Tony Winner James Lapine to Direct Annie Revival

Three-time Tony Award winner James Lapine will direct the previously announced Broadway revival of Annie when the show returns to Broadway in fall 2012. No casting or home for the show, which will play at a Nederlander theater, has been announced.

Lapine is a Tony winner for the books of Passion, Falsettos and Into the Woods. His Broadway directing credits include Sondheim on Sondheim, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Amour, Dirty Blonde, Into the Woods, Golden Child, The Diary of Anne Frank, Sunday in the Park with George, Passion and Falsettos. Lapine's off-Broadway writing credits include Table Settings; Twelve Dreams; Luck, Pluck, and Virtue; The Moment When and Fran’s Bed. He is currently working on the new musical Little Miss Sunshine.

Inspired by the famous comic strip Little Orphan Annie, Annie made its Broadway debut on April 21, 1977, transferring three times and playing 2,377 performances before closing on January 2, 1983. The show won the Tony Award for Best Musical, Best Book, Best Original Score, among others, and earned Dorothy Loudon her own trophy for her performance as villainess Miss Hannigan. The show features music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin and a book by Thomas Meehan.

A film adaptation of the musical was released in 1982 and starring Albert Finney, Carol Burnett, Ann Reinking, Tim Curry, Bernadette Peters and Aileen Quinn, was nominated for two Academy Awards. The show was also filmed for television in 1999 with a cast led by Kathy Bates, Victor Garber, Alan Cumming and Kristin Chenoweth. Annie was revived in 1997 at the Martin Beck Theatre in a production that starred Nell Carter and closed after seven months.