document_title: Whose Line Is It Anyway? (UK TV series)

question_text: who was the first host of whose line is it anyway

text: Whose Line Is It Anyway? (UK TV series)

text: Format[edit]

text: Each typical television episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway? featured four performers (with an exception of six in a 1989 Christmas special) who sit in a line of chairs at the back of the stage. The host sat at a desk facing the large performance area in front of the performers. The host introduced each performer with a joke or pun, usually all related on a common theme or topic.

text: The show is made up of games that are scored by the host, who declared arbitrary point values after the game, often citing a humorous reason for his decision. The points are purely decorative, served no practical purpose, and were often awarded to audience members or other arbitrary third persons. The style of the games are varied (see Games, below). Some feature all four performers, while others feature fewer. The performers who are not involved in a game remain in their seats at the back of the stage. Humorous banter between the host and the performers between games is also sometimes featured.

text: At the conclusion of each episode, a winner or several winners are chosen arbitrarily by the host. The "prize" for winning on the British version of the show is to read the credits in a certain style, chosen by the host, as they scrolled. On the American series, the "prize" is either to play a game with the host, or to sit out while the other performers did. After this game, credits simply roll under the show's theme. In season two, the credit-reading, usually including all of the performers, was adopted from the UK series following the "prize" game.

text: Episodes were culled down from longer recording sessions with the best game performances chosen to compile into one or more episodes. The UK series each include one or two compilation shows of unaired games from different taping sessions in that series.

text: Games[edit]

text: The number and type of games played vary from episode to episode, and whilst some games such as "Questions Only" and "Hoedown" became more common over time, others such as "Authors" and "Remote Control" faded from use. New games were created throughout the show's run. Some games, such as "Tag," are based on traditional improv games, while others are uniquely created for the series. Most games consist of a single long skit performed by the chosen performers, but some, such as "World's Worst" and "Scenes from a Hat," are played as a rapid-fire series of short skits.

text: While all games are designed to test the performer's improvisational skill, some also test other skills, such as singing or doing impressions. Whose Line? features a number of musical games, which feature one or more of the show's resident musicians playing live backing music. Occasionally, pre-recorded music is also used. While they were good sports about it, many of the performers despised the musical games. In one episode, Stephen Fry is asked to perform a rap, and starts to do so halfheartedly, but gives up after a few words, and Ryan Stiles would frequently inject insults into the Hoedown whenever he is forced to sing it, usually pointed at the host or the Hoedown itself. Colin Mochrie would generally speak his lines instead of singing them for musical games.

text: Some games require suggestions or topics. Depending on the game, these may be solicited directly from the studio audience during the taping, or written down by the audience and/or production staff in advance and then randomly drawn for the performers' use. The host uses a buzzer to signal the end of a game, or of individual sections in the rapid-fire games.

text: Opening sequence[edit]

text: The show has a visual opening sequence that changed over the series. In the first series, the title sequence shows clips from the actual show under the main theme. The sequence introduced in the second series features shots of actors in various styles of dress and activity whose exposed skin had been blackened out as though the actors are performing blackface as a special effect, and in between scenes, there is a shot of Clive's hand pressing his buzzer. The final sequence features a white line on a red screen, out of which a series of four characters, drawn simply as white outlines, appear and interact. The style is similar to that of La Linea by Osvaldo Cavandoli. The same line figures are superimposed above a picture of Los Angeles' famous Hollywood Sign for the last series. The British version's theme song was written by Philip Pope.

text: History[edit]

text: Whose Line Is It Anyway? was created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson in 1988 as a radio show on BBC Radio 4. This early incarnation of the show is notable as being the origin of the show's tradition of having the performers read the credits in an amusing style; as it was a radio show, it was necessary for somebody to read the credits, and it was decided that it might as well be done as part of the programme proper, rather than being done by a traditional BBC Radio announcer. This approach to reading credits was pioneered by the earlier BBC radio show I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again. The title of the show itself is a comedic riposte to another radio show that moved to television, What's My Line, merged with the title of a 1972 teleplay (and eventual theatrical play) Whose Life Is It Anyway?. The radio series consisted of six episodes, with Clive Anderson as host, with John Sessions and Stephen Fry as regulars.[3]

text: Originally, the producers asked the BBC to move to television; however the BBC was hesitant about this move. By this time, an already eager Channel 4 bought the show. Believing the show would become a hit, Channel 4 ordered 13 episodes for the first series, uncommon in the UK where a TV series often consists of just six episodes in its first year. However, this came as a problem between two cast members. Original plans were to have Sessions and Fry as regulars with the rotation of two performers, but Stephen Fry pulled out as he was often scared performing it on radio, however, Sessions, with some persuasion from Fry, continued his role on the show. With the exception of Sessions in the first series and Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie starting with the seventh and eighth series (respectively), there were no fixed regulars on the show, though there were many recurring regulars (including four appearances by Fry).

text: The British television version lasted for a total of 10 series, with 136 episodes, all of which were hosted by Clive Anderson.[4] The UK show was canceled when the ratings began to slump, but found immediate new life in America when its version aired.[5] One of the early North American broadcasters of the British series was the Canadian youth channel YTV, though many episodes were edited for adult language and content.

text: Most episodes of the British television programme were primarily shot in London. However, half of the episodes for each of series three and four were taped in New York, and series 10 was filmed entirely in Hollywood in the same studio that would host the American version, Raleigh Studios. This final series was first broadcast only in the U.S. on the Comedy Central cable channel. These episodes shot in the United States were often criticized by both fans and critics as being of a lower quality to the London shot episodes.[5] Reruns of the entire British TV series had been running on Comedy Central since the early 1990s, though some episodes were edited to remove games, rearrange games in a show, or remove content that American audiences might find offensive. Repeats of the British series moved to BBC America in April 2006; however, the network has not shown any episodes taped before 1994.

