Wednesday, November 29, through Sunday, December 3
Prospect Park Auditorium, 1584 34th Avenue, Moline IL
Winner of seven 1977 Tony Awards and one of the 25 longest-running musicals in Broadway history, the iconic comic-strip adaptation Annie will be brought to life by Quad City Music Guild November 29 through December 3, its pre-opening sales so strong that a rare matinée performance has been added for Saturday, December 2.
Based on the Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie that debuted in 1924, Annie follows its titular, red-headed orphan and her loyal dog Sandy on a quest to find Annie's birth parents, one complicated by the makeshift family she forms with billionaire Oliver Warbucks and his assistant Grace, and the scheming trio obsessed with Warbucks' fortune. Debuting at Connecticut's Goodspeed Opera House on August 10, 1976, the show transferred to Broadway on April 21, 1977, where it ran for 2,377 performances and nearly six years. Among its Tony wins were awards for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score, and Annie went on to inspire two Broadway revivals, three film versions, and an estimated 700-900 productions annually throughout the United States alone.
Directing Music Guild's production is Tom Morrow, a frequent area performer whose credits as a director include the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre's Inherit the Wind and the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's The 39 Steps. The musical's leading performers include Emily Winn as Annie, Mark McGinn as Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks, Sara Tubbs as Grace, and Julie Funk as the drunken orphanage ruler Miss Hannigan. And also featured in the cast are Ian Sodawasser and Kailey Ackermann as the villainous Rooster and Lily St. Regis; John Weigandt as radio announcer Bert Healy; Michael Schmidt as Franklin Delano Roosevelt; and more than two dozen additional ensemble members including Abbey Donohoe, Jackie Patterson, Joe Urbaitis, and Reader theatre reviewer Jeff Ashcraft.
Annie runs Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m., tickets are $11-16, and more information and reservations are available by calling (309)762-0330 or visiting QCMusicGuild.com.
