GET YOUR SEATS TODAY!
Performance Dates: October 27 – 29, 2017
Reserved seating tickets are $30 ($15 for students).
Gotta GROUP of 20 or more? Call or email Ashley for GROUP DISCOUNTS: education@wildwoodpark.org / 501-821-7275, ext. 259.
A Student Matinee for student groups will be held Thursday, October 26, at 10 am. Seating for this performance may be obtained by calling Wildwood at 501-821-7275.
Following last season’s successful productions of THE MUSIC MAN and THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, Wildwood Park for the Arts and Praeclara are collaborating on two productions during the 2017-2018 season: ANNIE and INTO THE WOODS. Performances will be inside the 625-seat Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival Theatre at Wildwood inside Wildwood Park for the Arts’ complex located at 20919 Denny Road in west Little Rock.
Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical, ANNIE is based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and book by Thomas Meehan. With equal measures of pluck and positivity, little orphan Annie charms all despite a next-to-nothing start in 1930s New York City. She is determined to find the parents who abandoned her years ago on the doorstep of an orphanage run by the cruel Miss Hannigan. With help from the other girls in the orphanage, Annie escapes to the wondrous world of NYC. Annie foils Miss Hannigan’s evil machinations, befriends President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and finds home and family with billionaire, Oliver Warbucks, his secretary, Grace Farrell, and a lovable mutt named Sandy.
Dr. Bevan Keating, artistic director, directs and conducts ANNIE. His recent directing credits include THE MUSIC MAN, THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, and his telling of the famed vampire, DRACULA UNEARTHED. Keating is also Associate Professor of Music and Director of Conducting and Choral Studies at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and serves as director of music and the arts at Little Rock’s Second Presbyterian Church.
The title role in ANNIE is performed by Ruby Reeves. A sixth grader at Little Rock Christian Academy, Ruby has performed in Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s A CHRISTMAS STORY, and has also appeared as Little Timoune in ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, and in junior productions of ALADDIN and ANNIE.
Annie’s beloved dog, Sandy, is played by two Collies, Skye and Cali, who appear onstage outside of their day jobs as therapy dogs. The dogs’ handler is Dr. Vicki Lind, who appears in the production as none other than the Dog Catcher.
Robert Holden performs the role of billionaire Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks, who opens his heart and home to Annie. Holden, a professor of voice and opera at the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) has sung leading roles with Central City Opera, Merrimack Opera, Pennsylvania Opera Theatre, Utah Festival Opera, Wildwood Park, and recently sang the title role in Puccini’s GIANNI SCHICCHI in Shangai, China.
Annie’s (albeit complicated) adoption by Daddy Warbucks promises relief from the hateful Miss Hannigan, the matron of the orphanage that Annie flees. Satia Spencer, a former Marine, plays the role of Miss Hannigan. Spencer’s recent roles include productions of THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, THE MUSIC MAN, DRACULA UNEARTHED, DIDO AND AENEAS, CARMINA BURANA, and PETER GRIMES. She has performed for the UA Little Rock Opera Theatre, Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, and The Weekend Theater.
The role of President Roosevelt is performed by Bruce Rentz, who also serves as producer for ANNIE. Matthew Tatus plays the role of Rooster, Hannigan’s brother, and Brianna East performs Grace Farrell, the assistant to Mr. Warbucks.
A pit orchestra and 31 additional cast members round out the production and the principal and ensemble roles.
ANNIE is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.MTIShows.com
