On-The-Road Update

Greetings All!

Hope everyone had a great holiday! All is well on the Annie front and we are again getting ready to move to yet another city, Birmingham, AL is the next stop. We have been enjoying the warm (warmer that is, next to New Haven, Ct) and are glad to be continuing on to another warm climate. Tempe has proved a great little city. The theatre was beautiful, a Frank Lloyd Wright creation, and the downtown area was adorable (lots to do).

Well... one last day of 2007 and then we dive head first into the New Year and the continuation of The Annie National Tour.

From all of us here on tour we wish you all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!

On-The-Road Update

Hello everyone and Merry Christmas!

Welcome to our Christmas Eve! The entire company is traveling somewhere at this moment. Most of us are in the air on our way to Tempe, AZ, others are on their way to visit loved ones (talk about a short vacation). We have already drawn attention to ourselves on this travel day. Many company members took to juggling (some better than others) in the airport terminal. People seem to love it, makes the fact that we are all traveling on Christmas Eve a little more fun.

Our week in New Haven was very nice, quite the change to be in one place for an entire week. We had pretty temped weather, which made it easy to sight-see, and believe me being on the campus of Yale there was much to see. We wrapped up our Secret Santa gift exchange this week on Friday.

Everyone had a great time, many, many surprises.Everyone did a great job at keeping their identity under wraps.

Well, we are all excited for Christmas Day! We all wish we could be with family and friends, but… I said it once and I'll say it again… we could not wish for a better 2nd family to spend the day with. For those of you scattered around the country have a wonderful day and a safe trip back, as for all or our family and friends we wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

XOXOXOXOXOXO The Company - "Annie" National Tour

On-The-Road Update

Seasons Greetings All!

Well the time is upon us, the holidays are here!

We are all getting ready to leave our buses behind for a while and fly from city to city. For about the next month will be staying in the cities for a week at a time (wow, knowing what city your in when you wake up).

At the end of next week our company will scatter to the wind, most of us taking an airplane ride to sunny Tempe, AZ and the rest will be dotted all around the country. We are all excited to celebrate the holidays, be it with company members of a non-traditional dinner in Arizona or with friends and family gathered round a turkey. To top off the excitement, the company will be unveiling our Secret Santa's on Friday. I am sure this will prove much fun.

Well, time to pack up once again and move on to the next city. From all of us here at the "Annie" National Tour to all of you, Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings!

Season's greetings!

Hello everyone,

It is another exciting week on the road with the Annie National Tour.

Busy does not even begin to describe this week. This will be (by far) our busiest week on tour. We are traveling to 4 states and six cites in one week. Talk about sight seeing. Good thing we decorated the bus for the holidays, we are going to be seeing a lot of it this week.

We had our first snow two nights ago and goodness was it pretty, blanketed the entire city of Scranton, PA in two feet of the fluffy stuff. Some of the girls went out early in the morning and had their first snowball fight of the season (the adults even joined in for a little snowball throwing therapy after our final show).

Well like I said busy, work is beckoning. Promise to catch up with you more next week!

On-The-Road Update

Hello Everyone! Well it has been a very nice week.

It started off quite busy with two one nighters in a row but has ended nicely in Lexington, KY for four days, southern hospitality all around. We have all found many things to do around the area (shopping and restaurants as usual). The hotel was is great, everyone is enjoying their "Sleep-Number" beds (ahhh the small things in life).

As wonderful as Kentucky has been all of the buzz is about being in St. Louis for a WEEK! We will be spending the Thanksgiving holiday by the big arch. The entire company will be having a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. No shows slated for turkey day so almost every one's agenda consists of eating and lounging most of the day, some company members are lucky enough to spend the holiday with family.

Well, almost time to pack it up in Lexington, from the entire company of "Annie" we wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello Everyone! Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, we did! Most of the company (some were lucky enough to see family for the holiday) joined together in the beautiful hotel restaurant for a bountiful Thanksgiving feast (the mashed potato bar was a hit!). After dinner we chose our Secret Santa's.

The company is now a-buzz with mini covert missions to stealthfully get gifts to their Secret Santa recipients, and the girls are more than willing to play the part of elf. St. Louis in general has been fantastic. The hotel is fabulous, a beautiful historic hotel (an Omni Majestic!). And the theatre, oh the theatre, it doesn't get much better than a FOX! There is such history here, every square inch of back stage is covered in show art and signatures. Everyone has been snapping pictures left and right.

We are sad to leave our lush accommodations and world class theatre, but the show must go on (the road that is!). It is a busy next couple of weeks for us, but we are getting closer and closer to the holiday season filled with one week sit downs! Catch up with you next week!

