Annie out on the road again
- Alan Hulme
- Oct 14
- 1 min read
Annie - one of the most popular of all family musicals - heads out on tour again next year, with its first northern date at the Palace Theatre in Manchester (June 9-20).
Other northern dates (more likely to come) include Blackpool Opera House (July 28-August 1, 2026); Newcastle Theatre Royal (August 4-8); Hull New Theatre (September 8-13); Liverpool Empire (September 22-26); Bradford Alhambra (November 23-28) and Sunderland Empire (January 18-23, 2027).
Based on the 1920s cartoon strip Little Orphan Annie, the musical first hit Broadway in the late 1970s and ran for six years. It arrived in London's West End in 1978, with Stratford Johns as Daddy Warbucks and Sheila Hancock as Miss Hannigan and has been revived many times since as a perennial favourite with family audiences.
Set in 1930s New York during the Great Depression, Annie lives a life of misery and torment at Miss Hannigan’s orphanage. Her luck changes when she is chosen to spend a fairytale Christmas with famous billionaire Oliver Warbucks - but spiteful Miss Hannigan has other ideas, and hatches a plan to spoil Annie's search for her family...
Annie has music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin and a book by Thomas Meehan. Its Tony award-winning book and score includes songs It’s the Hard Knock Life, Easy Street and Tomorrow. This production is directed by Leicester Curve’s artistic director, Nikolai Foster.
More info and tickets here
