WHS presents ‘Annie’ from May 11-14

The Waxahachie High School drama department is preparing for its rendition of “Annie,” a comedic drama musical.

“Annie – (a) fun, family musical, (with) iconic music about a little girl that feels that her parents are still out there looking for her, so she desperately wants to have a mom and dad,” head theater director Andy Reynolds said.

Set in the 1930s in New York City, the musical follows Annie, an orphan left on the doorstep of an orphanage run by the cruel Miss Hannigan. She befriends the billionaire Oliver Warbucks and his secretary, Grace Farrell, when Warbucks welcomes Annie into his home to better his public image.

“It’s more iconic than anything, so we want to represent it well,” Reynolds said. “It’s pure entertainment with nostalgic moments in it. Everybody in that audience has a reference to it, whether they know it very well or know it as … that redheaded curly orphan thing.”

The audience will recognize songs like “Tomorrow,” “Hard Knock Life,” and more.

Drawing inspiration from the 1924 comic strip and 1930 radio show “Little Orphan Annie,” book writer Thomas Meehan, lyricist Martin Charnin, and composer Charles Strouse wrote “Annie” as a Broadway musical. It earned seven Tony awards in 1977, including best musical. In 1982, the musical was adapted to a movie with Carol Burnett (Miss Hannigan), Aileen Quinn (Annie) and Albert Finney (Daddy Warbucks).

“Growing up, I was only about 6, 7 or 8 years old when the movie came out,” Reynolds said. “I loved that movie when I was a kid. I was singing all those songs. I especially loved the character of Rooster, which is fun because my son (Noah Reynolds) is playing Rooster.”

Every few years, Reynolds said he likes to pick a musical that “brings in the entire family.” In 2019, the department performed “Mary Poppins,” where he brought in younger Waxahachie students to play little chimney sweep dancers.

This year, Reynolds held auditions for little orphans, planning to cast 40 to 50 students.

“We had 100 kids show up to audition … so I took all of them,” he said.

Reynolds split the little orphans evenly into an A and B cast, with each cast performing on alternating nights. The little orphans, ranging from kindergarten to eighth grade, have been practicing once a week for more than three weeks for their part in the show.

While prepping for opening night, May 11, Reynolds and his department are also competing in the UIL one act play state competition May 6 in Round Rock.

“We don’t have any rehearsal all weekend because we’ll be at state,” Reynolds said. “We come back on Monday, and it’s production week. Ready or not, here we go. We say in this building that there will be wet paint while we’re performing on opening night. We’ll be building and painting and sewing all the way up to the last minute.”

Performed in the WHS Performing Arts Center, the show will have 7 p.m. shows May 11-13 and will end with a matinee show at 2 p.m. May 14. Admission is $7 for students and $10 for adults.

WHS recently received multiple award nominations from the Betty Lynn Buckley Awards for its winter musical “Crazy for You” and its fall play “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” and also award nominations from the Broadway Dallas High School Musical Theatre Awards, formerly Dallas Summer Musicals, for its winter musical “Crazy for You.”

The awards ceremony for the Betty Lynn Buckley Awards is May 18, and the Broadway Dallas awards ceremony is June 3.

To purchase tickets to “Annie,” visit http://whsdramadept.org/22-23-shows or buy them at the door.

Originally published May 4, 2023 - https://www.waxahachiesun.com/arts_and_entertainment/whs-presents-annie-from-may-11-14/article_93d40c58-eafe-11ed-8342-376702bdd72e.html