NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Whoopi Goldberg is about to break two ironclad rules of show business — never work with animals or children.
The actor and TV host is slipping into the terrifying role of Miss Hannigan when the latest touring production of “Annie” lands in New York City for the holidays.
“I’m having the time of my life,” the EGOT-winning Goldberg says between rehearsals as she readies to tell the tale of a spunky young orphan with her dog Sandy set during the Depression.
“I thought, ‘Who can we cast in that iconic role that would be right artistically and right for a large venue and right for an audience?’ And it just felt like she was the right person,” says Carolyn Rossi Copeland, who is producing the new tour.
Goldberg will help lead the show at The Theater at Madison Square Garden from Dec. 11-Jan. 5. The tour has a deep connection to the first version of the hit show: It is being directed by Jenn Thompson, who at the age of 10 stepped into the role of Pepper in the original Broadway production.
“It’s been a really beautiful journey. I have a lot of ghosts I got to exorcise and revisit and reclaim,” says Thompson, who for the new show has chipped away at the layers of productions and charted a course back to the original production.
“It had changed a lot over the years. It had gone through many revisions and alterations and it wasn’t even a conscious mission when I started but that’s where we ended up — kind of back at the beginning.”
Goldberg laughs when she says she signed on before realizing how much was going to be required of her. “I’m rusty. I’m old,” says the “The View” co-host.
“I got in the middle of it and I thought, maybe this is more than I can handle. And then a little voice said, ‘Really? You know, if you said this is more than I can handle to anyone, they would laugh you off the stage because it’s not.’ It’s exactly what I can handle.”
Hannigan is a gin-swilling orphanage head who calls her charges “brats,” denies them hot mush and threatens “your days are numbered.” She has two great songs — “Easy Street” and “Little Girls.”
The musical contains musical gems like “Tomorrow” and “It’s the Hard Knock Life.” Martin Charnin’s lyrics, which earned him and songwriter Charles Strouse a Tony for best score in 1977, are playful and moving: “You’re never fully dressed/without a smile” and “No one cares for you a smidge/when you’re in an orphanage.”
“I love the dark side of it,” says Thompson. “There’s a lot of joy and there’s a lot of rage and they are in conversation with each other. And it’s what makes it a great musical in my mind.”
“Annie” has been adapted many times for the screen, including a 1982 film version, another in 1999 and one in 2014 starring Quvenzhané Wallis, and a live TV version in 2021 on NBC with Harry Connick Jr. and Taraji P. Henson.
The tour after the new year will head to Maryland, Alabama, Illinois, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, California, Washington, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nebraska, Colorado, Texas and Wisconsin.
The musical was born in the wake of the Vietnam War and the Nixon administration and the creators have said they were seeking to offer some hope. “I think it is a story about survival and choosing the light when you are in the dark,” says Thompson.
The musical first premiered on Broadway in 1977 and was revived in 1997 and 2012. The 1977 original show won the Tony Award as best musical and ran for 2,300 performances, inspiring tours and revivals that never went out of style. It last played New York on Broadway in 2012-14.
“The original show was just endowed with so much hope and optimism and the comedy in it was honest,” says Copeland. “It’s really back to its roots. There’s no gags and gimmicks.”
Others who have played Hannigan include Carol Burnett, Kathy Bates, Dorothy Loudon, Nell Carter, Katie Finneran, Jane Lynch and Henson. Goldberg says she’s stayed away from watching any versions “so I wouldn’t copy other people.”
Goldberg has a long history with New York theater, producing such shows as “Sister Act,” “Xanadu” and “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” as well as performing in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.”
“I don’t sound like Cynthia Erivo,” she says. “I don’t sound like Nicole Scherzinger. I don’t sound like anybody. I don’t sound like Audra McDonald. I just sound like me. And for ‘Annie,’ it’s the right sound.”
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