How Did the Musical "Annie" Come to Be?
One of Broadway's most popular musicals, "Annie," has a long history. With its origins rooted to the Great Depression, a number of different formats of the story existed over the decades. From comic strips, music and a book, the musical itself eventually developed in the late 1970s and ran for a number of years. It also has the honor of being revived on and off Broadway periodically to great fanfare.
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Comic Strip
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Cartoonist Harold Gray created a weekly comic strip for the Chicago Tribune in 1924. Called "Little Orphan Annie," the strip featured a tough red-headed orphan who went on adventures fighting crooked politicians, gangsters and even Nazis.
The Project
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"Annie" was established as a viable Broadway project in the early 1970s. Lyricist Marting Charnin teamed with playwright Thomas Meehan and composer Charles Strouse to write and coordinate the musical.
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Opening
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"Annie" opened on April 21, 1977, in New York's Alvin Theatre. It ran for 2,377 performances and went on tour throughout the United States, Mexico, Australia and Japan.
Success
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Much of the success of "Annie" stemmed from the character herself, played by a young spunky girl, and the music that has become associated with the production. The two most successful songs are "Tomorrow" and "It's the Hard-Knock Life."
Revival
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Spurred on by the success of numerous film adaptations, a sequel to "Annie" was produced in 1989 and bombed. The original musical was revived in 1997 and toured multiple times over the next decade.
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Resources
- Photo Credit AndreasPraefcke, Wikimedia Commons, GNU Free Documentation License, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:New_York_New_Amsterdam_Theatre_2003.jpg
