Annie: a Closer Look

ANNIE: A CLOSER LOOK WHAT TO EXPECT Watching a play or a musical is different than watching a movie or TV show because the actors are on stage, live, and in person. They can see you and hear you. And you, the audience, have a very important role to play. Can you imagine actors in costumes and stage makeup, or musicians playing their instruments in a room without an audience? Without you there would be no show. So you have a very important job. Your job is to listen with your whole body. That means your ears are open, your eyes are watching, and your voice is silent. You may show your appreciation by reacting to the show appropriately: laugh when something is funny, cry if something is sad, and always clap to show the actors that you appreciate their work. Of course, we know that sometimes movement or noise is necessary, and when it occurs, the actors know how to go on with the show. HERE ARE SOME THINGS TO REMEMBER. • Please completely turn off all phones and electronic devices that may make noise during the show. • Please refrain from taking photographs or video recordings of the show. • It is okay to make noise and/or move in your seat but please do not disturb your fellow audience members or disrupt the performance. ENJOY THE SHOW! MEET THE CHARACTERS OF ANNIE! Annie – 11 year old, spunky, red haired orphan who Grace Farrell – Kind woman who works for hopes for a brighter “Tomorrow.” Oliver Warbucks. The Orphans – Annie’s friends who live with Daniel “Rooster” her in the orphanage. They have a “Hard Knock Life” and Hannigan – The brother of Miss Hannigan. He are named Molly, Kate, Tessie, Pepper, July, and Duffy. has no money and is always thinking up schemes to lead him to “Easy Street.” Miss Hannigan – The woman who runs the orphanage where Annie and her friends live. She hates Lily St. Regis – Rooster’s girlfriend and children, particularly, “Little Girls.” sidekick in his schemes. Oliver Warbucks – Very wealthy man who Sandy – Sweet mutt who becomes Annie’s has no children. He lives in a big mansion in New York best friend. City, also known as, “NYC.” Annie’s World By Jordan Lusink, Marketing Projects Manager Annie takes place in 1933 in The Big Apple – New He served from 1933 (when he won the election York City! While you might know a bit about New in a landslide against Hoover) until his death in York City, here are a few other things to know about 1945. When Annie meets FDR, he is just finishing Annie’s world. up his first year in office and is in the midst of implementing his New Deal. “Little Orphan Annie” The musical Annie is based on a daily newspaper New Deal comic strip that premiered in 1924, itself based FDR’s “New Deal” was a series of programs and on an 1885 poem (“Little Orphan Annie”). “Little projects that were implemented as a means of Orphan Annie” was one of the first adventure attempting to pull the US out of the Depression. comic strips to focus on the stories of a young girl, Social Security, a precursor to FEMA, the Works chronicling the tales of Annie, her faithful dog Progress Administration (WPA), the creation of the Sandy, her benefactor Oliver Warbucks, and many FDIC, passage of the Glass-Steagall Act, the SEC, other friends. the FCC—all of these were New Deal programs. In Washington, for example, the WPA is responsible The Great Depression for the building of the Grand Coulee Dam, the Beginning with a stock market crash that reservoir of which is known as Franklin Delano devastated financial systems in 1929 and Roosevelt Lake. continuing until the start of World War II in 1939, the United States and, in fact, the world, was in The Sun Will Come crisis: soup kitchen lines were never-ending; Out Tomorrow the number of homeless Americans was steadily rising; farmers couldn’t afford to harvest their The musical Annie is about a girl who has no parents crops; and unemployment, which averaged 25% and lives in an orphanage run by a mean woman who doesn’t like children. And yet, Annie is always nationally, reached 90% in some cities. Although an optimist, dreaming of a better life in the future. the Depression didn’t technically end until 1939, The musical Annie is about finding hope in a new day things slowly began to get better in 1933, when tomorrow, and a strong-willed little girl who brightens President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected everyone’s world today. and enacted his New Deal. In the musical, Annie imagines what her parents Hoovervilles might be like. In her dreams, they are kind, thoughtful people who are searching for their little girl. In the Hoovervilles were shantytowns built by the end, Annie comes to learn that the people who make homeless. Though many large cities had municipal up a family, are not always the ones we expect. housing for the homeless prior to it, during the Depression, there simply wasn’t enough room to keep up with the growing homeless population. What are your dreams for the future? President Franklin Delano What are some ways that you can make Roosevelt (“FDR”) the world brighter tomorrow? You may recognize FDR as the president whom Who are the people that make up your family? Annie goes to the White House to meet. He was elected to the presidency a record four times! We want to hear from you! Send us your answers to [email protected]..

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