ANNIE WARBUCKS Book by Thomas Meehan
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ANNIE WARBUCKS Book by Thomas Meehan. Music by Charles Strouse. Lyrics by Martin Charnin Based on Little Orphan Annie by permission of Tribune Media Services Inc: Produced in Workshop by Goodspeed Opera House, Michael P. Price, Executive Producer: Produced at the Marriot Lincolnshire Theatre by Kary Walker, Executive Producer Developed in co-operation with members of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre STORY Act I The show begins immediately after Annie ended: Christmas morning, 1933. The billionaire Oliver Warbucks, his personal secretary, Grace Farrell, his servants, his newly adopted daughter, Annie, and her friends from the Municipal Orphanage are singing the closing bars of the song A New Deal For Christmas," which ended Annie. Two servants enter with a huge Christmas present and Sandy jumps out of it, happily reunited with Annie. Oliver Warbucks insists that Annie begin calling him Daddy and Annie celebrates her new name, Annie Warbucks, by singing "Annie Ain't Just Annie Anymore." As Daddy Warbucks is settling down to sing some Christmas carols with Annie and the orphans, his attorney, Simon Whitehead, and several of his accountants appear with business matters he needs to consider. The children leave and Daddy discusses his income taxes with his visitors. That conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Harriet Doyle, the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Child Welfare. In Daddy Warbucks's study, Harriet Doyle reveals the reason for her visit. Since Daddy is not married, he has broken the law by adopting Annie. Commissioner Doyle has come to return Annie to the orphanage. She insists that even though he is wealthy and powerful, Warbucks is not "Above The Law." As her assistant, Miss Clark, prepares to take Annie away, Attorney Whitehead suggests Daddy Warbucks get married quickly so he can keep Annie. The Commissioner agrees to allow Annie to remain at the mansion for 60 days to give Daddy time to find a suitable wife. Daddy instructs Grace, who obviously envisions herself as a possible wife for him, to prepare a list of eligible women. Annie is despondent over the news she will have to share Daddy Warbucks's affection with a stranger ("Changes"). Warbucks leaves with Whitehead and Grace to begin the search for the future Mrs. Warbucks. Annie, on the balcony of the mansion, laments the fact that a kid and her father can't make a family. She reprises "Changes." Back at the Municipal Orphanage, Tessie, one of the orphans, has been returned by a couple who had thought they wanted to adopt her. Annie arrives and shares her troubles with her friends. She shows them pictures of the women being considered as a possible wife for Daddy Warbucks and they find something dreadful about each candidate ("The Other Woman"). Daddy arrives with Dr. Margaret Whittleby, a child psychologist, who is one of the candidates. Annie leaves to have lunch with Daddy and Dr. Whittleby as the orphans respond with disdain to the idea of the psychologist as a mother for Annie. A month later, Commissioner Doyle is checking up on Warbucks's progress. After interviewing 100 candidates, he still has no fiancée. Mrs. Kelly suddenly appears on the scene; she is introduced as an employee of Commissioner Doyle. Warbucks is taken by her manner. He gives her taxi money. Mrs. Kelly calls Annie "punkin" and says endearing things to her. Annie overhears Grace talking on the phone to a member of President Roosevelt's staff, who is offering her a job in Washington. Grace tells Annie that Warbucks's marriage plans have caused her to think she will have no place in the new scheme of things. She insists that Annie is mistaken when the child claims that Daddy should marry her. Grace leaves and Annie plots with the servants to convince Daddy to marry Grace. For Annie's sake, the servants decide to risk their positions by commenting on Daddy Warbucks's marriage plans ("That's The Kind of Woman"). They advance the idea of Grace as the perfect wife. When they are through, Grace assures Daddy Warbucks that she had nothing to do with their efforts. Commissioner Doyle insists Grace is not mature enough to be considered as acceptable by her office. Grace reveals her plan to leave for Washington, which Commissioner Doyle encourages, as Warbucks tries to convince her to stay. After everyone leaves, Annie confesses that she put the servants up to supporting the idea of Grace. Daddy confesses he does care about Grace but knows she thinks