text: In the late 1990s, the show was brought to the attention of Drew Carey, who worked with regular Whose Line? performer Ryan Stiles, a co-star on the U.S. TV sitcom The Drew Carey Show. Carey convinced ABC to air test episodes in the United States. The U.S. version of the series became an inexpensive hit (though less so than the British version had been in the UK). ABC kept Carey on as host, and featured Mochrie and Stiles as permanent performers. Wayne Brady, who had also appeared in several UK episodes, was also made a permanent US cast member after the first few episodes, meaning there was only one guest performer per show. Several other performers from the U.K. series also appeared on the U.S. series. The show ran on ABC for eight seasons. In 2013, the CW network revived the U.S. version with Aisha Tyler as host and regulars Stiles, Brady and Mochrie returning.

text: On 6 March 2011, a special edition of the show was recorded for "24 Hour Panel People", a marathon of UK panel shows, in aid of Comic Relief. The recording was broadcast live on the Comic Relief website at about 9:30am, and, the edited compilation shows for the event, shown 13–17 March on BBC Three. The performers were Humphrey Ker, Josie Lawrence, Neil Mullarkey, Tony Slattery and David Walliams.[6]

text: In 2017 the series appeared at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with some members of the original cast.[7]

text: Performers[edit]

text: The original BBC Radio 4 broadcasts consists of host Clive Anderson along with two guests and the two regular contestants, Stephen Fry and John Sessions. Clive Anderson stayed on as host when the show moved to television, with John Sessions resuming his role as the only regular in the first series. He subsequently became a rotating regular in the second and third series. However he appears only twice in the third series, these being his final appearances. Stephen Fry appears only occasionally on the television series.

text: Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie first appear in the second and third series respectively; they each gradually increase the frequency of their appearances to the point that both appear in every episode from the eighth series on. Stiles is the most prolific performer on the show, having appeared in 76 of the series' 136 episodes (including compilations). Wayne Brady, who became a regular on the US version, appears in the final UK series for five episodes, including compilations.

text: Many of the show's performers, including Paul Merton, Josie Lawrence and Sandi Toksvig, were regulars with The Comedy Store Players, an improvisational group based at London's Comedy Store. Other regular performers from the British version include a variety of British, American, and Canadian comedians such as Greg Proops, Tony Slattery, Mike McShane, Stephen Frost, Brad Sherwood, Chip Esten and Jim Sweeney. The series also occasionally features celebrities in the fourth chair, such as Peter Cook, George Wendt, and Jonathan Pryce.

text: On the original BBC Radio series, the music was provided by Colin Sell, but when the show migrated to television, Richard Vranch (also of The Comedy Store Players) became the resident musician until the last series of the British show, playing electric guitar and piano and other instruments. For the tenth series in Hollywood, Laura Hall took over, playing mainly keyboards, and went on to be the in-house musician for the American series.

text: DVD release[edit]

text: The first release of the U.K. show, featuring the first two series, was released on DVD in America on 27 March 2007 and in the UK on 25 January 2008. The U.K. edition is edited to remove references to the ad breaks. Also, British episodes were released on VHS (in the UK only) in the mid-1990s. Additionally, a play-at-home book was printed in 1989, related to the British series.

text: Almost all of the UK versions (135 of 136 episodes) of Whose Line Is It Anyway? are available for free to those living in the UK on All 4.[8]

text: International versions[edit]


document_title: My Life as a Teenage Robot

question_text: when did my life as a teenage robot end

question_tokens: when did my life as a teenage robot end

root

text: My Life as a Teenage Robot

text: Overview[edit]

text: XJ-9 ("Jenny Wakeman", as she prefers to be called; voiced by Janice Kawaye) is a state-of-the-art gynoid automaton sophisticated robot created by her mother Dr. Nora Wakeman (Candi Milo), an elderly spinster robotics scientist, five years prior to the series. Jenny is Earth's protector, armed to the teeth with a wide range of weapons and devices, but all she really wants is to live the life of a normal teenager. She was preceded in development by eight other models; in season one, the episode "Sibling Tsunami" introduced XJs 1–8.

tag: p

text: Jenny's friends are her next-door neighbors Brad (Chad Doreck) and Tuck Carbuckle (Audrey Wasilewski). Brad is outgoing and adventurous, and is the first actual friend Jenny makes, while Tuck is Brad's rambunctious younger brother who usually tags along on adventures. Another one of her friends is Sheldon Lee (Quinton Flynn), a somewhat stereotypical nerd who is infatuated with her. Jenny often rejects his romantic advances, but still cares for him as a friend. Fans of the show often speculate on whether Jenny would have ended up with Sheldon or Brad. Renzetti and his team seem to favor Sheldon but refuse to give any definitive answers as to how he would have ended the series if he was given a fourth season.[3]

text: At high school, Jenny has an ongoing rivalry with the Crust Cousins, Brit (Moira Quirk) and Tiff (Cree Summer), the popular girls in school. Dr. Wakeman often tries in vain to control her creation and keep her "daughter" focused on protecting the planet Earth. Adding to her trouble is that she is constantly being dogged by the all-robotic Cluster Empire, whose queen, Vexus (Eartha Kitt), wants her to join their world of robots (by force if necessary). Despite it all, Jenny struggles to maintain some semblance of a mostly-human life.

text: The special of the series, "Escape from Cluster Prime", shows that the alien planet is actually a peaceful paradise for every kind of robot. It's also revealed that Vexus has made Jenny out to be a villain due to her constant refusals to join, blaming her for the missing components that allow robots to transform; Vexus actually has them hidden, to help control the populace.

text: The series is set in the fictional futuristic town of Tremorton. Its themes focus on making lighthearted fun of typical teenage problems and other conventions and drama of the teenage and superhero lives, mixed up with a combination of action, adventure, sci-fi fantasy, and comedy sequences.