On-The-Road Update

Hello Everyone! Well it has been a very nice week. It started off quite busy with two one nighters in a row but has ended nicely in Lexington, KY for four days, southern hospitality all around. We have all found many things to do around the area (shopping and restaurants as usual).

The hotel was is great, everyone is enjoying their "Sleep-Number" beds (ahhh the small things in life). As wonderful as Kentucky has been all of the buzz is about being in St. Louis for a WEEK! We will be spending the Thanksgiving holiday by the big arch. The entire company will be having a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. No shows slated for turkey day so almost every one's agenda consists of eating and lounging most of the day, some company members are lucky enough to spend the holiday with family.

Well almost time to pack it up in Lexington, from the entire company of "Annie" we wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

Hello from Jaida Benjamin (July)

Hello! My name’s Jaida Benjamin and I play the role of the orphan, July!

As hard as it may seem to believe, the reality of this whole process and experience has finally hit me. When I sit and think about this experience, I realize how amazing this experience is! The intensity and work is hard, but I’m glad because this is exactly what I expected and wanted.

I love performing and having fun on that stage and there’s never a day when I’m bored with the experience. I look forward to doing a show everyday. I love when the audience gives us a standing ovation. The cast does such an amazing job and the music and choreography is bound to give you goose bumps if you come see our show. Hats off, to the orchestra, as well. What an extraordinary sound they make together and add to the show. And you wouldn’t believe the crew members backstage. They work so hard to make Annie what it is.

And I can’t forget to mention my mom…she’s the best chaperone ever!!! Annie is an outstanding production and I’m more than grateful and thank God everyday to be part of this cast.

On-The-Road Update

Hello, hope everyone had a great Halloween, we sure did!

Abby Stevens (aka Grace Farrell) Mom and Dad were kind enough to invite us all over for a Halloween celebration. We rolled into the great city of Madison, WI at about 3:00pm on Halloween day and quickly headed to our rooms to get into costumes for the party. We defiantly have quite a creative bunch on this tour, some of the costumes we saw that night were; a Geisha, Joan Crawford and little daughter Christina, a Gothic Cheerleader, a black-eyed pea and the entire gang from Three's Company. After getting all decked out we re-boarded the bus and headed over to the Stevens abode. Mom and Dad Steven's went all out!

They had prepared a fall feast for us, how wonderful to have a home cooked meal (very, very rare on the road). The fun continued as all of the girls and their chaperones went trick-or-treating in the neighborhood (they got quite a haul for only 3 blocks), everyone chatted and laughed in the kitchen and we even received a performance from Jack, Chrissie, and Janet (come and knock on our door). What a wonderful night.

Now off to University Park, IL, catch up with you later!

P.S. Thanks again Mom and Dad Stevens! XO

On-The-Road Update

US to Canada and back again!

We left Morgantown, WV and took a very scenic (hills, valleys, and trees oh my!) drive to the US/Canadian border on Monday, October 15. We went over the border with the greatest of ease allowing the company to take a small side trip to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls! Many company members had never seen the falls so it was a very memorable travel day. We all loaded back on the bus, happy and damp (it was a very windy day at the falls!) and headed to Brampton, ONT.

Brampton proved to be slightly hectic, but our wonderful company met every obstacle with outstanding determination and we had another 3 great shows.

Driving back into the States on the way to Saginaw, MI the trees were putting on their own show. Fall was in true form; the colors of the trees were incredibly vibrant shades of yellow, orange and bright red. The company was snapping photos of the sight right and left. Saginaw, MI was a quick one-show stop. There was large storm moving over the area during the duration of the show, and that is what our stay felt like, we just breezed in and out. We are now in Clinton Township, MI (home town of cast member, Corey Scheys) and close to finishing up our matinee, one last show for Michigan and then off to Cincinnati, OH where everyone is eager to call it home for a week.

Hello from Amanda Balon (Annie)

Hi! I’m Amanda Balon and I play Annie. I’m 10 years old and live in Orlando, Florida when I’m not on tour.

I really love being on tour and on stage! This is my favorite show I’ve been in so far. Opening night was in Orlando, Florida, which was cool for me because my family was there to see the show and so were all of my friends. I also love all of the traveling we are doing. The bus is really fun. I love it a lot! We do a lot of “one nighters”, which is traveling to one city one day and another city the next day. I never have done these before, but I really like them. It’s exciting to see all of the different theaters each week.

Last night, we had game night for the first time! We played a game called Celebrity, which is kind of like Charades. It was tons of fun! Most of the cast members were there and we all had a good time.

Halloween is coming up and I am very excited about that. I don’t know what I’m going to be, but I guess I will find out soon!

Right now, I am on the bus in school, heading to Newport News, VA. I can’t wait to get there! It sounds like a lot of fun.

Well, I guess that’s it for now. I hope to see you at the shows!

Sincerely,

Amanda Balon