New, North American Tour of the Iconic, Tony Award-winning musical comes to Segerstrom Hall

COSTA MESA, CA -- Segerstrom Center for the Arts presents ANNIE, directed by Jenn Thompson, which features the iconic book and score, written by Tony Award®-winners Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin. This celebration of family, optimism and the American spirit remains the ultimate cure for all the hard knocks life throws your way.  The beloved ANNIE score includes the songs “Maybe,” “It’s the Hard Knock Life,” “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile,” “Easy Street,” “I Don’t Need Anything But You” and the eternal anthem of optimism, “Tomorrow.” This show is recommended for ages 5+.

Tickets for ANNIE start at $44.07 and can be purchased by phone 714.556.2787, in person at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or online at  scfta.org.

Holding onto hope when times are tough can take an awful lot of determination, and sometimes, an awful lot of determination comes in a surprisingly small package. Little Orphan Annie has reminded generations of theatergoers that sunshine is always right around the corner, and now the best-loved musical of all time is set to return– just as you remember it and just when we need it most.

“This show, with its iconic title character, continues to delight generations of theatre-lovers old and new by joyfully singing directly into the face of great adversity with perseverance, guts and guile,” said director Jenn Thompson. “For decades, ANNIE has continued to shine brightly, not only as an appeal to our better angels, but also as an example of the thrill of hope, hard-won: promising a better ‘Tomorrow’ not only for Annie herself, but for all who need her message now more than ever.”

In the title role of “Annie” is Hazel Vogel, a 12 year old from Towson, MD, most recently seen in the North American tour of Les Misérables. Returning principal cast includes Stefanie Londino as “Miss Hannigan,” Christopher Swan as “Oliver Warbucks,” Julia Nicole Hunter as “Grace,” and Mark Woodard as “FDR.” Also starring in the tour are Rhett Guter as “Rooster” and Isabella De Souza Moore as “Lily St. Regis.”  Kevin, a seven-year-old labradoodle from Georgia, stars as “Sandy.”

The Orphans are Aria Valentina Aldea, Eva Lizette Carreon, Anna Dillon, Kylie Noelle Patterson, Olive Ross-Kline and Nora West. The featured ensemble includes Stephen Cerf, Anthony DaSilva, Savannah Fisher, Alloria Frayser, Brooke Olivia Gatto, Caroline Glazier, Ryan Mulvaney, Joel Newsome, Melinda Parrett, Lawrence E. Street, Drew Tanabe and Stephanie Wahl.

ANNIE is directed by Jenn Thompson, who at the age of 10 stepped into the role of “Pepper” in the Original Broadway production, choreographed by Patricia Wilcox (Motown, A Night with Janis Joplin), with orchestrations by Dan DeLange; The tour music supervisor is Matthew Smedal; Talitha Fehr is the Music Coordinator and Andrew David Sotomayor is the Music Director.

About ANNIE

By permission of Tribune Content Agency, LLC, ANNIE is based on Harold Gray's popular comic strip “Little Orphan Annie,” which premiered in the 1920s in the New York Daily News and became one of the most widely read strips in the 30s and 40s.  Lyricist-director Martin Charnin bought a coffee table book called “The Life and Hard Times of Little Orphan Annie” as a Christmas gift for a friend in 1970. The clerk at the bookstore was too busy to wrap the book, so Charnin took the book home to wrap it. Instead, he read it and fell in love with the strip and set out to secure the rights. The friend never got the book.

The original production of ANNIE had its world premiere on Aug 10, 1976 at the Goodspeed Opera House (Michael J. Price, Executive Director) and opened on Broadway on April 21, 1977 at the Alvin Theatre (Neil Simon Theatre).      It went on to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, seven Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical, the Grammy for Best Cast Show Album and seven Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Book (Thomas Meehan) and Best Score (Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin).  It closed on Broadway after playing 2,377 performances.  ANNIE was revived on Broadway in 1997 and again in 2014. It has been made into a film three times (1982, 1999, 2014) and was most recently featured as a live television production on NBC.  The show remains one of the biggest Broadway musical hits ever; it has been performed in 28 languages and has been running somewhere around the world for 37 years.  

The design team includes scenic design by Wilson Chin (Pass Over), costume design by Alejo Vietti (Jersey Boys), based on lighting design by Philip Rosenberg, sound design by Ken Travis (Disney’s Aladdin), hair & wig design by Ashley Rae Callahan and casting by Paul Hardt Casting, LLC.

The ANNIE tour stage management team is lead by production store manager Bringham Johnson and stage manager Tara Tolar-Payne. The company management team is led by company manager Royce Matthews with assistant company manager Angela Strohbeck.

This production of ANNIE was licensed by Music Theatre International and is produced by Carolyn Rossi Copeland Productions Inc. and Crossroads Live North America. For additional information on this production of ANNIE, please visit AnnieTour.com.

Recommended for ages 5+

Dates: February 18-23, 2025

Performances:

Tuesday, February 18, 7:30 pm

Wednesday, February 19,  7:30 pm

Thursday, February 20, 7:30 pm

Friday, February 21, 7:30 pm

Saturday, February 22, 2 pm (Accessible) and 7:30 pm

Sunday, February 23, 1 pm and 6:30 pm

Location: Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Tickets start at $44.07

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