text: Episodes[edit]

text:
Season
Episodes
Originally aired
Season DVD release date
(Region 1)

First aired
Last aired
Network

1
13
August 1, 2003 (2003-08-01)
February 27, 2004 (2004-02-27)
Nickelodeon
December 12, 2011[4]

2
14
December 8, 2004 (2004-12-08)
September 9, 2005 (2005-09-09)
December 12, 2011[5]

3
13
October 4, 2008 (2008-10-04)
May 2, 2009 (2009-05-02)
Nicktoons
December 12, 2011[6]

tag: table

text: Production[edit]

text: Rob Renzetti moved from Cartoon Network to Nickelodeon to develop his own ideas as part of Fred Seibert's and Frederator Studios' Oh Yeah! Cartoons. At Nickelodeon, he developed a pilot called "My Neighbor was a Teenage Robot" which was the basis for the series. After brief stints working on Family Guy, The Powerpuff Girls, and Samurai Jack, Renzetti returned to Nickelodeon to start the Teenage Robot series.

text: Renzetti made 11 shorts during two seasons as a director on Oh Yeah! Cartoons. Five of these starred two characters called Mina and the Count and followed the adventures of a rambunctious little girl and her vampire best friend. He hoped that these characters might get their own series, but Nickelodeon rejected the idea. Faced with an empty slot where the sixth Mina short was slated to go, Fred Seibert tasked Renzetti to come up with three new ideas. One of these was about a teenaged girl whose boyfriend was a robot. After further thought, Renzetti merged the two characters to create Jenny, a robot with the personality of a teenaged girl.

text: On October 17, 2005, the show's crew announced on their blog that the show had been cancelled, and the third season would be the last: "The executives love the show but the ratings aren't good enough for them to give us more episodes."[7][8] After the show ended, Renzetti left for Cartoon Network Studios, working on Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and The Cartoonstitute, before moving on to become supervising producer for Gravity Falls.

text: Broadcast[edit]

text: This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2010)

text: Nickelodeon debuted My Life as a Teenage Robot on August 1, 2003 at 8:30 PM.[9][better source needed] The show was a part of Nickelodeon's Saturday night programming block called SNICK on August 2, 2003 and briefly was a part of the TEENick lineup on August 2003 to June 2004. The first season ended on February 27, 2004 with "The Wonderful World of Wizzly / Call Hating".

text: The second season (which was originally set to air on October 1, 2004) was pushed back to December 8, 2004 with the Christmas episode "A Robot for All Seasons". A new second-season episode was not aired until January 24, 2005.[10] In the second season, a 48-minute, two-part TV movie entitled "Escape from Cluster Prime" (which was nominated for an Emmy in 2006)[11] aired. After the series ended, reruns continue to air until April 14, 2013 and again from December 13, 2015 to May 15, 2016.

text: Home media[edit]

text: The episodes "See No Evil", "The Great Unwashed", "Future Shock", "A Robot for All Seasons", "Hostile Makeover", and "Gridiron Glory" were released on Nick Picks DVD compilations. As of December 12, 2011, seasons 1, 2, and 3 are available on DVD exclusive to Amazon.com in region 1. The full series was released across six discs by Beyond Home Entertainment in Australia on February 5, 2012.[12]

text:
DVD name
Season
Episode count
Release date
Episodes include

Region 1
Region 4

Nick Picks Vol. 1
1
1
May 24, 2005
N/A
Hostile Makeover

Nick Picks Vol. 2
October 18, 2005
N/A
Grid Iron Glory

Nick Picks Vol. 3
February 7, 2006
N/A
See No Evil

Nick Picks Vol. 4
June 6, 2006
N/A
The Great Unwashed

Nick Picks Holiday
2
September 26, 2006
N/A
A Robot For All Seasons

Nick Picks Vol. 5
March 13, 2007
N/A
Future Shock

My Life as a Teenage Robot: Season 1[4]
1
13
December 12, 2011
N/A
The complete first season is included

My Life as a Teenage Robot: Season 2[5]
2
12
N/A
12 episodes from season two, excluding Escape from Cluster Prime

My Life as a Teenage Robot: Season 3[6]
2 (Escape from Cluster Prime), 3
15
N/A
The complete third and final season is included, plus "Escape from Cluster Prime" from season two

My Life as a Teenage Robot: The Complete Series
1–3
40
N/A
February 5, 2012
The complete series is included

text: Notes[edit]

text: Jump up ^ The font used in the title card is slightly similar to ITC Anna.

tag: ol


document_title: Patricia Clarkson

question_text: who plays tammy one on parks and recreation

text: Patricia Clarkson

text: Early life[edit]

text: Clarkson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Jackie Clarkson (née Brechtel), a New Orleans politician and councilwoman, and Arthur Clarkson, a school administrator who worked at the Louisiana State University School of Medicine.[1][2] She is one of five sisters, all of whom attended O. Perry Walker High School.[3] Clarkson studied speech pathology at Louisiana State University, later transferring to Fordham University in New York City, where she graduated summa cum laude with a degree in drama.[4] She then earned her Master of Fine Arts at the Yale School of Drama[5] before making her film debut in The Untouchables in 1987.

text: Career[edit]

text: Clarkson's Broadway theatre credits include The House of Blue Leaves and Eastern Standard. She had supporting roles in a series of high-profile films in her early career. Her first movie role, at age 27, was as the wife of Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) in The Untouchables. She also was featured in The Dead Pool, Rocket Gibraltar, and Everybody's All-American. She starred in the TV series Davis Rules and in the miniseries Alex Haley's Queen.

