Alex Bourne will be Daddy Warbucks with Holly Dale Spencer as Grace Farrell alongside Miranda Hart as part of further casting announced for the new West End production of Annie.
The pair, who have both appeared in the UK tour of the musical, will be joined in the show at Piccadilly Theatre by Jonny Fines as Rooster and Djalenga Scott as Lily. Today’s casting news follows the previously announced Hart as iconic villain Miss Hannigan.
The title role of Annie will be shared by Madeleine Haynes, aged 13 from Hadley Wood, Barnet in north London, Lola Moxom, aged 12 from Rochester in Kent, and Ruby Stokes, aged 12 from Hampshire. They will be joined by three teams of young performers who will play the girls in Miss Hannigan’s orphanage (see below).
Completing the company will be ensemble members Keisha Atwell, Sophie Ayers, Bobby Delaney, Nic Gibney, Patrick Harper, Ben Harrold, George Ioannides, Megan Louch, Benjamin Mundy, Ben Oliver, Heather Scott-Martin, Anne Smith, Kate Somerset How, Katie Warsop and Russell Wilcox. Amber, a four-year-old Labradoodle, will play Annie’s dog, Sandy.
Rehearsals begin today ahead of previews from May 23, 2017, with opening night on June 5, 2017. It is directed by Nikolai Foster.
The production is initially booking to January 6, 2018. Produced by Michael Harrison and David Ian, it will have sets and costumes designed by Colin Richmond, choreography by Nick Winston, lighting by Ben Cracknell, sound design by Richard Brooker and orchestration and musical direction by George Dyer.
Annie has a book by Thomas Meehan adapted from the comic strip Little Orphan Annie with music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin. Hits include “Tomorrow”, “It’s the Hard Knock Life”, “Maybe”, “Easy Street”, “I Don’t Need Anything But You” and “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile”.
Set in 1930s New York during the Great Depression, brave young Annie is lives a life of misery and torment at Miss Hannigan’s orphanage. Her luck changes when she is chosen to spend Christmas at the home of billionaire Oliver Warbucks but Miss Hannigan has other ideas and hatches a plan to spoil Annie’s search for her true family.
