Whoopi Goldberg will play Madison Square Garden this holiday season with a touring production of the popular musical Annie. She’ll play the villainous Miss Hannigan, who runs an orphanage and terrorizes Annie and the other little girls.
Goldberg will play the role at the tour’s stop in New York at The Theater at Madison Square Garden from December 11 to January 5, joining the show in the second week of its five-week engagement. The show will have a pre-Broadway run in Chicago, but contrary to earlier reports Goldberg were not be part of the Chicago cast.
Goldberg, the moderator of ABC’s The View, is no stranger to the New York stage. She has appeared on Broadway seven times, from her groundbreaking 1984 solo show Whoopi Goldberg to Sister Act, her most recent in 2011.
As Miss Hannigan gets the second biggest showstopping song of the entire show (after “Tomorrow,” of course): Along with a couple criminals she recruits, Hannigan celebrates the shady plan with “Easy Street.”
“I love the theatre, and in my mind, there is no better way to spend the holidays than to get back on stage,” Goldberg said in a statement. “I can’t wait to step in to the delicious role of Miss Hannigan and perform for the greatest audiences in the world – in my hometown of New York City.”
Additional casting will be announced, with full Equity casts for Chicago, New York City “and beyond,” producers said.
Annie took Broadway by storm when it first arrived in 1977, winning seven Tony Awards including Best Musical and making stars of young Andrea McArdle and giving Broadway vet Dorothy Loudon her signature role in Miss Hannigan.
Charles Strouse, who co-wrote the famous score with the late Martin Charnin, said bringing Annie back to New York City is “a dream come true,” and that “having the iconic Whoopi Goldberg join the company and make her first appearance ever in a production of Annie is a gift to us all! I know Martin and Tom [Thomas Meehan, the late book writer) would be thrilled, too.”
The tour is produced by Carolyn Rossi Copeland Productions Inc. and Crossroads Live North America and directed by Jenn Thompson. For a complete list of tour dates, visit the tour’s website.
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