Woodruff ACE Music Celebrates 20th Anniversary With ANNIE JR

Woodruff School ACE Music will be celebrating its 20th Anniversary with their production of "Annie JR", the 1977 Tony Award winning musical by Charles Strouse, Thomas Meehan and Martin Charnin beginning December 7th, 2017.

Created in 1998 by Donna Terry and Michelle Curio, Woodruff School ACE Music began theatre musicals with "A Christmas Carol" and followed it with "Annie JR". Since then the program has grown under present director Spencer Lau and worked with iTheatrics, and Disney Theatrical Group on pilots and premieres of Broadway musicals adapted for middle school (Elf JR, The Lion King JR, and Aladdin JR). In addition to this, members of the program have gone onto work in film, TV, commercials, Off Broadway, Carnegie Hall as well as regional and community theatre. ACE Music has won the prestigious Freddie G Community Service Award, multiple awards at the Junior Theater Festival, Music in the Parks, and represented the community in national, regional and local community events.

Their musical will run Thursday, Dec. 7th, 2017 at 7 p.m., Friday, Dec. 8th, 2017 at 7 p.m. and Saturday Dec. 9th, 2017 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. During the 45 minutes preceding each performance, there will be a red carpet for all guests.

Dana Horsman will star as Annie. She will be joined by Evan Hemple as 'Oliver Warbucks', Lauryn Sheppard as 'Miss Hannigan' and Alex Basile as 'Grace Farrell'.

The cast will also feature Abby Shafer as 'Molly', Jaydan Hoffner as 'Pepper', Milana Lucente as 'Tessie', Aaliyah Telfair as 'July', Trinity Williams as 'Kate', and Erin Eckert as 'Duffy'. Rounding out the cast are Luke Erianne as 'Rooster Hannigan' and Amanda Volk as the 'Lily St. Regis'.

The 48 person cast of Annie Jr. will also feature Abby Pino, Bryan Howard, Katie Fallon, Samantha Talorico, Hunter Fleetwood, Alex Zimmerman, Ayden Horsman, Yancy Stone, Caden Everingham, Drew Nakai, Luciano Sanchez, Collin Titus, Jessica Gibbs, Lillian Cruz Garcia, Emiliano Garcia, Gilbert Anderson, Theresa Ingegneri, Carli Morgan, Rosalie Corney, Jayden Shaffer, Minh Hoang, Lilah Carr, Alexandra Rodriguez, Diana Waterman, Faith Johnson, Isabella Howard, Hope Johnson, Eva Vittorini, Megan Basile, Caitlyn Lupton, Anna Nicols, Sarah Wiliams, Giana Arno Harcom, and Kayleigh Smallwood.

Annie JR. has music written by Charles Strouse, book by the late Thomas Meehan and lyrics by Martin Charnin.

The production team includes director Spencer Lau, musical director Tanya Nakai, stunts director Jeanine Lancetta and choreographers Spencer Lau and Lindsay Nakai.

Annie JR. will feature stage management by Gavin Frazer, scenic design by Spencer Lau, lighting design by Gavin Frazer, and costume design by iTheatrics and Off-Broadway costumer, Shirlee Idzakovich.

Annie JR is based on the 1977 Tony Award winning Broadway production about a resilient orphan girl who finds a home with a millionaire during the Depression, but first must overcome being in an orphanage run by an evil guardian.

Annie is adapted from the popular Harold Gray comic strip and will feature the beloved songs from the stage musical and film, including Maybe, Tomorrow, It's A Hard Knock Life'.

The hit Broadway musical opened on April 21, 1977 at the Alvin Theatre (now Neil Simon Theatre), revived in 1997 at the Martin Beck Theatre (now Al Hirshfeld Theatre) and most recently in 2012 at the Palace Theatre starting Lilla Crawford