Tonight, while Madison Kerth sings "Tomorrow" as Little Orphan Annie in the Broadway musical "Annie," opening in Chicago at the Auditorium Theatre, it will be actress Lynn Andrews who once again will stomp her feet in the tight, pinching heels of awful orphanage director Miss Hannigan. Andrews has been playing this plum role for the past three years of this musical's tour.
"This set is amazing, especially the orphanage," said Andrews, speaking from her Chicago hotel suite Tuesday.
"I'm still noticing little details, and antiques featured as part of the set that I somehow failed to notice in the past."
As for all the details about the show and Kerth in the title role, check out my cover story about this show and "Annie's" local connection to our readership region on today's INK cover on page C7.
During the last visit from "Annie" when it played Chicago in September 2007, it was the great Alene Robertson, who hails from the Windy City, running things as Miss Hannigan, a role she's played with delight for decades.
Andrews says she brings plenty of her own "special touches" to the role of the "tortured Miss Hannigan."
"I've only recently seen just a bit of the first 1982 feature film version of 'Annie' and I also caught a bit of the actress who originally played Miss Hannigan during a grainy Lincoln Center performance captured on film," Andrews said.
"So other than those, you know that everything you see on stage is what I'm bringing to this role."
As hinted to by Andrews, over the years, plenty of actresses have played the same role with relish, when it comes to being the baddie who runs Annie's orphanage and likes to make the redhead's life miserable.
For the record, here's an "Annie" roll call of 10 ladies of stage and screen who made favorite Miss Hannigans:
* 1977 -- For starters, let's clarify that actress Dorothy Loudon originated that role on Broadway in 1977.
* 1978 -- It was the following year that redhead Alice Ghostley, who appeared in "Bewitched" and in 1987 joined the cast of "Designing Women," that Ghostley took over the role from Louden.
* 1980 -- Next up, Broadway legend Betty Hutton took the stage to chase around orphans.
* 1982 -- "Annie" made it to the big screen, directed by John Huston (his only musical), with the one-and-only Carol Burnett delivering an A+ performance playing the part of a woman she calls "a great, awful role."
* 1988 -- The legendary Martha Raye used her loud, booming voice to be both funny and frightening as Miss H, as the musical returned to stage.
* 1989 -- Crusty, tough actress Eileen Brennan only had a very short run playing Miss Hannigan, because of a terrible mishap when she fell from the stage and into the orchestra pit during a rehearsal for the show and broke her leg.
* 1992 -- Funnylady Jo Anne Worley, who originally hails from Lowell, Ind., and shot to fame on TV's "Laugh-In," replaced the ailing Miss Brennan in this over-the-top role.
* 1995 -- Character actress Kathleen Freeman, who played countless tough landladies, maids, nosey neighbors and stone-faced mothers-in-law on television, spent 18 months as Miss Hannigan.
* 1997 -- Celebrating 20 years on stage, "Annie" returned to New York's Broadway with both Nell Carter and Sally Struthers taking turns running everybody's favorite orphanage.
* 1999 -- Time for a TV take on "Annie," on ABC and produced by Walt Disney Pictures, Kathy Bates got to throw her weight around in what she called "a meaty, meany role." This TV special included a special appearance by actress Andrea McCardle, Broadway's first and original Annie.
The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at philip.potempa@nwi.com or 219.852.4327.
Today's Celebrity Birthdays
Singer Slim Whitman is 86. Actress Patricia Neal is 84. Comedian Arte Johnson is 81. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin is 80. Singer Eric Stewart (10cc, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders) is 65. Director David Lynch is 64. Drummer George Grantham of Poco is 63. Guitarist Paul Stanley of Kiss and bassist Ian Hill of Judas Priest are 58. TV host Bill Maher ("Politically Incorrect") is 54. Actor Lorenzo Lamas is 52. Actor James Denton is 47. Bassist Greg K. of The Offspring and country singer John Michael Montgomery are 45. Actor Rainn Wilson is 44. Actress Stacey Dash ("Clueless") is 43. Singer Edwin McCain and actor Skeet Ulrich are 40. Drummer ?uestlove of The Roots is 39. Drummer Rob Bourdon of Linkin Park is 31.
