Thaindian News

By Ranjan Bhaduri
New York, Mar 30, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Remember ‘Little Orphan Annie”? Yes, the comic strip that gained immense popularity in American newspapers as one of the most sought after cartoon strip. Well it seems now little Annie has finally found her way to hit the stage in a Broadway Production titled Annie. Star Plaza Theater is gearing up to offer all its Northwest Indiana fans an excellent summer treat with the staging of the Broadway musical “Annie”.

Harold Gray was all brains behind Annie and its successful phase of 44 long years starting from the year 1924. The idea of Little orphan Annie all originated to Harold Gray as “Little Orphan Otto” but the Chicago Tribune editor had purposely changed it into “Little Orphan Annie”. To trace Annie’s popularity we had Ralphie; a “Little Orphan Annie fan” who proclaims how he craves for the radio broadcast of Little orphan Annie witnessed in Jean Shepherd’s movie “A Christmas Story”. Reportedly, the performances are all lined up from in between July 31 and Aug 1. Following that, there will be also an August 7 and August 8 performance, to be held at the Star Plaza Theatre.

The musical is an offering from the makers of “High School Musical 2″ which was a phenomenal hit. There shall also be auditions to cast for the title role and other supporting roles for the musical. The dates of the auditions have been settled upon as April 9 and April 10, with the audition call backs being scheduled for April 11. Kurt Gillins will be the chief director and shall be assisted by Kristyn Estes. Lyn Knight will be monitoring the choreography, while Bill Woods and band members will be setting the musical notes right and in place for this production.