text: More often a character actor than a leading woman, she also appeared in major films, such as The Green Mile (1999), Far from Heaven (2002), Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), and Lars and the Real Girl (2007). Her breakthrough role was in High Art (1998) where her portrayal of Greta, a German, drug-addicted lesbian and former model, gained rave reviews. She has said about acting, "I’m deeply invested in everything I do, and it’s a good thing because acting is the only thing I know how to do."[6]

text: In 2002, she originated her role as Sarah O'Connor in HBO's Six Feet Under. She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series that year for her performance; she repeated for the same role in 2006. In 2003, she gained critical acclaim and a Special Jury Prize for her work in four films that debuted at the Sundance Film Festival: All the Real Girls, The Baroness and the Pig, The Station Agent and Pieces of April.[7][8] Later the same year, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Pieces of April, in which she played an acerbic mother dying of cancer. In 2006, she portrayed Sadie Burke in All the King's Men, set in her native New Orleans. In 2008, she had supporting roles in Elegy as a womanizer's put-upon girlfriend,and in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona as an unhappily married housewife.

text: In 2008, producer Gerald Peary approached Clarkson to do the voice-over for the documentary film For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism. Says Peary, "She agreed to do the narration ... And she was so nice, and so cooperative, and so prepared, and so intelligent. And one of the key reasons she wanted to do the movie was that she regularly reads criticism, and has a genuine respect for film criticism.[9]

text: Clarkson returned to New Orleans on January 17, 2009 for the reopening of the Mahalia Jackson Theatre for the Performing Arts. She served as master of ceremonies for a gala featuring Plácido Domingo in concert with the New Orleans Opera, conducted by Robert Lyall.[10] She also made a cameo appearance in the Saturday Night Live Digital Short "Motherlover" on May 9, 2009. The video featured Andy Samberg, Justin Timberlake, and Susan Sarandon. She reprised the role on May 21, 2011 in the digital short "3-Way (The Golden Rule)". In 2010, she starred in Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island.[11] Clarkson was honored by the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival when she received one of the 2010 Volta awards for achievements in her career.[12]

text: In the fourth season of the NBC mockumentary Parks and Recreation, Clarkson began portraying the recurring role of Tammy One, Parks Department head Ron Swanson's first wife.[13]

text: Some of her most notable recent roles in film include The Party (2017) by Sally Potter and The Bookshop (2018) by Isabel Coixet. Both films were screened at the Berlin International Film Festival.

text: Personal life[edit]

text: In response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Clarkson published a post for Natural Resources Defense Council's magazine OnEarth. She also released a public service announcement talking about her experiences growing up in New Orleans. Both pieces were released on July 26, 2010.[14]

text: Clarkson has never married and has no children.[15] Interviewed in 2016, she said, "I've never wanted to marry, I've never wanted children – I was born without that gene."[16]

text: Filmography[edit]

text: Film[edit]

text:
Year
Title
Role
Notes

1987
Untouchables, TheThe Untouchables
Catherine Ness

1988
Dead Pool, TheThe Dead Pool
Samantha Walker

1988
Rocket Gibraltar
Rose Black

1988
Everybody's All-American
Leslie Stone

1990
Tune in Tomorrow
Aunt Olga

1995
Pharaoh's Army
Sarah Anders

1995
Jumanji
Carol Anne Parrish

1998
Playing by Heart
Allison

1998
High Art
Greta
Nominated—Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female

1999
Green Mile, TheThe Green Mile
Melinda Moores
Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

1999
Wayward Son
Wesley

1999
Simply Irresistible
Lois McNally

2000
Falling Like This
Caroline Lockhart

2000
Joe Gould's Secret
Vivian Marquie

2001
Safety of Objects, TheThe Safety of Objects
Annette Jennings
Deauville American Film Festival Award for Best Female Performance
San Diego Film Critics Society - Body of Work Award

2001
Pledge, TheThe Pledge
Margaret Larsen

2001
Wendigo
Kim

2002
Welcome to Collinwood
Rosalind

2002
Far from Heaven
Eleanor Fine
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress

2002
Heartbreak Hospital
Lottie Ohrwasher

2002
Baroness and the Pig, TheThe Baroness and the Pig
The Baroness

2003
Dogville
Vera

2003
Station Agent, TheThe Station Agent
Olivia Harris
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress
San Diego Film Critics Society - Body of Work Award
Sundance Film Festival - Special Jury Prize
Nominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

2003
All the Real Girls
Elvira Fine
San Diego Film Critics Society - Body of Work Award
Sundance Film Festival - Special Jury Prize

2003
Pieces of April
Joy Burns
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
San Diego Film Critics Society - Body of Work Award
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Sundance Film Festival - Special Jury Prize
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female
Nominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

2004
Miracle
Patti Brooks

2005
Good Night, and Good Luck.
Shirley Wershba
Nominated—Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

2005
Dying Gaul, TheThe Dying Gaul
Elaine Tishop

2006
Woods, TheThe Woods
Ms. Traverse

2006
All the King's Men
Sadie Burke

2007
No Reservations
Paula

2007
Lars and the Real Girl
Dr. Dagmar Bergman

2007
Married Life
Pat Allen

2008
Blind Date
Janna

2008
Phoebe in Wonderland
Miss Dodger

2008
Elegy
Carolyn

2008
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Judy Nash

2009
Whatever Works
Marietta Celestine

2009
2081
Narrator (voice)