he is too old for him ("A Younger Man"). Annie fails to convince him to tell Grace of his feelings. Daddy Warbucks goes to Commissioner Doyle's office to sign papers related to his agreement to find a wife within 60 days. There, he once again encounters Mrs. Kelly, who assists him with the paperwork and thanks him for his kindness in giving her cab fare. He learns that she is from his old neighborhood - Hell's Kitchen - and Annie observes that he is very taken by her. Annie tries to distract him, but Mrs. Kelly tells Warbucks about her hard early life ("But You Go On"). During the song, she reveals that she is divorced and that her child has died. Commissioner Doyle appears and chastises her for socializing on the job. Warbucks demands that she be added to his list of eligible women as the Commissioner loudly objects. A phone call from England about a business matter causes Warbucks to leave the office abruptly with his entourage. Left alone, Commissioner Doyle congratulates Mrs. Kelly (Sheila) on her success. We learn they are mother and daughter. Mrs. Kelly has previously served eight years in jail for killing an "old geezer" with arsenic. They vow not to get caught this time as they sing that they're "Above The Law." Daddy Warbucks prepares to go to England to deal with a financial crisis. He tells Grace to tell Commissioner Doyle that upon his return he will marry one of the women he's already met. He signs the marriage license papers at the urging of Whitehead so he can proceed with the engagement and wedding quickly when he gets back from England. When Daddy Warbucks asks Grace to help him decorate for his new wife, she decides she has to leave for Washington at once. Annie is distressed to learn of her planned departure. Commissioner Doyle comes in and Annie begs her to approve of Grace as Daddy's wife. She refuses and threatens to return Annie to the orphanage. Annie tells the orphans who are visiting her that she is going to run away. Her father is too busy to pay attention to her, Grace is leaving and she feels as if the whole situation is her fault. She says she plans to go "out west." She says she has herself to depend on-that will have to be enough ("I Got Me"). She gets Sandy and runs out. Daddy Warbucks learns about Annie's having run away and Grace's departure for the White House. He cancels his important travel plans and calls the White House for help. Annie and Sandy are in a Pennsylvania Railroad train yard. They hop on a freight train with the help of two hobos. Annie reprises "I Got Me" as the train rolls into the night. Act Two It is six weeks later. Annie is sitting on a box in the yard of a Tennessee sharecropper's home. A weather- beaten fence with a mailbox, a few crates and some burlap are seen in the shadowy twilight. Annie is eating from a bowl as she is watched by Ella and Reverend Alvin Paterson and C.G., their ten-year-old daughter. Annie and Sandy found refuge in the Paterson house when she was being chased by railroad police. Annie lies, telling the Patersons her name is Ruby Keeler. Mr. Stanley, the mill owner, arrives and offers Alvin a day of work at the mill for five cents an hour. He asks who Annie is and the Patersons claim that Annie is Alvin's niece. The Patersons explain to Annie that the Tennessee River is the source of many of the area's economic woes because it floods in the spring and dries up in the summer. Annie tells Ella and C.G. she ran away because her father was getting married again and didn't want her. She thinks she did him a favor by getting out of his life. Ella says Annie doesn't understand "Love." She tells Annie you have to "open, open wide - there's a lot of room inside for love." Annie decides to go home and accepts the Paterson faimly's offer to take her back to New York. She says they can collect the reward money. She reveals her real identity and they realize that they have heard about her on the radio. They think the reward is $100. At the White House, national policy is at a standstill as the search for Annie goes on. Senator Vandenberg accuses the President of failing to end the Depression because of the preoccupation with Annie. The President responds that he believes the White House staff has the heart, brains and dedication to both end the Depression and find a lost little girl. The Patersons appear with Annie and are shocked to find out that the reward is actually $100,000. While at the White House, the Patersons take advantage of the opportunity to tell the President their concerns about the Tennessee River ("Somebody's Got To Do Something").