More than a decade after its previous Australian national tour, Australian theatrical producer John Frost for Crossroads Live has confirmed that the musical Annie will be returning to Australian stages in 2025, starting off with its premiere season at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre in March 2025. This new production is being directed by Karen Johnson Mortimer, who has many acting, choreographical and directing roles to their name, and will provide opportunities for many young performers for the titular role of Annie and the other orphans.
Annie first toured Australia from 1978 with a cast that included Jill Perryman, Hayes Gordon, Kevin Johnson, Nancye Hayes and Anne Grigg. Annie returned to the Australia stage in 2000 produced by John Frost starring Anthony Warlow, Amanda Muggleton, Jane Scali, Philip Gould and Angela Kelly. For this production, Annie’s lyricist and original Broadway director Martin Charnin wrote a new song for Anthony Warlow to sing in the show. A further production toured Australia in 2012, again starring Anthony Warlow alongside Nancye Hayes, Todd McKenney, Chloe Dallimore and Julie Goodwin. Now more than a decade later, a new telling of this story – one of hope, family and friendship – will be rolled out onto stages from March 2025 onwards.
Are you keen on nabbing the earliest of tickets? Pre-sales are set to commence on 22 July 2024, with a waitlist now available on the musical’s official website.
Annie is the show that people ask me about more than any other. ‘When is Annie coming back’, they say. There’s now a whole new generation of children who may not have seen this audience favourite so it’s time to see Annie again. And there’s a whole new generation of young performers – we can’t wait to start auditions and find our Annies, as well as our Peppers, our Duffys, our Kates, our Tessies, our Julys, our Mollys and our Fridays. Auditions will start later this year.
John Frost