2009
For the Love of Movies
Narrator (voice)

2009
Cairo Time
Juliette Grant

2010
Shutter Island
2nd Rachel Solando

2010
Legendary
Sharon Chetley

2010
Main Street
Willa Jenkins

2010
Easy A
Rosemary Penderghast

2011
Friends with Benefits
Lorna

2011
One Day
Alison Mayhew

2013
The East
Sharon

2014
The Maze Runner
Ava Paige

2014
Last Weekend
Celia Green

2014
Learning to Drive
Wendy Shields

2014
October Gale
Helen Matthews

2014
Annie
Focus group woman
Cameo

2015
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
Ava Paige

2017
The Party
April
British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress

2017
The Bookshop
Mrs. Violet Gamart

2018
Maze Runner: The Death Cure
Ava Paige

2018
Jonathan
Dr. Mina Nariman

2018
Delirium

Completed

text: Television[edit]

text:
Year
Title
Role
Notes

1985
Spenser: For Hire
Elizabeth Haller
Episode: "The Choice"

1986
Equalizer, TheThe Equalizer
Deborah Wade
Episode: "Breakpoint"

1990
Tales from the Crypt
Suzy
Episode: "Mute Witness to Murder"

1990
Law & Order
Laura Winthrop
Episode: "By Hooker, By Crook"

1990
The Old Man and the Sea
Mary Pruitt
Television film

1991
Davis Rules
Cosmo Yeargin
13 episodes

1992
Blind Man's Bluff
Dr. Virginia Hertz
Television film

1992
American Story, AnAn American Story
Barbara Meade
Television film

1992
Legacy of Lies
Pat Rafael
Television film

1992
Four Eyes and Six Guns
Lucy Laughton
Television film

1993
Caught in the Act
Meg
Television film

1993
Alex Haley's Queen
Lizzie Perkins
Miniseries

1994
She Led Two Lives
Desiree Parnell
Television film

1995–1996
Murder One
Annie Hoffman
23 episodes

1996
London Suite
Diana Nichols
Television film

1996
Wedding, TheThe Wedding
Della McNeil
Television film

2000
Wonderland
Mrs. Tammy Banger
2 episodes

2001
Frasier
Claire French
4 episodes

2002
Carrie
Margaret White
Television film

2002–2005
Six Feet Under
Sarah O'Connor
7 episodes
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series (2002, 2006)

2007
American Masters
Narrator (voice)
Episode: "The American Dream"

2009–2011
Saturday Night Live
Mother
2 episodes

2011
Parks and Recreation
Tammy Swanson I
2 episodes

2012
The Dust Bowl
Hazel Lucas Shaw
Television film

2012
Five
Mia Knowles
Television film

2015
Broad City
Timothy's Mom
Episode: "St. Mark's"

2016
American Dad!
Meredith Fields (voice)
Episode: "The Dentist's Wife"

2016
Nature
Narrator (voice)
Episode: "Hummingbirds"

2017
House of Cards
Jane Davis
7 episodes

2018
Sharp Objects
Adora Crellin
Main role

text: Broadway theatre[edit]

text:
Year
Title
Role
Notes
Refs

1986
The House of Blue Leaves
Corrinna Stroller (replacement)
Vivian Beaumont Theater
[17]

1989
Eastern Standard
Phoebe Kidde
John Golden Theatre
[18]

2014
The Elephant Man
Mrs. Kendal
Booth Theatre
Nominated – Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play
[19][20]


document_title: Annie (musical)

question_text: in the musical 'annie' which president does annie meet

question_tokens: in the musical ' annie ' which president does annie meet

text: Annie (musical)

text: Plot[edit]

text: Act 1[edit]

text: In 1933, eleven-year-old Annie is in the Municipal Girls Orphanage, along with Molly (age 6), Kate (age 7), Tessie (age 10), Pepper (age 12), July and Duffy (both 13). When Molly awakes from a bad dream, angering Pepper and Duffy, July tells them to hush up and eventually gets into a fight with Pepper. Annie gets up and tells everyone to go back to sleep. Molly then asks if Annie could read her note from when her parents left her at the orphanage. Duffy and Pepper are yet again annoyed. Along with Kate, Pepper and Duffy imitate Annie's acting as if they were her parents ("Maybe").

text: Annie decides to escape to find her parents, but is caught by Miss Hannigan, who is currently suffering from a hangover. She is angered by this and forces all the girls to vigorously clean the orphanage ("Hard Knock Life") before their day of sweatshop labour sewing for a dress manufacturing company (from which Miss Hannigan pockets the proceeds). Shortly after, Mr. Bundles, the laundry man, comes in to pick up the blankets. While Miss Hannigan is flirting with him, Annie climbs into the laundry basket and the orphans cover her up with the blankets. Once Miss Hannigan realizes she is gone, the other orphans express their frustration ("Hard Knock Life (Reprise)").

text: Annie successfully escapes, running into a friendly stray dog. As she comforts him, she tells him of better days yet to come ("Tomorrow"). The dog catcher is after him, so she pretends the dog is hers by calling him Sandy. Though at first unsuccessful, she convinces the dog catcher, and she continues on. She later finds a Hooverville, where people made homeless by the Great Depression have come together as a community ("We'd Like To Thank You, Herbert Hoover"). However, a policeman named Lt. Ward, who had been sent by Miss Hannigan, catches Annie and brings her back.

text: Grace Farrell, assistant to the billionaire Oliver Warbucks, comes to the orphanage asking for an orphan to come to his mansion for the Christmas holiday. Because Annie was in Miss Hannigan's office, Grace asks to take her, and Miss Hannigan reluctantly agrees. Once she has left, Miss Hannigan explodes with her hatred for all the girls in the orphanage ("Little Girls").

text: Meanwhile, at the Warbucks Mansion, the staff welcomes Annie with open arms ("I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here"). When Oliver Warbucks comes back, though, he is very moody and not too happy to have an orphan in his mansion. He asks Grace to take Annie to a movie, but she persuades him to come too. As he and Annie begin to like each other, they enjoy a fabulous night in New York City ("N.Y.C.").

text: Back at the orphanage, Miss Hannigan's brother, Rooster, and his girlfriend, Lily, pay a visit. Miss Hannigan mentions that Annie is staying at a billionaire's house, and they think they could use this situation to their advantage, though they do not yet know how ("Easy Street").

text: Warbucks sees the locket around Annie's neck, and buys her a new one from Tiffany & Co. He debates taking her "under his wing", because he doesn't know much about children, but he decides he loves her and gives her the locket ("Why Should I Change A Thing?"). However, she bursts into tears, saying it was the only thing left by her parents, and refuses to accept a new one. Grace and the staff then pledge to find her parents no matter what it takes ("You Won't Be An Orphan For Long").

