- Performances: 2,377.
- Open / Close: April 21, 1977 – January 2, 1983
- Theater: Alvin Theatre.
- Tony Awards: With a whopping 10 nominations, it’s not exactly surprising that it nabbed 7 awards, including Best Musical. What is somewhat surprising is that Martin Charnin did NOT win for Best Direction of a Musical. As discussed in the podcast, Dorothy Loudon beat out Andrea McArdle for Best Featured Actress in a Musical award and would go on to several other roles, including succeeding Angela Lansbury in the London staging of “Sweeney Todd.”
- Fun Fact: The Tony Award winning choreographer, Peter Gennaro, a dancer in several shows in the ’40s and ’50s. Most famously, he was a member of the trio that danced the number “Steam Heat” in “The Pajama Game,” choreographed by the specter that seems to continually haunt this list, Bob Fosse.
Podcast
Leapin’ Lizards, what is going on here? Chasing Phantom has been methodically working through the list of 1,000+ performances on Broadway from the bottom up but, this week, we take a radical leap into the higher realms of theater success with an exploration of the much-heralded, often-rejiggered, musically-rich smash that is “Annie.”
And there is no one better to dig into the history and lore of this Broadway classic than “Annie” superfan, Holly Timberline. Given that she was a working musical theater actress when we met, it wasn’t long into our relationship that I found out about her deep-seated, abiding love of this orphan-palooza. After we were married and had children of our own, “Annie” quickly became part of our family lexicon.
Not only does Holly know a lot of early days “Annie” facts that only real fans know, she went to the original production multiple times when she was a teenager so saw different actors in various roles and met many of the youngsters playing orphans. We both relate our experiences seeing subsequent revivals and the most recent touring production that is currently appearing in cities across the country. Enjoy!