‘Annie Live’: Who’s Taraji P Henson playing in this stage-play movie?
With a return to normal following the COVID-19 pandemic, this means that some yearly traditions are getting back on track. One recent one is the NBC live musical. Following the success of The Sound of Music Live, NBC does a live musical every year, usually around Christmas time. So far, the network has done such classics like Peter Pan and Hairspray.
Now, apparently, the sun is going to come tomorrow with Annie Live. That’s right. This December NBC is going to put on the musical about the lovable precocious orphan who finds family against the backdrop of the Great Depression. We now have our first cast member in the stage-play/movie event. Here’s what you need to know.
Taraji P Henson is . . .
Empire may be over, but Taraji P Henson remains on top of the world. On Tuesday, NBC announced that Henson will be playing Miss Hannigan in Annie Live. Miss Hannigan, naturally, is one of the great female villains of the stage. She runs an orphanage, but has no love in her heart for children, making the orphan girls spend their days & nights cleaning.
With the right actress, however, Miss Hannigan is a fantastic role to play. Plus she’s got some of the best songs in the musical “Little Girls” and “Easy Street”. Like, hello, it’s great. Henson, who proved her musicality on Empire, will undoubtedly nail the role. Seriously, you can go feral as Miss Hannigan. It’s absolutely super, super, super fun to play.
In a statement, Henson shared her excitement in taking the role, “Carol Burnett, who brought Miss Hannigan to life in the classic 1982 movie, is someone I have studied and idolized as far back as I can remember. So when the opportunity came to me to join NBC and this incredible group of producers, I jumped! Carol, I hope to do you proud!”
What about Annie?
Currently, the only role cast in the upcoming production of Annie Live is Henson. As for Annie? The role for everyone’s favorite singing orphan will be cast after virtual auditions are held. Presumably, we’ll hear about the adults before we know about the child who gets the role. It’ll be great to see what lucky unknown actor will nab the role of Annie though.
As for why Annie for the live musical? Susan Rovner, chairman of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming’s entertainment content said, “When we decided to bring back NBC’s holiday musical tradition, we were looking for something that was critically acclaimed and universally beloved – and while that’s definitely the case with ‘Annie,’ it absolutely applies to Taraji as well.”
Previously, the role of Miss Hannigan has been played by Carol Burnett & Kathy Bates. Naturally, Taraji P Henson will bring her own flair to the NBC stage-play movie version.
Anything else?
Annie Live will hit NBC on Dec. 2. Presumably, Twitter will be abuzz with it as well. Because, let’s be real, the real draw is to snark on everything with Twitter. Be nice though because, well, there are young children involved. And they are probably doing more than you were doing at that age, you know? So make sure to keep that in mind, okay?
Outside of that, we really have nothing to do except wait for the time being. Again, we think we’ll hear about the adult characters like Daddy Warbucks first before hearing who is going to play Annie. Also prepare yourself for when you inevitably get “Tomorrow” stuck in your head. Again. Once it’s in there, it never leaves.
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What do you think of Annie Live? Are you excited to see Taraji P Henson as Miss Hannigan in the performance? What other stage-play movies would you like to see? Let us know in the comments down below.