text: Act 2[edit]

text: Annie appears on the radio on a show by Bert Healy ("Maybe" reprise) where Warbucks announces that he is offering $50,000 to the couple who can prove they are her parents. Healy then sings a song with the Boylan Sisters ("You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile"). Back at the orphanage the girls are listening to the song. Everyone is fascinated that their friend is on the radio, except Pepper; who couldn't care less. ("You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile" reprise). When Miss Hannigan hears, she barges in and demands to know what was happening. Molly announces that Annie was on the radio, and that there is a $50,000 reward for her parents. Miss Hannigan is anything but pleased. Shortly after, a couple named Ralph and Shirley Mudge arrive, saying they left a little girl here eleven years ago and have come back for her. Miss Hannigan is shocked. They soon reveal themselves to be Rooster and Lily; they explain their plan to get the reward. They request information about Annie from Miss Hannigan for one third of the money, though she demands one half for this service, and she tells them about the note and the locket ("Easy Street" reprise).

text: Warbucks brings Annie to Washington, D.C., where she requests to meet the president. Warbucks thinks that it would be better if Annie waited outside, but Franklin D. Roosevelt asks her to stay. She begins to sing "Tomorrow", though shushed by the cabinet. Roosevelt, however, believes that people must be optimistic during tough times, and commands them to sing ("Tomorrow" Cabinet reprise). Once back home, Warbucks tells Annie how much he loves her ("Something Was Missing"). Because her parents have not shown up, he announces he would like to adopt her ("I Don't Need Anything But You"). They decide to throw a Christmas party, and Annie wants to invite Miss Hannigan and the orphans. While preparing, the delighted staff tell of how her arrival has changed their lives ("Annie").

text: Judge Louis Brandeis shows up to begin the adoption proceedings, but is interrupted by Mr. and Mrs. Mudge (Rooster and Lily in disguise) who come to pick up Annie. Grace and Warbucks are shocked, because they know about the note and the locket. Still, Warbucks does not think they are her real parents. He requests that she will be allowed to stay one more night for the Christmas party, and then they can take her away to their supposed pig farm in New Jersey. Early that morning, she wishes she could have been adopted, not sent off with her "parents" ("Maybe" reprise). Warbucks then receives a surprise visit from Roosevelt and his Secret Service. It is revealed by him that Annie's parents are actually David and Margaret Bennett, who died when she was a baby. They then realize that Mr. and Mrs. Mudge are really Rooster and Lily, just as they show up to claim her and the money. They, along with Miss Hannigan, are arrested by the Secret Service, and everyone is delighted by Roosevelt's new deal for the economy ("A New Deal for Christmas"/"Tomorrow" finale).

text: Characters[edit]

text:
Characters
Description

Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks
Billionaire businessman who opens his home – and finally opens his heart – to Annie.

Annie
The title character. The spunky and optimistic 11 year old orphan who's looking for her birth parents. She ends up getting adopted by Oliver Warbucks.

Grace Farrell
Oliver Warbucks' faithful secretary, who loves Annie from the start.

Daniel "Rooster" Hannigan
Miss Hannigan's younger brother, a convict who escaped jail so he can rob his sister and plot to abduct Annie.

Miss Agatha Hannigan
The orphanage matron, disillusioned, she hates children, but is fond of alcoholic beverages.

Drake
The butler at the Warbucks Mansion; a good friend to Grace, Annie and Daddy Warbucks.

Lily St. Regis
Rooster's girlfriend, an egotistical gold digger. She and Rooster pose as Annie's "parents" so they can fool Warbucks and get their hands on the $50,000 reward.

Franklin D. Roosevelt
President of the United States, he aids Daddy Warbucks in the search for Annie's parents. Upon meeting Annie, he is inspired to make a new deal and restore America's economy.

Molly
The youngest orphan (6) who is also Annie's best friend.

Pepper
The bossiest orphan (12) who likes to take control and is not very good friends with Annie.

Duffy
The oldest orphan (13) who often hangs around with Pepper but is friends with everyone.

July
The quietest orphan (13) who doesn't talk much but is mother-like to all the kids.

Tessie
The crybaby orphan (10) who is known for the line "Oh my goodness".

Kate
The shyest orphan (7) who never really speaks but is friends with everyone.

Louis Brandeis
Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, he is called upon to assist in Annie's adoption.

Bert Healy
Radio announcer who agrees to broadcast Annie's search for her parents.

The Boylan Sisters
Singers on the Bert Healy Show who hope to be famous someday.

Fred McCracken and Wacky
A ventriloquist and dummy, who are guests on Bert Healy's "Oxydent Hour of Smiles."

Lt. Ward
A policeman sent after Annie, he finds her at the local homeless town (Hooverville).

Sandy
An abandoned mixed–breed dog that, once Annie rescues him, becomes her companion and pet.

Bundles
The laundry man. Miss Hannigan continuously hits on him, but he is not interested.

Cordell Hull, Frances Perkins, Louis Howe, Harold Ickes, and Henry Morgenthau Jr.
Franklin Roosevelt's Cabinet members who sing "Tomorrow" with Warbucks and Annie.

Star-To-Be
An upcoming Broadway Star, who sings a solo in N.Y.C.

Mrs. Greer, Mrs. Pugh, Cecile, and Annette
Oliver Warbucks's servants. They do a lot of housekeeping and are often supervised by Drake and Grace.

Dog Catcher and Assistant Dog Catcher
Characters in Hooverville who endanger Sandy.

Sophie and the Apple Seller
Child citizens of Hooverville who lead the town and the members of it.

Kaltenborn and Radio Announcers
Announcers on the radio.

Usherette
A female usher who seats Annie, Grace, and Warbucks in the movie theater.

