hope, family and friendship. This small but mighty young girl has returned to stick out her chin and grin once more!

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