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caption:
'Orphans'
"Orphans" prepare for sleeping during a rehearsal of "Annie" at the Bradley Playhouse. Left to right: Emma Smith as Molly, Sophia Foss as Annie, Abby Heiser as July, Adriana Anderson as Tessie. Courtesy photo.
PUTNAM — America’s favorite orphan and a Broadway classic, Annie, returns once again to the Bradley stage Dec. 2. The show runs weekends through Dec. 18 for a fun-filled musical adventure this holiday season.
Performance dates for Annie are at 7 p.m. Dec. 2, 3, 9, 10, 16 and 17 and at 2 p.m. Dec. 4, 11 and 18. Tickets for Annie are available on line at www.thebradleyplayhouse.org, by calling 860-928-7887 and charging with a credit card, or at Wonderland Books or Victoria Station Café in downtown Putnam. Tickets may also be available at the door, however, due to the popular demand for this show, reservations are recommended. All seats are general admission. Special arrangements may be made for groups of 10 or more or handicap seating.
Annie had its world premiere in August of 1976 at the Goodspeed Opera House in E. Haddam. Based on the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, the play features music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin and book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and was nominated for eleven Tony Awards and won seven including Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book. “Tomorrow” and “Hard Knock Life” are among its most popular musical numbers.
Annie takes us back to 1933 and the Great Depression in New York City, where eleven year old Annie, played by Sophia Foss, resides in the Municipal Girl’s Orphanage with her fellow orphans Molly (Emma Smith), Kate (Allison Devolve), Tessie (Adriana Anderson), July (Abby Heiser), Pepper (Abigail Beauregard), Duffy (Emma Capron) and Clover (Mary Arnold).
Molly, awakened by a bad dream, is comforted by Annie who remains hopeful her parents will return to get her after 10 years. Unfortunately the infamous Miss Hannigan, alcoholic orphanage matron, portrayed by Maureen Pollard, hears them and makes the girls clean their room until the place shines “like the top of the Chrysler Building.”
During an ill-fated attempt at escape, Annie encounters stray dogs and the homeless of Hooverville and ends up being apprehended by the law which leads her back to Miss Hannigan. There she encounters Grace, Mr. Warbucks secretary, played by Tonya Brock, who wants to take Annie home for the holidays to Oliver Warbucks’ (Evan Denmark) mansion. Nicole Panteleakos is the director.
During the production of Annie, the Bradley is asking patrons to donate assorted winter wear such as hats, mittens and gloves to be donated to the Putnam Family Resource Center, a collection the Bradley has undertaken for the last six years. This year, the Mitten Tree will appear on stage, as part of the Warbucks’ mansion tree.