Jimmy Johnson
A guest on Bery Healy's "Oxydent Hour of Smiles," who calls himself "radio's only masked announcer."

SFX Man
A member of Bert Healy's radio show, who controls the sound effects for the show and encourages crowd participation.

Men and Women of Hooverville
Men and Women who are homeless and live in shanties in the town of Hooverville.

text: Production history[edit]

text: The New York Times estimates that Annie is produced 700 to 900 times each year in the United States.[2]

text: Conceptualisation[edit]

text: Charnin first approached Meehan to write the book of a musical about Little Orphan Annie in 1972. Meehan researched by re-reading prints of the comic strip, but was unable to find any satisfactory material for a musical other than the characters of Annie, Oliver Warbucks and Sandy, so decided to write his own story. As all three of Meehan, Charnin and Strouse were from New York and given what he saw as the downbeat mood of the then-current Nixon era and the Vietnam War, Meehan set his story in New York during the similarly downbeat Great Depression. Meehan saw the character of Annie as a 20th Century American female version of the titular orphan characters created by Charles Dickens in works such as Oliver Twist and David Copperfield with the mystery of Annie's abandonment and unknown parenthood as consistent with a strand of mysteries in Dickens' tales. Meehan's book was accepted by Charnin and Strouse, but considerable material had to be trimmed out – material which Meehan would later restore for his novelisation.[3]

text: Pre-Broadway tryout[edit]

text: Annie had its world premiere on August 10, 1976 at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut under the direction of Michael P. Price, Executive Director. Kristen Vigard was the first actress to play the title role. However, the producers soon decided that Vigard's genuinely sweet interpretation was not tough enough for the street-smart orphan. After a week of performances, Vigard was replaced by Andrea McArdle, who played one of the other orphans, Pepper. Vigard went on to become McArdle's Broadway understudy.

text: Broadway original[edit]

text: The original Broadway production opened at the Alvin Theatre on April 21, 1977 and starred Andrea McArdle as Annie, Reid Shelton as Daddy Warbucks, Dorothy Loudon as Miss Hannigan, and Sandy Faison as Grace Farrell. Danielle Brisebois was one of the orphans. It was nominated for eleven Tony Awards and won seven, including the Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Book. Replacements in the title role on Broadway included then-child actors Shelley Bruce, Sarah Jessica Parker, Allison Smith and Alyson Kirk. Replacements in the role of Miss Hannigan included Alice Ghostley, Dolores Wilson, Betty Hutton, Marcia Lewis, and June Havoc. Ann Ungar understudied and played for Dorothy Loudon in the role of Miss Hannigan. She also understudied Alice Ghostley and Dolores Wilson.[4] The show closed on January 2, 1983, after a total of 2,377 performances, setting a record for the longest running show at the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon Theatre), until it was surpassed by Hairspray in 2009.[1]

text: United States National touring companies[edit]

text: During the Broadway run of Annie, there were four touring companies that were launched from the original production to tour to major North American cities:

text: The 1st National Touring Company opened in Toronto in March 1978 with Kathy Jo Kelly as Annie, Norwood Smith as Daddy Warbucks, Jane Connell, Ruth Kobart as Miss Hannigan, and Gary Beach as Rooster. It played in Miami from April 12 to May 13, 1978 then continued for a few more cities until it landed in Chicago where it played for 32 weeks. In April 1979, it continued on the road in with Mary K. Lombardi now in the lead as Annie. In the fall of 1980, Theda Stemler took over the part and was replaced in Boston when she grew too old. On May 15, 1981, Louanne Sirota, who had played Annie in the long-running Los Angeles production (see below), took over the role for four months. In August 1981, Becky Snyder became the company's last Annie, closing the tour on September 6, 1981.

text: The 2nd National Touring Company (sometimes referred to as the West Coast or Los Angeles Production) opened in San Francisco on June 22, 1978 with Patricia Ann Patts starring as Annie, Jennifer Cihi as Pepper and the then-unknown Molly Ringwald as one of the orphans. The show landed in Los Angeles on October 15, 1978 for an open-ended run at the Shubert Theatre. On June 12, 1979, Sirota, just 9 years old (up until that time, all Annies had been 11 years old), took over the role from Patts. Marisa Morell took the role in December 1979, closing the Los Angeles run and continuing on tour with the show through December 1980. Kristi Coombs then played Annie until this touring company closed in Philadelphia on January 23, 1982. Alyssa Milano played one of the orphans in 1981.

text: The 3rd National Touring Company opened in Dallas on October 3, 1979 with Rosanne Sorrentino (who would later go on to portray Pepper in the 1982 film version) in the title role. This company toured to 23 cities playing mostly shorter runs of a month or less. On March 27, 1981, Bridget Walsh took over as Annie. Becky Snyder (who had closed the 1st National Tour) joined this company in the summer of 1982 and stayed with it until it closed in September of that year.

text: The 4th National Touring Company opened on September 11, 1981 with Mollie Hall playing Annie. This production was a "bus and truck" tour, with a slightly reduced cast, that traveled the country and often played in two cities a week. This company was still touring when the original Broadway production closed in January 1983, making Kathleen Sisk the final performer to play Annie from the original production team. This tour closed in September 1983.

text: West End original[edit]

text: The musical premiered in the West End at the Victoria Palace Theatre on 3 May 1978. Andrea McArdle, the original Broadway Annie, played the title role for 40 performances. British 12-year-old Ann Marie Gwatkin was also cast in the title role and appeared on the Original London cast recording. The Opening night cast and the original sound track of children were Claire Hood, Jane Collins, Dawn Napier, Annette Mason, Helen Stephenson, Jackie Ekers and Linda Brewis. Ann Marie Gwatkin alternated with Christine Hyland and four other Annies were cast at this point: Anne O'Rourke, Jacinta Whyte, Helen Thorne, Rosa Michelle who were to play the role over the next year. Suzie Kemeys, from South Wales also performed two stints in 1980/81. The first was as the character July in the chorus and the second was playing the title role of Annie. ITV Wales commissioned two documentaries about this young Welsh girl and her rise from obscurity to a West End leading lady. Following, this Ann Marie Gwatkin and Jackie Ekers shared the title role followed by many other casts of Annie. Miss Hannigan was originally played by Sheila Hancock, and later by Maria Charles and Stella Moray; Daddy Warbucks was played by Stratford Johns and later by Charles West, with Deborah Clarke playing Pepper in the first year and Melanie Grant playing Molly.

