Exclusive: Emily Skinner Will Star as Miss Hannigan in ANNIE at Goodspeed Musicals
The Tony nominee spoke exclusively with BroadwayWorld about joining the 50th anniversary production, which begins performances Oct. 30.
Goodspeed Musicals has announced that Tony nominee Emily Skinner will play Miss Hannigan in its 50th anniversary production of Annie. The musical, which premiered at Goodspeed in 1976 before transferring to Broadway, returns to The Goodspeed in East Haddam, Conn., from Oct. 30 through Dec. 27, 2026. The official press opening is set for Nov. 11 at 7:30 p.m.
Skinner has been nominated for Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League and BroadwayWorld awards. Her Broadway credits include Side Show, Jekyll & Hyde, James Joyce's The Dead, A Christmas Carol, The Full Monty, Dinner at Eight, Billy Elliot, Prince of Broadway, The Cher Show, New York, New York and Suffs. She previously appeared at Goodspeed's Terris Theatre in The Great American Mousical, directed by Julie Andrews. The remaining cast will be announced at a later date.
In an exclusive conversation with BroadwayWorld, Skinner shared what it means to step into the role on the stage where the show was born.
"I'm incredibly honored to be part of this particular production," she said. "This truly was one of the musicals that made me want a career in the theater, and to get to revisit it at the very theatre where it originated is a thrill. I have loved Annie since I was a child and find it beautifully American in its themes of grit and optimism. If we ever needed a reminder of the power of hopefulness, it's now! The Goodspeed's 50th anniversary production of this show couldn't come at a better time."
Miss Hannigan is one of the great comic roles in the American musical theatre canon, but Skinner sees more than a villain in the gin-soaked orphanage matron.
"There is an artfully constructed balance in the truth of the situation," she explained. "Miss Hannigan is awful to the girls because they are awful to her, and vice versa. They give it to her in equal amounts. It's a vicious circle. She turns to booze because she has to, to survive her 24/7 life with them. From this perspective, Aggie Hannigan is not only the villain of the piece but the true heroine!"
Skinner is no stranger to characters audiences arrive with strong feelings about, from Daisy Hilton in Side Show to Lucille Ball in The Cher Show. Asked how she plans to make a role with 50 years of expectations attached her own, she pointed to the woman who originated it.
"Dorothy Loudon's performance as Miss Hannigan is so sublimely iconic it will never be matched," Skinner said. "But because I grew up listening and watching her, really aspiring to be a performer like her, I think she's somewhere in my DNA now. My plan is to go out there and celebrate Dorothy by having as much fun as possible being absolutely horrible to the children."
Annie features a book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin, who also directed the original Broadway production. It is based on "Little Orphan Annie" by permission of Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The production will be directed by Drama Desk nominee Jenn Thompson, whose Goodspeed credits include Gypsy, Anne of Green Gables, The Music Man, Oklahoma! and Bye Bye Birdie. Thompson directed the recent three-year North American tour of Annie, including its engagement at Madison Square Garden, and, as a former actor, was a member of the original Broadway company of Annie, playing Pepper. Patricia Wilcox (Goodspeed: Gypsy, The Music Man, Bye Bye Birdie; Broadway: Motown the Musical, A Night with Janis Joplin) will choreograph, and Goodspeed's Resident Music Director Adam Souza (A Chorus Line, Ragtime, Gypsy, Maggie, The 12, The Mystery of Edwin Drood) will serve as music director.
Marquee Partners for the production are Mable and Richard Seymour, Russell Tait and Lee Anderson, and RADM. Louise C. Wilmot USN (Ret.) and James E. Wilmot. Annie is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International.
Curtain times are Wednesday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m. (with select performances at 2 p.m.), Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. (with select performances at 6:30 p.m.). Tickets are available through the Box Office at 860.873.8668, open seven days a week at 11 a.m., or online at goodspeed.org.
Goodspeed Musicals is a nonprofit arts organization and the first theatre in the nation to receive two Tony Awards for outstanding achievement in musical theatre. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Donna Lynn Hilton and Managing Director Vanessa Logan, Goodspeed produces on two stages, The Goodspeed in East Haddam and The Terris Theatre in Chester, Conn. Twenty-one musicals have gone from Goodspeed to Broadway, including Man of La Mancha, Annie, Shenandoah and Holiday Inn, and 92 world premieres have been launched there.
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