Broadway's ANNIE Seeks Orphans at Omaha Open Call, 7/17-18

Omaha Performing Arts will host an open casting call on Sunday, July 17 and Monday, July 18 for girls ages 6-12 to audition for the roles of Annie and the orphans for the new Broadway production of ANNIE. The production, directed by Tony Award®-winner James Lapine, will open in fall 2012 in New York City.

"We were overwhelmed by the turnout at our recent New York City open call for ANNIE, with 1,248 young girls turning out for the chance to play Annie and the orphans," commented producer Arielle Tepper Madover. "It's a testament to the enduring power of ANNIE, the musical, which I first fell in love with at the age of eight. I look forward to a new generation of young girls discovering this show and I can't wait to see what talent we find in Omaha. We're so thankful to our friends at Omaha Performing Arts and the Broadway Dreams summer intensive program for their partnership."

Auditions will be held from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 17 and from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Monday, July 18 at the Holland Performing Arts Center, 1200 Douglas Street in Omaha. Registration and check-in time is 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 17 and 8:00 a.m. on Monday, July 18. Auditioners should be prepared to sing a song a cappella and should also bring sheet music, in case they are asked to sing with accompaniment. Please do not prepare music from the show. Additional details about the auditions are available at www.anniethemusical.com.

For those unable to audition in person, a taped audition can be submitted through the show's website, www.anniethemusical.com.

Auditions were held in New York earlier this month to great success, and Omaha joins Los Angeles as the only other cities where in-person auditions are being held for the roles of Annie and the orphans. Several New York casting directors will be conducting the auditions in Omaha, including Craig Burns, whose casting credits include 9 TO 5, WICKED, LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL, HAIRSPRAY and many more. Burns will be in Omaha the week of July 11 - 17 serving as a faculty member for the Broadway Dreams Summer Intensive, where Broadway professionals train local participants in a weeklong series of workshops.

"We are thrilled to be chosen as an audition site for ANNIE," said Omaha Performing Arts President Joan Squires. "A casting call of this caliber in our community is made possible through Omaha Performing Arts' ongoing partnership with Broadway Dreams. This is a huge opportunity for local and regional girls to audition for a Broadway show right here in Omaha."

ANNIE features music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin and book by Thomas Meehan, based on the newspaper character "Little Orphan Annie" by Harold Gray.

ANNIE will be produced on Broadway by Arielle Tepper Madover, Roger Horchow, Jane Bergère, Roger Berlind, Roy Furman, Sally Horchow, Stacey Mindich, Nederlander Presentations, Inc., and Daryl Roth.

The original production of ANNIE opened April 21, 1977 at the Alvin Theatre and went on to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, seven Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical, the Grammy for Best Cast Show Album and seven Tony Awards®, including Best Musical, Best Book (Thomas Meehan) and Best Score (Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin). The show was one of the biggest Broadway musical hits of the 1970s, running for almost six years and playing 2,377 performances.

The score for ANNIE includes "Maybe," "It's the Hard Knock Life," "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile," "Easy Street," "I Don't Need Anything But You" and the eternal anthem of optimism, "Tomorrow".

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