Harris Center For The Arts Presents Friday-Sunday, February 14-16 Folsom
Leapin’ Lizards! Broadway’s Favorite Orphan is Back. Harris Center for The Arts presents the Tony Award-Winning musical ANNIE, performing six times, February 14-16, with three evening performances at 6:30pm, and three matinees at 1:30pm. This multi-week tour is produced by Carolyn Rossi Copeland and Crossroads Live North America.
Individual tickets for ANNIE are on sale now at the Harris Center Box Office at (916) 608-6888, or online at HarrisCenter.net. Box Office hours are Tuesday-Friday from 12:00pm-5:00pm, and one hour before showtime.
Holding onto hope when times are tough can take an awful lot of determination, and sometimes, an awful lot of determination comes in a surprisingly small package. Little Orphan Annie has reminded generations of theatergoers that sunshine is always right around the corner, and now the best-loved musical of all time is set to return in this new production – just as you remember it and just when we need it most. This celebration of
family, optimism and the American spirit remains the ultimate cure for all the hard knocks life throws your way.
ANNIE is directed by Jenn Thompson, who at the age of 10 stepped into the role of “Pepper” in the Original Broadway production, choreographed by Patricia Wilcox (Motown, A Night with Janis Joplin), with orchestrations by Dan DeLange. The tour music supervisor is Matthew Smedal. Talitha Fehr is the Music Coordinator and Andrew David Sotomayor is the Music Director.
“This show, with its iconic title character, continues to delight generations of theatre-lovers old and new by joyfully singing directly into the face of great adversity with perseverance, guts and guile,” said director Jenn Thompson. “For decades, ANNIE has continued to shine brightly, not only as an appeal to our better angels, but also as an example of the thrill of hope, hard-won: promising a better ‘Tomorrow’ not only for Annie herself, but for all who need her message now more than ever.”
Holding onto hope when times are tough can take an awful lot of determination, and sometimes, an awful lot of determination comes in a surprisingly small package. Little Orphan Annie has reminded generations of theatergoers that sunshine is always right around the corner, and now the best-loved musical of all time is set to return in this new production – just as you remember it and just when we need it most. This celebration of
family, optimism and the American spirit remains the ultimate cure for all the hard knocks life throws your way.
ANNIE is directed by Jenn Thompson, who at the age of 10 stepped into the role of “Pepper” in the Original Broadway production, choreographed by Patricia Wilcox (Motown, A Night with Janis Joplin), with orchestrations by Dan DeLange. The tour music supervisor is Matthew Smedal. Talitha Fehr is the Music Coordinator and Andrew David Sotomayor is the Music Director.
“This show, with its iconic title character, continues to delight generations of theatre-lovers old and new by joyfully singing directly into the face of great adversity with perseverance, guts and guile,” said director Jenn Thompson. “For decades, ANNIE has continued to shine brightly, not only as an appeal to our better angels, but also as an example of the thrill of hope, hard-won: promising a better ‘Tomorrow’ not only for Annie herself, but for all who need her message now more than ever.”
In the title role of “Annie” is Hazel Vogel, a 12-year-old from Towson, MD, most recently seen in the North American tour of Les Misérables. Returning principal cast includes Stefanie Londino as “Miss Hannigan,” Christopher Swan as “Oliver Warbucks,” Julia Nicole Hunter as “Grace,” and Mark Woodard as “FDR.” Also starring in the tour are Rhett Guter as “Rooster” and Isabella De Souza Moore as “Lily St. Regis.” Kevin, a seven-year-old labradoodle from Georgia, stars as “Sandy.”
The Orphans are Aria Valentina Aldea, Eva Lizette Carreon, Anna Dillon, Kylie Noelle Patterson, Olive Ross-Kline, and Nora West.
The featured ensemble includes Nick Abbott, Anthony DaSilva, Savannah Fisher, Alloria Frayser, Brooke Olivia Gatto, Matt Gibson, Caroline Glazier, Danny Lindgren, Ryan Mulvaney, Melinda Parrett, Drew Tanabe, and Stephanie Wahl.
The Orphans are Aria Valentina Aldea, Eva Lizette Carreon, Anna Dillon, Kylie Noelle Patterson, Olive Ross-Kline, and Nora West.
