Charnin first approached Meehan to write the book of a musical about Little Orphan Annie in 1972. Meehan researched by rereading prints of the comic strip, but was unable to find any satisfactory material for a musical other … See more

Act 1
In 1933 in New York City, eleven-year-old Annie sleeps in an orphanage with many other girls her age. When six-year-old Molly wakes up from a bad dream, Annie comforts her by singing about her own parents; even … See more

The original Broadway cast recording was made on April 25, 1977, at the Columbia 30th Street Studio in New York City and released that year by Columbia Records. A CD containing bonus tracks was released on September 15, 1998, by Sony (ASIN: … See more

Columbia Pictures acquired the film rights in 1977 for $9.5 million, the most expensive at the time for a stage musical. The film was … See more

The New York Times estimates that Annie is performed 700 to 900 times each year in the United States.
Pre-Broadway tryout See more

The first attempt at a sequel, Annie 2: Miss Hannigan's Revenge, opened at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in See more

Thomas Meehan
In 1980, Macmillan Books published Meehan's novelization of his script for the musical, later reprinted by Puffin Books in 2014. Several of … See more