The musical tour of Annie makes its way to the Cadillac Palace Theatre for a limited time, and although the sun has yet to come out in Chicago, this story reminds a new generation of theatergoers that there’s still hope.
The musical tour of Annie makes its way to the Cadillac Palace Theatre for a limited time, and although the sun has yet to come out in Chicago, this story reminds a new generation of theater goers that there’s still hope.
* pre show chatter *
MARIA XIMENA ARAGON: Last Wednesday night Kids and adults alike packed Broadway In Chicago’s Cadillac Palace Theatre for the touring cast of Annie.
* music fade in *
ARAGON: Set during the Great Depression, the story follows an orphan by the same name in New York City who is taken in by America’s richest billionaire Oliver Warbucks. Although the story’s the same this tour serves to remind audiences the importance of determination and what it means to be seen on stage.
ARAGON: With that, I got a chance to chat with Krista Curry who plays Lily St Regis in the show.
ARAGON: How has it been like connecting with a new audience of people who are watching the show for the first time and then specifically kids? Because I saw a lot of kids in the audience that night.
KRISTA CURRY: There’s always a lot of kids in the audience and, you know, sometimes they dress up as Annie and it’s so cute. So, yeah, big fan of that. But also you’ll see people in the audience who are, you know, maybe older, maybe my age and they’re singing along with “Tomorrow” at the end. And it’s like, Oh, so nice. Like, it’s it’s so nice to see that this show means so much to so many people like it does for me because I grew up with this movie.
CURRY: For me, the character’s always been iconic. This song has always been iconic. It’s always been a show that I love and want to do. And so for me, being able to grow up with that and be able to kind of put my spin with their influences is so cool. And it’s just, it’s something I think about a lot is that, you know, Bernadette Peters was my generation’s Lily, and I will be a generation’s Lily for some of these kids. And that is so cool to me. And it’s such a responsibility, do you know what I mean? But it’s just a neat way to think about that, there might be some little character actors out there who identifies more with Lily like I did
*music fade in*
ARAGON: The original Broadway show opened in 1977 with many revivals and film adaptations later. Performed in 28 languages and running somewhere around the world for over 45 years, Annie reflects an evolving theater community embracing the stories of the past. And for someone who thought they already knew this story, this performance was a refreshing reminder of how live theater can reinvent your assumptions.
ARAGON: So many iterations of Annie. What’s different about this tour cast or what is something new that you bring to the show?
CURRY: Yeah, so our director, Jenn Thompson, was in the original cast as Pepper, one of the orphans. And so this iteration of Annie is really harkening back to that original production because they got a lot of things right. You know? Revivals are fun and like, I love it when people change things and there are certainly things that are changed, especially, you know, with choreography and certain casting. But there’s so much good about this original production and there’s a reason Annie has survived for 50 years. And so, I love what she’s doing with going back to this original text and looking at it as if not just, you know, what did the brilliant genius Carol Burnett do, but rather what is in the text, you know?
MUSIC INTRO:
You’ll stay up til this dump shines like the top of the Chrysler building
It’s the hard knock life for us
It’s the hard knock life for us
Instead of treated we get tricked…
CURRY: So, yeah, so seeing theater for the first time, I mean, I’ve been going since I was a little kid. I was really lucky that my parents always exposed me to that. But I exposed one of my friends to theater for the very first time when she was an adult, and she was so blown away by the immersive experience of it, even if it’s not like technically like immersive theater being there with the cast and the lighting and you’re, you know, you’re having this communal experience with everyone around you. It’s like going to a movie, but like times 20, you know? And so it’s there’s something really lovely, especially as we’re allowed to kind of get back into those public spaces. There’s something really lovely about having this experience with everyone else. And the magic of live theater just simply cannot be beat. And we’ve got these incredible kids up there and, you know, we’re all trying our best. It’s really amazing to have that experience with everybody.
ARAGON: The Tony Award winning musical ANNIE is now playing until March 19th so make your way down easy street to check it out.
I’m Maria Ximena Aragon, WNUR News.
