Jon Rua & More Complete the Cast of the Muny's Annie

Casting is complete for the Muny's upcoming centennial-season production of Annie! Tony nominee John Tartaglia will direct the new staging, with choreography by Jessica Hartman and music direction by Colin Welford. Annie will run at the St. Louis outdoor theater from July 18-25.

New to the principal company are Jon Rua (SpongeBob SquarePants) as Rooster, Britney Coleman (Sunset Boulevard) as Grace Farrell, Holly Ann Butler (On the Town) as Lily, John Scherer (Dames at Sea) as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Peyton Ella (A Little Princess) in the title role. They will be joined by Madeline Domain as Tessie, Kennedy Holmes as July, Samantha Iken as Pepper, Trenay LaBelle as Duffy, Ana McAlister as Molly and Ella Grace Roberts as Kate.

They join the previously announced Tony nominee Jennifer Simard as Miss Hannigan and two-time Tony nominee Christopher Sieber as Daddy Warbucks. The Annie ensemble will include Patrick Blindauer, Maya Bowles, Chloe Davis, Julie Hanson, Michael Hoey, Abigail Isom, Madison Johnson, Zachary Daniel Jones, Graham Keen, Rich Pisarkiewicz, Whit Reichert, Rochelle Scudder, Josh Walden and Rebecca Young. The company will also feature the Muny Kid and Teen ensembles. 

Annie, which features a book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin, follows a young orphan (Ella) who is taken from her orphanage and the clutches of cruel Miss Hannigan (Simard) to stay in the mansion of billionaire Oliver Warbucks (Sieber) for the holidays. When Annie wins the hearts of Warbucks and his staff, they set out on an epic mission to find Annie’s parents. Annie includes such memorable songs as “It’s the Hard-Knock Life,” “Easy Street,” “A New Deal for Christmas,” plus the eternal anthem of optimism, “Tomorrow.”

The production will include scenic design by Michael Schweikardt, costume design by Leon Dobkowski, lighting design by Nathan W. Scheuer, video design by Rob Denton and sound design by John Shivers and David Patridge.