You can bet your bottom dollar that a lucky kid is about to find a bright new tomorrow.
NBC is looking for a fresh face to play Annie in its upcoming live musical, the network announced Tuesday, launching a national hunt for a “soon-to-be-discovered young star.”
“The search is on for a young, future star of any ethnicity to bring optimism, spunk, honesty and a wisdom beyond their years to the classic role,” NBC said in a statement.
Annie, traditionally a redhead who has been played by everyone from Aileen Quinn to Quvenzhane Wallis over the years, leads the classic musical about an orphan who gets taken in by billionaire Oliver Warbucks and ends up changing his world.
The musical initially opened on Broadway in 1977 and ran for more than four years, racking up seven Tony Awards, including for best musical.
Taraji P. Henson has been cast as the devilish Miss Hannigan, who runs the orphanage with an iron fist, NBC announced Tuesday.
“Carol Burnett, who brought Miss Hannigan to life in the classic 1982 movie, is someone I have studied and idolized as far back as I can remember,” Henson said in a statement. “So when the opportunity came to me to join NBC and this incredible group of producers, I jumped! Carol, I hope to do you proud!”
Robert Greenblatt, Neil Meron and Alex Rudzinsky are producing the show, along with directors Lear deBessonet and Alex Rudzinski.
“Annie Live,” premiering Dec. 2, resumes the recent trend of live musical productions on the big four networks, kicked off by “The Sound of Music” in 2013 and including “Grease,” “Rent,” “Hairspray” and “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
