We could all use some old-fashioned innocence. Doesn't everyone dream of a place where a man named Daddy Warbucks is neither a pimp nor a rapper? A place where the sun always comes out tomorrow regardless of hurricanes named after old ladies? A place where leapin lizards is just a saying, not something screamed before being bitten by a homicidal iguana? Based on the Depression-era toon with no pupils, the musical Annie has endured for decades because of the title character's irrepressible spirit. She holds the kind of sunny life philosophy that might cause you to throw like-minded co-workers under the nearest city bus. But this is fiction, so we can't get enough of the redheaded orphan.
Thirty years after her Broadway debut, Annie is back in a world that desperately needs hope. Heck, we even elected a president on that premise. Directed by the original lyricist and containing original staging and choreography, this is the Annie your mother fell in love with. You know, the one that collected Tony Awards like a stray dog collects ticks. Get a hope infusion beginning Wednesday at the Arsht Center. Tickets start at $25.
Wed., Dec. 3, 2008