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AUDIENCE GUIDE 2017 - 2018 | Our 58th Season Issue| 2 November 17—December 27, 2017 Music by Charles Strouse Lyrics by Martin Charnin Book by Thomas Meehan In 1977, one of the most popular comic What better time than the holidays to tell strips of all time, Harold Gray’s Little the heartwarming story of a strong, Orphan Annie, was adapted into one of independent, optimistic girl who never the most successful and beloved gives up. And who better to guide the Broadway musicals of all time, Annie. telling of this story than our director, Molly With music by Charles Strouse, lyrics Rhode? Molly is a longtime member of by Martin Charnin and book by Thomas the Skylight family as both an actor Meehan, the show opened on April 21, (Pump Boys and Dinettes, Cabaret, The IN THIS ISSUE 1977. It was an instant hit. Producers) and as director of two of our most popular and successful productions, New York Times critic Clive Barnes The Sound of Music and Les Miserables. Original Comic Strip wrote, “To dislike the new musical Molly brings a sharp intellect, tremendous Annie would be tantamount to disliking creativity and expertise gained from Composer and Authors motherhood, peanut butter, friendly working on both sides of the footlights. mongrel dogs and nostalgia. Annie is an The Depression intensely likable musical. You might even We think audiences will be impressed by call it lovable.” Orphanages the creativity and vision of the whole team who have worked together to Herbert Hoover and F.D.R. Annie won seven Tony awards: Best transform the Cabot stage into a rundown Musical, Best Score, Best Book, Best orphanage, a billionaire’s mansion, the Historical References Scenic Design, Best Costume Design, White House and a shantytown. Coupled Best Choreography and Best with our wonderful cast of both young and Performance by an Actress in a Leading adult performers, and two adorable dogs Role for Dorothy Loudon as Miss alternating in the role of Sandy, Annie is Hannigan. the Skylight’s gift to our audiences. The original Broadway production ran for Happy Holidays! nearly six years. It set box office records for the time and spawned numerous productions all over the world along with several movie adaptations. This guide is available online at skylightmusictheatre.org This production is generously Annie’s journey to the Broadway stage sponsored by was a long one. The curly-topped orphan first appeared in Little Orphan Annie, a daily American comic strip that made its debut in 1924 in the New York Daily News. The strip took its name from the 1885 poem, Little Orphant Annie by James Whitcomb Riley, known as the Season Sponsors “Hoosier Poet.” Below is the first stanza of the poem: Little Orphant Annie’s come to our house to stay, Harold Lincoln Gray (1894 – 1968) An’ wash the cups an’ saucers up, an’ brush the crumbs away, An’ shoo the chickens off the porch, was a reporter for the Chicago an’ dust the hearth, an’ sweep, Tribune before enlisting in the army to An’ make the fire, an’ bake the bread, serve in World War I. an’ earn her board-an’-keep; After his discharge, he returned to An’ all us other childern, the Chicago Tribune, which, at that when the supper things is done, time, was being reworked by owner We set around the kitchen fire Joseph Patterson into an important an’ has the mostest fun national journal. As part of his plan, A-list’nin’ to the witch-tales Patterson wanted to publish comic ‘at Annie tells about, strips that would lend themselves to An’ the Gobble-uns ‘at gits you nationwide syndication and to film and ef you don’t watch out! radio adaptations. Initially, Gray submitted the strip as Little Orphan Little Orphan Annie was created by Otto, but changed it to Little Orphan Harold Lincoln Gray (1894 – 1968). Gray Annie. was born in Kankakee, Illinois and grew up in West Lafayette, Indiana. Although he studied engineering at Purdue University, graduating in 1917, Research/Writing by he turned to a career in journalism. He Justine Leonard for ENLIGHTEN, Skylight Music Theatre’s Education Program Edited by Ray Jivoff [email protected] Margaret Bridges [email protected] 158 N. Broadway Milwaukee, WI 53202 (414) 291-7811 www.skylightmusictheatre.org Costumes designed by Jason Orlenko AUDIENCE GUIDE | ANNIE contemporary events. During World Gray said in 1952 that Annie's origin War II, while many advocated lay in an encounter he had with a neutrality, "Daddy" Warbucks was ragamuffin wandering the streets of manufacturing tanks, planes and Chicago. "I talked to this little kid and munitions while Annie did her part by liked her right away," Gray said. "She blowing up a German submarine and had common sense, knew how to take organizing youth groups called the care of herself. Her name was