Updated ‘Annie!’ gives the musical a contemporary, Vegas-centric vibe

Who knew that a 45-old musical about a ridiculously cheerful red-haired orphan would be so relevant today?

But, Torrey Russell notes, “Annie!” — the Tony Award-winning 1977 musical based on the even-longer-running comic strip — references issues that include poverty, parentless kids, political division, depression both financial and emotional, and, oh yes, duplicity, greed and the importance of trusting in tomorrow even if today is doing you no favors.

And if all of that isn’t modern-day relevant enough, Russell, founding director of Broadway in the HOOD, has included even more contemporary touches in the company’s production of the musical, including setting it in Las Vegas, adding local references, updating characters’ names and even — gasp! — giving Annie a twin brother named Andie.

All help to bring subtle contemporary relevance to the now-iconic musical, which won seven Tony Awards — including honors for best musical, best score and best book — and made “Tomorrow” a karaoke standard, without diluting the fun of the rags-to-riches story at its core.

Broadway in the HOOD’s production of “Annie!” will be presented at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 3 and 4 and at 3 p.m. Sept. 5 at West Las Vegas Library Theatre, 951 W. Lake Mead Blvd. Admission is free, seating is first-come, first-served, and face coverings are required. For more information, call 702-482-8777.

Russell founded the nonprofit theater company Broadway in the HOOD — an acronym for Helping Others Open Doors — in 2010 as a means of educating and inspiring children, young people and even adults, many of whom are underserved or at risk, about the arts. The company’s young performers also learn about life in what becomes a second family, and productions are presented to the community at no charge to make theater and the arts accessible to everybody.

“Annie!” is Broadway in the HOOD’s first live stage production in front of an audience since last year’s COVID lockdown, Russell says, and is being presented “in honor of autism awareness because so many people, especially kids, are dealing with or are affected by autism.” A special sensory-friendly private performance will be held for children on the autism spectrum.

The cast of “Annie!” includes more than 60 performers ages 4 to 17 “of all different ethnicities, different backgrounds, and different social and economic (groups),” Russell says. With such a diverse cast, broadening the musical’s point of view wasn’t difficult.

For example, giving Annie a brother serves “gender equality,” Russell says, so that the musical “doesn’t just belong to little girls in an orphanage.”

The play’s addressing of children who don’t live with their parents is something that some young cast members are familiar with in their own lives, he adds. And updating Miss Hannigan and Daddy Warbucks into Big Mama Hannigan and Bishop Big Daddy Warbucks — and switching out the play’s references to “Hooverville” with “Trumpville” — lend the piece a modern-day vibe.

“The story we’re dealing with is universal,” Russell says.

Timely, too, because a bit of “Annie!” just may be what we need after a long pandemic. Russell recalls how, during a particularly dark point in that period, “I’m sitting there and the words ‘the sun will come out tomorrow’ pop into my head. Then, slowly but surely: How can we help the world understand that where we are now is the same place the world was in during the ’20s and ’30s as it related to the Depression, and coming out of an interesting, so to speak, political climate and moving forward? How can we move forward?”

“We are in that time right now,” Russell says. “Dealing with a depression, whether financial, mental or physical, as a result of having to deal with this pandemic, is everything ‘Annie!’ is. It’s crazy. I never thought of it that way.”

For the show’s young performers, just getting back onstage is reason for tomorrow to arrive. During their first full costumed rehearsal last weekend, they were thrilled to again be acting, and interacting, with each other in a way that meshes perfectly with the play’s collection of excitable kids.

“I like the energy, because everybody is working to make something amazing,” says Deven Crawford, 15.

Kimani Blake, 11, enjoys the process of performing, when a writer has an idea for a show, “then you get all these people together and they create something from their minds to real life. I just love it.”

“They live for being together, for connecting, for having the opportunity to do what they love,” Russell says.

And, in a sentiment with which a certain red-haired orphan certainly would agree, Russell adds: “Words can’t express how great it feels to be back home.”

Contact John Przybys at jprzybys@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JJPrzybys on Twitter.