Annie (musical)

Annie
Original Broadway Windowcard
Music	Charles Strouse
Lyrics	Martin Charnin
Book	Thomas Meehan
Basis	Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie
Productions	1976 Goodspeed Opera House 1977 Broadway 1978 West End 1978 Australia Tour 1978 North American Tour 1978 U.S. Tour 1979 U.S. Tour 1981 U.S. Tour 1981 Madrid 1982 Buenos Aires 1982 Film (more info) 1983 West End revival 1997 Broadway revival 1998 West End revival 1999 Television (more info) 2000 UK tour 2000 Australia Tour 2000 Madrid revival 2005 U.S. Tour 2006 UK Tour 2011 UK Tour 2011 Australia Tour 2012 Broadway revival 2014 Film (more info) 2014 U.S. Tour 2015 UK Tour 2015 Mexico City revival 2017 West End revival
Awards	Tony Award for Best Musical Tony Award for Best Original Score Tony Award for Best Book

Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years, setting a record for the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon Theatre). It spawned numerous productions in many countries, as well as national tours, and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical's songs "Tomorrow" and "It's the Hard Knock Life" are among its most popular musical numbers.

In 1933, eleven-year-old Annie is in the Municipal Girls Orphanage, along with Molly (age 6), Kate (age 7), Tessie (age 10), Pepper (age 12), July and Duffy (both 13). When Molly awakes from a bad dream, angering Pepper and Duffy, July tells them to hush up and eventually gets into a fight with Pepper. Annie gets up and tells everyone to go back to sleep. Molly then asks if Annie could read her note from when her parents left her at the orphanage. Duffy and Pepper are yet again annoyed. Along with Kate, Pepper and Duffy imitate Annie's acting as if they were her parents ("Maybe").

Annie decides to escape to find her parents, but is caught by Miss Hannigan, who is currently suffering from a hangover. She is angered by this and forces all the girls to vigorously clean the orphanage ("Hard Knock Life"). Shortly after, Mr. Bundles, the laundry man, comes in to pick up the blankets. While Miss Hannigan is flirting with him, Annie climbs into the laundry basket and the orphans cover her up with the blankets. Once Miss Hannigan realizes she is gone, the other orphans express their frustration ("Hard Knock Life (Reprise)").

Annie successfully escapes, running into a friendly stray dog. As she comforts him, she tells him of better days yet to come ("Tomorrow"). The dog catcher is after him, so she pretends the dog is hers by calling him Sandy. Though at first unsuccessful, she convinces the dog catcher, and she continues on. She later finds a Hooverville, where people made homeless by the Great Depression have come together as a community ("We'd Like To Thank You, Herbert Hoover"). However, a policeman named Lt. Ward, who had been sent by Miss Hannigan, catches Annie and brings her back.