The featured ensemble includes Nick Abbott, Anthony DaSilva, Savannah Fisher, Alloria Frayser, Brooke Olivia Gatto, Matt Gibson, Caroline Glazier, Danny Lindgren, Ryan Mulvaney, Melinda Parrett, Drew Tanabe, and Stephanie Wahl.
The design team includes scenic design by Wilson Chin (Pass Over), costume design by Alejo Vietti (Jersey Boys), based on lighting design by Philip Rosenberg, sound design by Ken Travis (Disney’s Aladdin), hair & wig design by Ashley Rae Callahan, and casting by Paul Hardt Casting, LLC.
The ANNIE tour stage management team is led by production stage manager Brigham Johnson, stage manager Tara Tolar-Payne, and assistant stage manager Olivia Gordon. The company management team is led by company manager Royce Matthews with assistant company manager Angela Strohbeck.
Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as, “one of the best family musicals ever penned!” ANNIE features the book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse, and lyrics by Martin Charnin. All three authors received 1977 Tony Awards® for their work.
The ANNIE tour stage management team is led by production stage manager Brigham Johnson, stage manager Tara Tolar-Payne, and assistant stage manager Olivia Gordon. The company management team is led by company manager Royce Matthews with assistant company manager Angela Strohbeck.
Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as, “one of the best family musicals ever penned!” ANNIE features the book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse, and lyrics by Martin Charnin. All three authors received 1977 Tony Awards® for their work.
By permission of Tribune Content Agency, LLC, ANNIE is based on Harold Gray’s popular comic strip “Little Orphan Annie” which premiered in the 1920s in the New York Daily News and became one of the most widely read strips in the 30s and 40s. Lyricist-director Martin Charnin bought a coffee table book called “The Life and Hard Times of Little Orphan Annie” as a Christmas gift for a friend in 1970. The clerk at the bookstore was too busy to wrap the book, so Charnin took the book home to wrap it. Instead, he read it and fell in love with the strip and set out to secure the rights. The friend never got the book.
The original production of ANNIE had its world premiere on Aug 10, 1976 at the Goodspeed Opera House (Michael J. Price, Executive Director) and opened on Broadway on April 21, 1977 at the Alvin Theatre (Neil Simon theatre). It 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). It closed on Broadway after playing 2,377 performances.
The original production of ANNIE had its world premiere on Aug 10, 1976 at the Goodspeed Opera House (Michael J. Price, Executive Director) and opened on Broadway on April 21, 1977 at the Alvin Theatre (Neil Simon theatre). It 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). It closed on Broadway after playing 2,377 performances.
ANNIE was revived on Broadway in 1997 and again in 2014. It has been made into a film three times (1982, 1999, 2014) and was most recently featured as a live television production on NBC. The show remains one of the biggest Broadway musical hits ever; it 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.” This production of ANNIE was licensed by Music Theatre International and is produced by Carolyn Rossi Copeland Productions Inc. and Crossroads Live North America.
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.” This production of ANNIE was licensed by Music Theatre International and is produced by Carolyn Rossi Copeland Productions Inc. and Crossroads Live North America.
About Harris Center for the Arts
Long envisioned as a critically important element for Folsom Lake College, the visual and performing arts center was initially conceived as a facility to instruct, develop, and guide talented students to become actors, musicians, dancers, visual artists, and behind-the-curtain technicians. The scope and size of the Center expanded significantly with a 2003 feasibility study which validated the need for a facility that could also serve as a regional arts center for the greater community.
In 2004, the project proposal approved by the Los Rios Board of Trustees was submitted to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office for final funding approval in the 2005-06 budget year. Construction of the $50 million project began in July 2008, supported by a State Educational Facilities General Obligation Bond, Local Measure A Bond, other District resources, and donations to the Folsom Lake College Foundation.
In February, 2011, the Center opened as “Three Stages at Folsom Lake College” and by the end of its second full season it had already attracted over 300,000 patrons to its offerings. In August, 2012, the Los Rios District Board of Directors announced the renaming of the facility to the “Harris Center for the Arts,” honoring Chancellor Emeritus Brice Harris who, during his tenure, oversaw a doubling of the size of the District including the development of Folsom Lake College. He, together with then President of the College Thelma Scott-Skillman, was perhaps most responsible for seeing the vision of a Regional Performing Arts Center for the community realized.
The 80,000-square-foot center includes three stages and is located at Folsom Lake College. The venue, initially called Three Stages at Folsom Lake College, opened in 2011.