Annie

Annie is a family musical set in New York City in 1933, during the Great Depression. Its heroine is an 11-year-old orphan convinced that her parents will return for her. Thomas Meehan wrote the book, Charles Strouse the music and Martin Charnin the lyrics, adapting the comic strip Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray.

This staging is produced by 92NY, the Upper East Side cultural center, within its Theater for Young Audiences series for 2026–27. It is billed as the full-length musical, not a shortened youth edition. The run is a limited holiday-season engagement of 12 performances on six weekend days, set to open in late November 2026.

Annie lives in an orphanage under Miss Hannigan, who resents the children and drinks. After a daring escape in a laundry truck, she adopts a stray dog called Sandy, passes through a Hooverville and is returned by the police.

Then Grace Farrell, who works for the billionaire Oliver Warbucks, arrives to pick a child to host at the Warbucks mansion over Christmas. She chooses Annie. Warbucks expected a boy, but he soon softens and shows Annie the city. He wants to adopt her. She holds out hope of finding her birth parents, so he offers a cash reward over the radio, on Bert Healy's program.

The reward tempts Miss Hannigan, her brother Rooster, an escaped convict, and his girlfriend Lily St. Regis, who scheme to pass as Annie's parents. In the second act, on a trip to Washington, Annie's optimism wins over President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his cabinet.

"Tomorrow" and "It's the Hard Knock Life" are the numbers most people know, and "Tomorrow" is the one 92NY highlights. It returns in the second act, sung by Annie with Roosevelt, Warbucks and the cabinet. "Easy Street" gives the scheming trio of Miss Hannigan, Rooster and Lily their moment, and "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile" is staged as a number on Bert Healy's broadcast.

Buttenwieser Hall is a flexible-seating room with a compact proscenium stage, a muraled ceiling and a ballroom feel. An open casting call in summer 2026 sought young performers: an Annie able to play 10 to 12 and orphans ages 6 to 13. Those who are cast join 92NY as scholarship students. As of October 2026, this guide has no named cast for the run, so check the official 92NY page for casting updates.

Charnin approached Meehan in 1972 about writing the script. They kept little from Gray's strip, which had debuted in 1924, beyond Annie, Warbucks and Sandy. The world premiere took place in East Haddam, Connecticut, at the Goodspeed Opera House on August 10, 1976, where Andrea McArdle moved from the orphan Pepper to the title role. Broadway followed on April 21, 1977, at the Alvin Theatre, later renamed the Neil Simon Theatre. McArdle starred opposite Reid Shelton as Warbucks and Dorothy Loudon as Miss Hannigan. The Broadway run ended on January 2, 1983, after 2,377 performances.

Broadway revivals followed in 1997 and 2012, and film versions in 1982, 1999 and 2014. As of October 2026, Sam Pinkleton is set to direct a Broadway revival planned for fall 2027, the show's 50th anniversary.