The NBC dwell musical returns with “Annie Live!” on Wednesday, December 2 at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.
NBC dwell musicals started again in 2013 with Carrie Underwood as Maria in “The Sound Of Music Live!” Since then, Broadway hits together with Peter Pan, Hairspray, and Jesus Christ Superstar have all been delivered to the small display screen for viewers to take pleasure in from the consolation of their residing rooms.
Let’s meet the star-studded cast of “Annie Live!,” together with the rising star enjoying the titular position.
Meet the ‘Annie Live!’ 2021 Cast
Taraji P. Henson, finest identified for movies together with “Hidden Figures” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” performs Miss. Hannigan – the not-so-nice Head of the orphanage the place Annie lives and desires of reuniting along with her mother and father.
Joining Henson within the iconic musical quantity “East Street” is Titus Burgess as Miss Hannigan’s jailbird brother Rooster and Megan Hilty as his ditzy girlfriend Lily St. Regis. Both Burgess and Hilty are Broadway alums who’ve crossed over to movie and tv. Burgess is finest identified for his portrayal of Titus Andromedon on the Netflix collection “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and Hilty starred within the NBC collection “Smash.”
Harry Connick Jr. dons a bald cap as kind-hearted billionaire Oliver Warbucks and former Pussycat Doll Nicole Sherzinger is his secretary, Grace.
12-year-old Celina Smith performs spunky, optimistic orphan Annie. The Atlanta native secured the position after a nationwide search. While on The TODAY Show, Smith revealed how she came upon she’d gotten the position.
“We have been in my mother’s room and my group known as they usually have been like, ‘What are you going to be doing this October?’ I used to be like, ‘I do not know.’ And then they have been like, ‘You’re going to be in New York doing “Annie Live!” this October.’ And I screamed,” Smith stated. The younger actor is not any stranger to the stage. She beforehand performed Young Nala on a nationwide tour of “The Lion King” and in addition appeared on the Nickelodeon show “Young Dylan.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt Will Be Played By a Polio Survivor
The musical Annie takes place in New York City in 1933, on the tail finish of The Great Depression. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was the President. For the primary time within the musical’s historical past, an actual polio survivor, Alan Toy, will painting the position of FDR. Toy suffers from everlasting paralysis because of polio, simply as Roosevelt did.
PEOPLE experiences that Toy stated in a press launch, “I tip my hat to NBC and the producers of “Annie Live!” for authentically casting an individual with a Disability for this position. I’m proud to symbolize the neighborhood and hope that we are going to proceed to see extra of the Disability Community in roles throughout leisure media.”
Toy’s previous appearing credit embrace “The Aviator” and “In the Line of Fire.”
Meet the Orphan Ensemble of ‘Annie Live!’
“Annie” can be nothing with out its ensemble of singing, floor-scrubbing orphans. Let’s meet a number of the younger actors enjoying Annie’s mates from the orphanage.
Felice Kakaletris performs Molly, the orphan who loves listening to Annie learn the word her mother and father left her with after they dropped her off on the orphanage. “@tarajiphenson is the sweetest Miss Hannigan ever!!! I’m studying a lot from her and I hope someday I get to be half the fantastic and humble human she is,” Kakaletris wrote on Instagram.
Audrey Cymone performs Pepper, the rough-around-the-edges orphan who leads the opposite orphans in teasing Annie for preserving hope alive that she’ll see her mother and father once more. “Too a lot expertise with this cast I get to work with! I pinch myself on a regular basis,” Cymone captioned an Instagram photograph of her with Titus Burgess, who performs Rooster.
Tessa Frascogna performs Tessie, the orphan with the “oh my goodness, oh my goodness” catchphrase. According to her IMDb web page, she’s going to seem in an upcoming movie adaptation of “13: The Musical.”
Don’t miss “Annie Live!” on Wednesday, December 2 at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on NBC.
