Annie: Faith Prince to play Miss Hannigan

Tony Award-winner Faith Prince (Guys and Dolls) will star as 'Miss Hannigan' in the Broadway revival of Annie from 19 Jul 2013. Prince assumes the role from Jane Lynch who will play her final performance on 14 Jul 2013.

Prince won the 1992 Tony Award for her role as 'Miss Adelaide' in 'Guys and Dolls,' and has been nominated for Tony Awards for her appearance in 'Jerome Robbins' Broadway,' 'Bells Are Ringing' and 'A Catered Affair.' Her TV work includes "Drop Dead Diva," "Huff," "Spin City," "Now and Again" and "High Society."

Director James Lapine said,

I had the wonderful experience of working with Faith Prince on Falsettoland and I am thrilled that she will be joining the ANNIE company as Hannigan, a role she was born to play.

The musical opened to excellent reviews: Simply a sweet, sweet show (newyorktheatreguide); Enjoyable (NYDN); There's a lot to love (NYP); Crisp, colorful, shiny-bright production loaded with theatrical energy (Record).

Directed by three-time Tony Award winner James Lapine ('The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,' 'Passion,' 'Falsettos') and choreographed by Tony Award winner Andy Blankenbuehler (In the Heights), 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.

The musical tells the story of orphan Annie, a girl whose optimism knows no bounds. Annie lives in an orphanage looked after by the cruel Miss Hannigan, but her life changes when she is selected to spend time in the house of wealthy industrialist Oliver Warbucks.

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".

The shows principal cast currently stars two-time Tony Award winner Jane Lynch as 'Miss Hannigan,' Anthony Warlow as 'Daddy Warbucks,' 11-year-old Lilla Crawford as 'Annie,' with Brynn O'Malley as 'Grace Farrell,' Clarke Thorell as 'Rooster Hannigan' and J. Elaine Marcos as 'Lily St. Regis.'

The Orphans are Madi Rae DiPietro as 'July,' Georgi James as 'Pepper,' Junah Jang as 'Tessie,' Tyrah Skye Odoms as 'Kate,' Taylor Richardson as 'Duffy' and Emily Rosenfeld as 'Molly,' with Brooklyn Shuck as standby for 'Molly,' 'Kate,' 'Tessie,' 'July' and 'Duffy,' Sadie Sink as standby for 'Annie,' 'Tessie,' 'Duffy,' 'July' and 'Kate' and Jaidyn Young as standby for 'Annie,' 'Pepper,' 'Duffy' and 'July.'

The design team includes scenic design by David Korins, costume design by Susan Hilferty, lighting design by Donald Holder and sound design by Brian Ronan.

The musical is produced on Broadway by Arielle Tepper Madover, Roger Horchow, Sally Horchow, Roger Berlind, Roy Furman, Debbie Bisno, Stacey Mindich, Nederlander Presentations, Inc., Daryl Roth/Jane Bergère and Eva Price/Christina Papagjika.