Tuesday, June 8, 2010

BETCHA THEY'RE NO LONGER COLLECTING ASHTRAYS: Annie is returning to Broadway in 2012, with a revised script "to modernize the show" in order "to sharpen the storytelling" and "really make this revival for current audiences." Still, the Great Depression setting will remain, so don't look for CSI technologies in analyzing Annie's locket or Warbucks singing the praises of Gray's Papaya and the Fifth Avenue Apple Store in "N.Y.C." But you may have some ideas.

Related: Our long-running discussion of the superiority of the 1999 Rob Marshall made-for-tv version to the 1982 John Huston film. Below the fold, a compare-and-contrast:




18 comments:

  1. Also, the Lovely Boylan Sisters will be replaced by the models from Deal or No Deal.

    ReplyDelete
  2. gretchen9:26 AM

    I enjoyed that article if only because Arielle Tepper Madover, the producer, seems like the kind of girl I'd want to go have a drink with.  We could talk about our shared love of Broadway musicals, why it's mean to have a reality competition to cast a ten-year-oid girl, and awesome rescue dogs that could play Sandy. 

    Also, if they want to up the energy level, I can think of one surefire trick: more orphans singing and dancing.  "It's a Hard Knock Life" is one of my favorite stage moments ever.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Eric J.10:17 AM

    My six-year-old daughter has recently discovered/become obsessed with Annie (and prefers the 1999 version, thank you.) I really can't tell her about this, however, or she'll be asking about it every day for the next 18 months.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Marsha10:18 AM

    Doo-doodle-oot-doot, doo-doodle-oot-doot, doo-doo-doo-doo doo-doo-doo-doo....

    ReplyDelete
  5. Marsha10:19 AM

    This is my cue to mention that I will always hate the 1982 version because I was one of the 100,000 girls who auditioned to play Annie, and if they couldn't see my brilliance, then to hell with them!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Heather K10:33 AM

    I-O-D E-N-T

    ReplyDelete
  7. Re: the superiority of the 1999 TV version.

    Victor Garber. Audra McDonald. Kathy Bates. Alan Cumming.  Kristen Chenoweth.

    Q.E.D.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Look. that's what I've consistently said, but Carol Burnett, Bernadette Peters and Tim Curry have their adherents.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The Pathetic Earthling11:09 AM

    I feel exactly the same way about the astronaut class of 2004.  Except that I didn't apply and wasn't qualified.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Heather K11:09 AM

    Also Molly was played by young Sara Hyland--the oldest daughter from Modern Family

    ReplyDelete
  11. The Pathetic Earthling11:10 AM

    My 10-year old niece just did a one-night only performance of Annie as Annie.  A shortened version, of course, for kids theater, but with 8-9 musical numbers.  She did very well indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  12. But didn't you get some free Ovaltine out of the deal?  And you were on the local news!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ok that just blew my mind.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Marsha2:22 PM

    Oddly, I remember the goody bag with the Ovaltine, but don't remember being on the news.

    Really, it was totally worth it just for the stories I've been telling for nearly 30 years. Also, for the striken look people get when the little curly redheaded girl, told for the upteenth time "You should play Annie!" responds "well, I tried out, but they didn't want me."

    ReplyDelete
  15. spacewoman2:38 PM

    Hilarious!

    ReplyDelete
  16. KCosmo12:01 AM

    Cosmo Girl may insist on preparing for this for the next two years.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'm a fan of all three, just not in that movie.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Genevieve3:36 PM

    Agree on "Hard Knock Life." 
    The people who did the BBC reality competitions to cast Maria in Sound of Music ("How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?") and Joseph in Technicolor Dreamcoat ("Any Dream Will Do," I think), also did one to cast Nancy and Oliver in Oliver! ("I'd Do Anything").  I haven't seen that one, and cringe at the idea of subjecting ten-year-old children to reality competitions.  And I say that as the parent of an appropriately-aged actor.

    ReplyDelete