12/01/2006

Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner
Madelyn Morley will play Annie during the Traverse Area Children’s Theatre production of Annie Jr. at the Old Town Playhouse.

Children's theater group puts on 'Annie Jr.'

By MARTA HEPLER DRAHOS

mdrahos@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — A year after launching a new Broadway training program, Traverse City Children's Theatre is raising the curtain on its first musical.

"Annie Jr.” opens Dec. 8 on the Old Town Playhouse mainstage with a cast of 30 and the essence of the original Tony award-winning show.

The special adaptation by Music Theatre International is just like the Broadway hit, only a bit shorter for an all-student cast, said director Steve Morse.

"They've changed the length and a lot of the requirements to make it easier for school groups to perform,” he said. "It's the best of the show.”

Based on the Orphan Annie comic strip and the 1977 Broadway musical "Annie,” "Annie Jr.” tells the story of a fiery-haired orphan whose life under the strict hand of her caretaker changes when a billionaire invites her to spend Christmas with him. Soon he decides he wants to adopt her, but when he learns about her dream of finding her parents, he sets his own feelings aside and orders an exhaustive search for them.

While the 70-minute musical is abridged from the original, it is a full scale production with costumes, sets, choreography and familiar songs like "Hard-Knock Life,” "Tomorrow” and "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile,” Morse said.

"A lot of the dialogue has been cut so it just nicely shows the songs,” he said.

The cast is headed by 11-year-old Madelyn Morley of Traverse City East Jr. High and 9-year-old Maria Simaz of Immaculate Conception Elementary as Annie. Rob Marsh, 17, of Traverse City St. Francis High, plays Oliver ("Daddy”) Warbucks, while Annie's dog, Sandy, is played by a child in costume as specified in the script.

"It's much cuter to see a child in a costume than to try and work with a dog,” said

Morse, who also directed TCCT's mainstage productions of "Tiny Tim's Christmas” and "A Christmas Carol.”

"Annie Jr.” is the first production under TCCT's 11-week Little Broadway program, which trains area young people to perform in a Broadway-style production with the goal of mounting one, said TCCT director Luis Araquistain. Students with prior theater instruction are accepted into the program by audition and pay a tuition for specialized instruction and rehearsals culminating in several performances.

Morse, an OTP veteran, said the cast has been rehearsing eight hours a week since October with him and assistant director Denni Don Hunting, vocal director Andrea DiGregorio (Belle in OTP's "Beauty and the Beast”) and choreographer Kat Brown. Despite the challenges of scheduling, maintaining focus and getting the students, ages 8-17, to overcome the "cool” factor, he said directing the show is in many ways more rewarding than being a mainstage director.

"In some ways it's less of a challenge than working with adults,” he said. "The kids usually learn their lines better and much faster than adults, they're much more willing to take chances, they're eager, they almost always show up to rehearsal ready to go. Not a rehearsal goes by that I don't chuckle at the antics of the kids. It really is fun to watch them develop a part.”

Showtimes are Dec. 8 and 9 at 7 p.m., Dec. 10 at 2 p.m., December 15 and 16 at 7 p.m., and December 17 at 2 p.m. General admission tickets are $4 for children and $10 for teens and adults.

Call 947-2210.