Annie. Junior Commandos to collect At the time there were some 40 strips recyclable materials for the war effort. with boys as the main characters; only three with girls. I made Annie an In the post-war years, Annie took on orphan so she'd have no family or The Bomb, communism, teenage alliances, and had the freedom to go rebellion and other social and political where she pleased.” issues, often provoking the anger of clergymen, union leaders and others. Little Orphan Annie was launched August 5, 1924, and it became one of Spin-offs in merchandising, films and the most successful comic strips in radio made Gray a millionaire. Little history. The plot follows Annie, her Orphan Annie was adapted into a second in 1938. Both films were dog Sandy and her benefactor Oliver 15-minute radio show in Chicago in panned by the critics. "Daddy" Warbucks. It is considered to 1930 and went national in 1931. It left be the first American comic strip to the air in 1942. At its peak, the show A Fortune Magazine popularity poll in express a political philosophy, had about 6 million fans. In his book, 1937 indicated Little Orphan Annie attracting adult readers with its The Great Radio Heroes, radio ranked as the number one comic strip, commentary about organized labor, historian Jim Harmon attributes the ahead of Popeye, Dick Tracy, Bringing the New Deal and communism. show's success to the fact that it was Up Father,The Gumps, Blondie, Moon the only radio show to deal with and Mullins, Joe Palooka and Li'l Abner. Earlier strips relied on a formula in appeal to young children. which Daddy Warbucks is away on After Gray’s death, the strip continued business and Annie is cast out of the A popular reference to the radio show under other cartoonists with varying Warbucks mansion, usually by the appears in the 1983 film, A Christmas success. By 2010, it was running in nasty Mrs. Warbucks. The devise Story. The main character, Ralph, is fewer than 20 U.S. newspapers and allows Annie to wander the crushed when he finally receives the after 86 years, the strip's final episode countryside and have adventures decoder pin offered to decipher clues appeared on Sunday, June 13, 2010. helping people and often fighting given at the end of each Little Orphan political corruption, criminal gangs and Annie radio show broadcast and the Rapper Jay-Z has referenced Little corrupt institutions. message is from the show’s sponsor: Orphan Annie in at least two of his "Be sure to drink your Ovaltine." songs, as well as sampled It's the The strip was "conservative and Hard Knock Life for Hard Knock Life topical," according to The Great Two film adaptations were released at (Ghetto Anthem) in 1999. Depression in America: A Cultural the height of Annie's popularity in the It seems that in one way or another, Encyclopedia, and "represents the 1930s, the first in 1932 and the personal vision of Gray's homespun Annie will always be with us. philosophy of hard work, respect for elders and a cheerful outlook on life." It also allowed Gray to express his own political views. When President Roosevelt proposed his New Deal, Gray saw these programs as government interference in private enterprise. He railed against Roosevelt and his programs and even had Daddy Warbucks lose his fortune and die from despair at the election of Roosevelt. After FDR's death, Gray resurrected Warbucks, who said, "Somehow the climate here has changed since I went away.” Through the years, the strip was successful with it’s focus on 2017-2018 | SKYLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE Their next project, It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman (1966), was a disappointment, but four years later, the team had another hit with Applause. Adapted by Betty Comden and Adolph Green from the film All About Eve, the 1970 musical won four Tony Awards®, including Best Musical. Then came Annie! Hugely successful and beloved by generations, the 1977 Tony Award® winning musical ran on Broadway for six years and was adapted into a film three times. This cultural phenomenon also spawned two unsuccessful stage sequels: Annie 2: Miss Hannigan's Revenge (1989) and Annie Warbucks (1992). Charles Strouse – Composer Strouse’s later, less successful work A three-time Tony Award®-winning includes Mayor (1985) based on the composer, Charles Strouse has written book by N.Y. Mayor Ed Koch; Rags more than two dozen shows over his (1986) with Stephen Schwartz and Nick fifty-year career. He has also & Nora (1991) with Richard Maltby, Jr. composed classical work, opera, top forty hits, film and television music. Strouse also wrote film scores One of his most famous songs is including Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Those Were the Days, the theme song The Night They Raided Minsky’s (1968).