The 2012-2013 Missouri Western State University Theatre Season, \u201cA Year of the Tony,\u201d continues with a lively production of the hit family musical \u201cAnnie\u201d Nov. 29 through Dec. 9 in the Potter Hall Theater. Tickets are $12 for adults, $8 for Missouri Western employees and military personnel, and $6 for students. Tickets are available online at www.mwsutix.com, in person at the Potter Hall Box Office, or by phone at 816-271-4452.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been blessed with a really great cast, including 13 young people from the community playing Annie and the other orphans,\u201d said Dallas Henry, assistant professor of theatre and cinema and the show\u2019s director. \u201cIt\u2019s a fun show, and a great way for the whole family to get into the holiday spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to being an entertaining production, Henry hopes \u201cAnnie\u201d will bring awareness to a serious cause: Alzheimer\u2019s disease. November is National Alzheimer\u2019s Disease Awareness Month, and, more personally, Henry\u2019s mother has been diagnosed with the disease. When it came time to select shows for the current season, Henry knew there was only one choice to properly honor his mom.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has always been one of my mom\u2019s favorite shows,\u201d Henry said. \u201cAnd she\u2019s always been extremely proud of everything I\u2019ve done that\u2019s associated with \u2018Annie,\u2019 from singing \u2018Tomorrow\u2019 in a competition in third grade to performing in a production when I was an undergraduate. So I knew this was a show I wanted to direct. The cast and crew have really embraced the cause, wearing purple wrist bands and T-shirts and really pulling for my mom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry encourages audiences to wear purple, the color of Alzheimer\u2019s awareness, to the performances. In the lobby, donations will be accepted for the Alzheimer\u2019s Association. For every $10 donated, donors will receive a small stuffed Sandy (the dog character in \u201cAnnie\u201d) with a purple ribbon. Living Community of St. Joseph has donated the dogs, so all money donated will go to the Alzheimer\u2019s Association.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnnie,\u201d with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Chamin and book by Thomas Meehan, is based on the comic strip \u201cLittle Orphan Annie\u201d by Harold Gray. The legendary musical that brought us \u201cTomorrow\u201d follows everybody\u2019s favorite redhead, Little Orphan Annie, and her dog, Sandy, from the \u201cHard-Knock Life\u201d at Miss Hannigan\u2019s to a life on \u201cEasy Street\u201d with Daddy Warbucks. The show opened on Broadway in 1977 and won seven Tonys, including best musical.<\/p>\n
One thing that sets \u201cAnnie\u201d apart from other recent musicals Missouri Western has staged is the extensive use of dance throughout the show, Henry said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe may not have a dance program yet, but we definitely have dancers,\u201d he said. \u201cThey have really embraced the challenging choreography and will put on an outstanding show. We\u2019ve even added a stomp bit to \u2018A Hard Knock Life,\u2019 with the orphans using brooms, mops, tin cans and other objects to keep rhythm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marla Heeler is choreographer and Shaun Agnew is musical director.<\/p>\n
The staging will also be very different from what Missouri Western has done in recent seasons, Henry said. The set design uses much more of the depth of the stage, and pieces of the set are placed on wagons to be easily moved in and out as needed.<\/p>\n
Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 29, Dec. 1, Dec. 6, Dec. 7 and Dec. 8, with matinees at 3 p.m. Dec. 2 and Dec. 9.<\/p>\n
Missouri Western State University is a comprehensive regional university providing a blend of traditional liberal arts and professional degree programs. The university offers student-centered, high quality instruction that focuses on experience-based learning, community service, and state-of-the-art technology. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit www.missouriwestern.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 2012-2013 Missouri Western State University Theatre Season, \u201cA Year of the Tony,\u201d continues with a lively production of the hit family musical \u201cAnnie\u201d Nov. 29 through Dec. 9 in the Potter Hall Theater. Tickets are $12 for adults, $8 for Missouri Western employees and military personnel, and $6 for students. Tickets are available online […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[48],"tags":[114,122,562,563,745,746,747],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3164"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3164"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9300,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3164\/revisions\/9300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}