Claire Sweeney Will Play Miss Hannigan in the UK and Ireland Tour of ANNIE

Claire Sweeney will star as Miss Hannigan in the UK and Ireland tour of the musical ANNIE. Claire will perform from Tuesday 7 July 2026 at the Wales Millenium Centre in Cardiff before playing Milton Keynes, Blackpool, Newcastle, Dublin, Bristol, Nottingham, Hull, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Truro, Cheltenham, Stoke, Crawley, Belfast, Aberdeen, Woking, Bradford, Oxford, Sunderland, Southampton, Norwich, Wolverhampton, Sheffield, Glasgow and Leicester. Tour schedule and on sale details below. www.anniethemusicaltour.uk

Claire will star alongside the previously announced Alex Bourne as Oliver Warbucks, and the newly announced Tanisha-Mae Brown as Grace Farrell, Christian Cooper as Rooster, and Amber Kennedy as Lily St. Regis.

Also joining the company are Jack Buchanan, Harrison Burley, Zoë Canham, Sophie Elmes, Belle Kizzy Green, Issy Khogali, Yujin Park, Elliot David Parkes, Carl Sanderson, Michaela Stern, Matthew Sweet and Jessica Wright.

La Voix will play Miss Hannigan in Wimbledon, Birmingham, Manchester, Plymouth and Canterbury.

Claire Sweeney is an actress, singer and TV presenter. She can currently be seen as series regular Cassie Plummer in Coronation Street and is well known for her role as Lindsay Corkhill in Brookside. Her other credits include roles in Clocking Off, Holby City, Merseybeat, Candy Cabs, Scarborough, The Good Ship Murder and Benidorm.

Claire's many West End credits include playing Roxie Hart in Chicago at the Adelphi Theatre, and Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, playing opposite Patrick Swayze, at The Piccadilly Theatre. Claire's other stage credits include starring roles in national tours of 9 to 5 the Musical, Crazy For You, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Legally Blonde, Hairspray and September in the Rain. She has played the title role in Educating Rita alongside Matthew Kelly and in 2011, she starred in a new production of Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Don Black's one-woman show Tell Me on a Sunday. Claire has also toured in the hit show Sex In Suburbia, which she co-wrote, following its hugely successful run at the Royal Court Liverpool. Other theatre credits include Willy Russell's classic Shirley Valentine, White Christmas, Shout!, a world tour of Fosse, and The Play What I Wrote.

Tanisha-Mae Brown's theatre credits include Singin' in the Rain at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Brigadoon at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, Guys and Dolls at The Bridge Theatre, Evita at Curve, Leicester, UK and Ireland Tours of The Lion King and Chicago, A Mother's Song at the Lowry, and Pippin at the Garden Theatre.

Christian Cooper most recently played Rolf Gruber in The Sound of Music at Curve, Leicester, directed by Nikolai Foster. His credits whilst training include The Little Mermaid, The Addams Family, A Little Night Music and Spring Awakening. His film credits include The Radleys for Sky Cinema, opposite Damian Lewis.

Amber Kennedy's theatre credits include the UK Tour of Sister Act the Musical, UK and International Tours of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the International Tour of West Side Story, Dick Whittington and Sleeping Beauty, both at Theatre Royal Windsor.

Set in 1930s New York during The Great Depression, brave young Annie is forced to live a life of misery and torment at Miss Hannigan's orphanage. Her luck soon changes when she's chosen to spend a fairytale Christmas with famous billionaire, Oliver Warbucks. Meanwhile, spiteful Miss Hannigan has other ideas and hatches a plan to spoil Annie's search for her true family...

With its Tony award-winning book and score, this stunning production includes the unforgettable songs ‘It's the Hard Knock Life', ‘Easy Street', ‘I Don't Need Anything But You' and ‘Tomorrow'.

ANNIE has Music by Charles Strouse, Lyrics by Martin Charnin and a Book by Thomas Meehan. It is directed by Curve's Artistic Director Nikolai Foster with set and costume design by Colin Richmond, choreography by Nick Winston, lighting by Ben Cracknell and sound design by Richard Brooker.

ANNIE is produced by Michael Harrison and David Ian. This tour was licensed by Music Theatre International (MTI).