Good things often come in small packages. And for teen actress Katie Howard, it's her small stature that allowed her to land the dream role of Annie.
The character Annie is 11 years old, but Katie is a little older.
'I was 15, so I didn't think I'd get the role, but I'm quite small for my age,' she told Young Post in a phone conversation from the UK. She went through a few rounds of auditions, sang and acted out some scenes. Not long afterwards, she received a phone call with the good news. The theatre-trained actress was 'so happy and excited,' and knew a production of this size would certainly be a leap in the right direction.
Annie, the musical, is based on the comic strip Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray. The Broadway musical, which features songs such as Tomorrow and A Hard-Knock's Life, originally opened in 1977 and has since spawned countless productions globally.
It tells the story of the feisty redhead, and other orphans, who live in New York during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Annie's prime motive in life is to find and reunite with her parents, all the while trying to escape from the wicked orphanage matron, Miss Hannigan.
The title role will be played in rotation by three UK actresses: Charlie Hall, 11, and Ella Crossland, nine, join Katie as the other Annies. When they are not playing Annie, they will either play the role of the orphan Tessie or have a night off.
The popular musical allocated spots for young, locally based aspiring actresses for the Hong Kong performance. Last month, Annie director and choreographer Roger Hannah flew to the city for three days of auditions, hoping to find, among the roughly 250 that showed up, girls to fill the roles of Annie's fellow orphans from the New York City Municipal Orphanage.
