Broadway Grand Rapids Annie

Hurry – Now is the time to clean out your closets! Broadway Grand Rapids is partnering with Goodwill Industries of Greater Grand Rapids to offer discounted tickets to Annie at DeVos Performance Hall on Tuesday, January 13.

Make a donation of gently used clothing or household items to any Goodwill retail location and in return receive a coupon for $20 off tickets to select seats during the performance of Annie at DeVos Peformance Hall on opening night, Tuesday, January 13, 2015. There will also an opportunity to donate gently used coats at DeVos Hall on opening night.

Annie runs January 13 through the 18th for 8 performances. Directed by original lyricist and director Martin Charnin, this Annie is a brand new incarnation of the iconic original. With equal measures of pluck and positivity, little orphan Annie is determined to find her parents, who abandoned her years ago at an orphanage run by the embittered Miss Hannigan. With the help of the other orphans, Annie escapes to the wondrous world of New York. In a series of adventures, Annie foils Miss Hannigan’s evil machinations, befriends President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and finds a new home with billionaire Oliver Warbucks, his secretary Grace Farrell, and a lovable mutt named Sandy. Featuring book and score by Tony Award® winners Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin, Annie includes such unforgettable songs as It’s the Hard Knock Life, Easy Street, and the eternal anthem of optimism, Tomorrow.

This is the perfect opportunity to get out of the house and enjoy the world’s best-loved musical while doing good for the community. Since 1966, the non-profit Goodwill Industries of Greater Grand Rapids has been dedicated to changing lives through the power of work by offering a wide range of employment and training programs to assist those with disabilities and other barriers to employment by developing marketable skills. In addition to monetary donations, revenues from nineteen retail stores in an eight-county area support the organization’s efforts.

For more information, visit www.goodwillgr.org. Follow on Twitter: @goodwillgr or on Facebook: Facebook.com/goodwillgr

Broadway Grand Rapids is also a non-profit bringing the highest quality touring Broadway productions to West Michigan, enriching the diversity and artistic integrity of our community through professional performing arts.

Visit www.broadwaygrandrapids.com for more information.

Broadway Grand Rapids is proud to announce that the new U.S. National Tour of ANNIE will play January 13-18, 2015 at DeVos Performance Hall in Grand Rapids. Directed by original lyricist and director Martin Charnin for the 19^th time, this production of ANNIE will be a brand new physical incarnation of the iconic Tony Award^®-winning original.

A family night performance will be held on Thursday January 15. Young guests will be treated to activities and crafts in the inner lobby of DeVos Hall prior to the performance. The lobby will open at 6:00 pm and the performance will begin at 7:30 pm. After the show, guests can enjoy a Talk Back in the theater with some of the actors.

For the family night performance, special four-pack pricing is available. Get four tickets for $150 in the Mid-Mezzanine (Zone 2) and save 40%. In the Rear-Mezzanine or Balcony, four tickets can be purchased for $100 (Zone 3), a savings of 30%. A minimum of four tickets must be purchased to receive the discount. Not valid on previously purchased tickets.

Tickets for all performances of ANNIE are still available and can be purchased at Broadwaygrandrapids.com, Ticketmaster.com, or charge by phone at 1-800-745-3000. Tickets start at $32.50. Groups of 10 or more can also receive a discount by calling 616-235-6285.

ANNIE has a book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin. All three authors received 1977 Tony Awards^® for their work. Choreography is by Liza Gennaro, who will incorporate selections from her father Peter Gennaro’s 1977 Tony Award^®-winning choreography.

The original production of ANNIE opened April 21, 1977 at the Alvin Theatre and 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). The show remains one of the biggest Broadway musical hits ever. It ran for 2,377 performances after it first opened, and has been performed in 28 languages and has been running somewhere around the world for 37 years.

The beloved score for ANNIE includes “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.”

The celebrated design team includes scenic design byTony Award^® winner Beowulf Boritt (Act One, The Scottsboro Boys, Rock of Ages), costume design byCostume Designer’s Guild Award winner Suzy Benzinger (Blue Jasmine, Movin’ Out, Miss Saigon), lighting design by Tony Award^® winner Ken Billington (Chicago, Annie, White Christmas) and sound design by Tony Award^® nominee Peter Hylenksi (Rocky, Bullets Over Broadway, Motown).The lovable mutt “Sandy” will once again be trained by Tony Award^® Honoree William Berloni (Annie, A Christmas Story, Legally Blonde). Musical supervision and additional orchestrations are by Keith Levenson (Annie, She Loves Me, Dreamgirls).Casting is by Joy Dewing CSA and Holly Buczek CSA, Joy Dewing Casting (Soul Doctor, Wonderland, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat). The tour is produced by Troika Entertainment, LLC.

This brand new production features a 25 member company: in the title role of Annie is Issie Swickle, a 9-year-old actress from Davie, FL, making her tour debut. Gilgamesh Taggett will star as Oliver Warbucks. In the role of Miss Hannigan is Lynn Andrews. Also starring in the tour are Ashley Edler as Grace, Garrett Deagon as Rooster, Lucy Werner as Lily and Allan Ray Baker as FDR. Sunny, a 4-year-old rescue terrier mix, stars as Sandy.

The Orphans are Angelina Carballo, Adia Dant, LillyBea Ireland, Sydney Shuck, Lilly Mae Stewart and Isabel Wallach.

For more information visit: www.anniethemusical.com, @ANNIEonTour, www.facebook.com/AnnieTheMusical