Bet your bottom dollar that many Broadway musical purists are not very eager to see a modern-day update of Annie, starring Quvenzhané Wallis as the precocious redheaded orphan and Jamie Foxx as her billionaire guardian, Benjamin Stacks (you know, because Hollywood loves bad puns more than the name Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks).
A photo of Cameron Diaz as a rather scantily clad Miss Hannigan has already put the musical’s fans on high alert and now, a new set photo with Wallis, Foxx, Diaz, co-star Rose Byrne and a big marching band, is out to reassure those anticipating the musical next December that there will be joy, fun and, yes sun, in this modern-day update.
The picture shows the cast performing the musical’s iconic song, “Tomorrow,” on the streets of New York. Typically, Annie sings this tune near the beginning after she escapes from Miss Hannigan’s orphanage for little girls and runs into a stray dog. The photo, however, shows the film’s ensemble coming together for a possible end-of-the-movie reprise (a la “Can You Hear the People Sing?” closing out Les Misérables). Regardless, if that is the case, those who know the plot are likely wondering why one of the major characters present in the photo is still around and showing off their jazz hands at the end of the film.
The photo also confirms that the film is a contemporary update, and it will be intriguing to see how director Will Gluck brings a work so rooted in its Depression-era setting into the modern day. Unseen in the photo but also in the film’s major cast is Bobby Cannavale as Stacks’ political adviser, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as bodyguard/driver Nash. For those interested in a new vision of Little Orphan Annie, the sun will come out… in 379 days, when the musical hits theatres on December 19, 2013.