“Annie” opened on Broadway on April 21, 1977, went on to win seven Tony Awards and ran for a total of 2,377 performances. The Opera House brought this popular production back to life with a cast of 52 from the surrounding area.

Miranda Nelson of Hendricks starred as Little Orphan Annie, the 11-year-old who lives in a New York City orphanage during the 1930s and dreams of being reunited with her parents. A constant source of aggravation to the mean-spirited Miss Hannigan (played by Kathy Wilmes of Tyler ), Annie is chosen by billionaire Oliver Warbucks (played by Erick Harper of Tyler ) to spend Christmas at his mansion.

Warbucks becomes so fond of the child that he makes plans to adopt her, but first sets out to find Annie’s real parents. A sleazy scheme is launched by Rooster (played by Chris Shuckhart of Minneota) and Lily (Noelle Nielsen of Lake Benton ) to claim Annie as their own.

Truly a family show, familiar songs like “Tomorrow,” “Hard Knock Life,” and “Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile” makes “Annie” a great show for the entire family.

Also featured in the show were Mindy Cunningham of Pipestone as Grace Farrell, Alan Riedel of Volga , SD as Lt. Ward, John Voit of Ghent as President Roosevelt, George Jorgensen of Tyler as Drake, and orphans Kate (Grace Bettendorf of Tyler), Duffy (Karissa Borchert of Tyler), July (Morgan Schruers of Marshall), Pepper (Lea Wilmes of Sanborn), Tessie (Sydney Hintz of Canby), and Molly (Rachel Andresen of Brookings, SD).

The play was under the direction of Mark Wilmes of Tyler , with the orchestra under the direction of Stacey Voit of Ghent .