Q about the original B'way run of Annie

[lovebwy]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 10:47pm

I got tickets to see Annie for Christmas. I would have seen the show in about mid January 1980. I've long since lost the Playbill. Can someone tell me who would have been playing Annie, Miss Hannigan and Daddy Warbucks at that point?

My MEMORY tells me Alice Ghostly and Allison Smith, but I may be wrong about that. Anyone know for sure?

Updated On: 4/22/12 at 10:47 PM

[Leadingplayer]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 10:53pm

Definitly Alison Smith as Annie. Not sure about the others. You could check a Best Plays volume from the time. They were pretty good about dates and cast replacements. Ghostley was the first replacement for Loudon but did come back a few times.

[BwayLeadman]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 10:55pm

According to Internet Broadway Database (IBDB.COM)
Allison Smith stepped into the role of Annie January 29, 1980

[lovebwy]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 10:57pm

Thanks for the info. IBDB has a woman named Delores Wilson playing Miss Hannigan starting in Sept of 1979, but I seem to recall thinking "Hey! That's the lady from Bewitched!". At the time I was 9 so the memory is somewhat dim!!

Updated On: 4/22/12 at 10:57 PM

[lovebwy]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 10:59pm

I guess it's possible I saw Sarah Jessica Parker.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 11:01pm

Just going by the dates listed on ibdb.com (which are often very incomplete for replacements)

Allison Smith started playing Annie on January 29, 1980, so you may have seen Sarah Jessica Parker. If I'm remembering my chronology correctly she was the third Annie, and Allison Smith was the fourth and final girl to play it on Broadway.

Alice Ghostley is listed as having started performances August of 78 with Dolores Wilson starting August of 79, so it appears that Alice Ghostley would have been out of the show by January of 1980, though I don't know if she stepped back in at any point after August of 1979.

No dates are listed on ibdb for the various replacements for Warbucks, so hopefully somebody with a good memory of that time can fill in some blanks (and of course correct any Annie and Hannigan information, like I said, dates on ibdb for replacements are not always 100% accurate)

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 11:10pm

Here's a Playbill From January 1979 Updated On: 4/22/12 at 11:10 PM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 11:10pm

IBDB lists Dolores Wilson starting as Hannigan in August 1979 and Betty Hutton took over in Sept 1980. If Wilson was signed to two 6 month contracts or even a 1 year contract, you would have seen her.
Link

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 11:12pm

Here's another Playbill from September, 1979.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 11:26pm

http://www.ovrtur.com/role/100173322

Ghostley came back at the very end of January according to my research. It's possible she may have come back a bit early, I know that has happened.

ETA: Fixed the link

Updated On: 4/22/12 at 11:26 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 11:27pm

What is that site you linked to? You need to log in?

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 11:34pm

OOps, sorry Jordan! Fixed it! (That's my end of it, the input end)

[lovebwy]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 11:45pm

WOW Husk thank you. It must have been around the end of January I went! I don't know why I would have thought it was the lady from Bewitched at the time if it was someone else. Thank you for helping to clear this up.

I guess I either saw Allison Smith in her first week or Sarah Jessica Parker in her last week.

This all came up when I went to see Jesus Christ Superstar a couple weeks ago. I realized I was in the Alvin Theater where I'd seen Annie some 32 years before. I went with my mother and my grandmother who I loved very much and who died shortly after. I can still hear her laughing during Easy Street. Such a nice memory to have.

[bobs3]

Posted: 4/23/12 at 5:24am

I saw Annie in early June 1980. Alice Ghostly definitely played Miss Hannigan. I no longer have the Playbill so I can't tell you who played Annie or Daddy Warbucks.

[Leadingplayer]

Posted: 4/23/12 at 5:55am

there was a fifth Annie , named Alyson Kirk who only got to play the role a few months. I remember the next summer she did a local production where I lived and it was considered a big deal to have the last Annie.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 4/23/12 at 6:01am

AEA AGMA SA, Alyson Kirk was the last actress to play Annie.

I saw both Andrea McArdle and Sarah Jessica Parker. I'm sorry I didn't see Allison Smith, but I saw Alyson Kirk play the role at Westport Country Playhouse.

In terms of Miss Hannigan's, I saw Dorothy Loudon, Alice Ghostley and Delores Wilson.

On a side note, I have a picture of me and SJP at the stagedoor. My best friend at the time asked if we could see her dressing room and I remember being taken up an elevator to a very tiny room decorated with black and white Annie comic strip fabric.

oops, Leadingplayer, we were posting the same info at the same time.

Here's a link to the final Broadway cast poster (Lynne Wintersteller from Closer Than Ever/Grand Night for Singing was in the final cast).

Annie Cast List

Updated On: 4/23/12 at 06:01 AM

[alterego]

Posted: 4/23/12 at 10:12am

Looking at that poster...I would have loved to have seen June Havoc as Hannigan.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 4/23/12 at 1:34pm

Since the show arrived on Broadway in April 1977, I saw the show at least twice a year until it closed. In September 1980, Allison Smith was Annie, Alice Ghostley was Miss Hannigan, John Schuck was Daddy Warbucks, future stand-up comic Rita Rudner was Lily St. Regis and Gary Beach was Rooster.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 4/23/12 at 1:44pm

BrodyFosse, during that time did you happen to see any Annie understudies? Do you still have your Playbills? I'm curious as to whether Tara Kennedy understudied the role of Annie. I saw her in I Remember Mama, and thought she'd be perfect for Annie (where she went to after IRM closed).