text: Annie closed on 28 November 1981, after 1485 performances.

text: UK tour[edit]

text: The musical transferred to the Bristol Hippodrome for a special Christmas season before touring Britain. Because of strict British employment laws for juvenile actors, a succession of actresses took on the lead role every four months. One of the last girls to perform the role at the Victoria Palace before the show went on tour was 10-year-old Claudia Bradley from Leeds who was featured on a 1981 BBC programme called Fame.

text: Broadway revival (1997)[edit]

text: A 20th anniversary Broadway revival, which played at the Martin Beck Theatre (now called the Al Hirschfeld Theatre) in 1997, entitled Annie, the 20th Anniversary,[5] starred Nell Carter as Miss Hannigan, but controversy surrounded the casting of the titular character. The original actress cast in the role, Joanna Pacitti, was fired and replaced by her fellow orphan, Brittny Kissinger[6] (who usually played orphan July) just two weeks before her Broadway debut, while battling bronchitis in Boston. The Pre-Broadway Tour was playing the Colonial Theatre. 'Annie' Understudy and Swing Orphan Alexandra Keisman performed the role the first night Pacitti was absent. The producers then gave Kissinger the next performance. The show then moved on to the Oakdale in Connecticut where an insert was placed in the Playbill claiming "The Role of Annie is now being played by Brittny Kissinger". Public sentiment seemed to side with Pacitti as she was the winner of a highly publicized contest to find a new Annie sponsored by the department store Macy's. This incident, coupled with the mixed reviews the new staging garnered, doomed it to a short run, although it was followed by a successful national tour. Kissinger, then 8, became the youngest actress to ever play Annie on Broadway.

text: More controversy surrounding the show involved Nell Carter. Carter reportedly was very upset when commercials promoting the show used a different actress, Marcia Lewis, a white actress, as Miss Hannigan. The producers claimed that the commercials, which were made during an earlier production, were too costly to reshoot. Carter felt that racism played a part in the decision. "Maybe they do not want audiences to know Nell Carter is black", she told the New York Post. However, the ads did mention that Carter was in the show. "It hurts a lot", Carter told the Post, "I've asked them nicely to stop it — it's insulting to me as a black woman."[7] Later reports stated that "Nell Carter of Broadway's 'Annie' denied Thursday that she called her show's producers racist because they chose to air commercials featuring a previous Miss Hannigan—who is white—instead of her."[8] Her statement, released by the Associated Press, read: " 'Yes, it is true that I and my representatives have gone to management on more than one occasion about the commercial and were told that there was nothing they could do about it,' Carter said in a statement Thursday. 'Therefore, I have resigned myself to the fact that this is the way it is.' The statement also addressed the alleged charges of racism, first published in Thursday's New York Post. Carter is black. 'I, Nell Carter, never, ever, ever accused my producers or anyone in the show of racism,' she said. Producers have said it is too expensive to film a new commercial."[9] Carter was later replaced by another white actress, Sally Struthers. The revival closed on October 19, 1997 after 14 previews and 239 performances.[10]

text: West End revival (1998)[edit]

text: The show was revived at the Victoria Palace, running from 30 September 1998 to 28 February 1999. It starred Lesley Joseph and then Lily Savage (the female alter ego of comedian Paul O'Grady) as Miss Hannigan and Kevin Colson as Warbucks. The young girls who played Annie were Charlene Barton, Tasha Gold, Libby Gore and Sophie McShera.[11]

text: 1999–2000 United States tour[edit]

text: Starting in August 1999, the post Broadway National Tour continued with Meredith Anne Bull as Annie. In the spring of 2000, Ashley Wieronski, who had been playing Duffy, moved up to play Annie. In July 2000, Dana Benedict took over as Annie.

text: 2000–2001 Australian tour[edit]

text: In 2000/2001 a tour played Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. Anthony Warlow starred as Daddy Warbucks with Amanda Muggleton as Miss Hannigan. A new song, "Why Should I Change a Thing", was written for Warlow.[12] Appearing as Annie in the Sydney production were Rachel Marley and Jodie McGaw. A publicist noted that "each time the show moves to a new city two casts of seven orphans plus two Annies have to be found to join the adult cast."[13]

text: 2001–2010 UK tours[edit]

text: Further UK tours of the show were also staged, including a one-month run at The Theatre Royal in Lincoln in 2001. Members of the original cast included Kate Winney and Jemma Carlisle as Annie, Louise English (Grace), Vicki Michelle (Miss Hannigan) and Simon Masterton-Smith (Daddy Warbucks). The show proved to be a success, and so for the first two tours and the Malaysian Genting Highlands Production, the role of Annie was then shared by Faye Spittlehouse and a young Lucy May Barker. Miss Hannigan was late performed by Sue Pollard and Ruth Madoc and Daddy Warbucks by Mark Wynter. This particular production toured from 2001–2007 and resumed in September 2008. The last tour of this production ended in 2011 with the role of Miss Hannigan still Su Pollard, David McAlister as Daddy Warbucks, Victoria Sian Lewis as Annie, and Simone Craddock as Grace Farrell.[14]

text: 2005–10 United States tours[edit]

text: Starting in August 2005, a 30th anniversary traveling production of Annie[15] by NETworks Tours embarked on a multi-city tour. This production was directed by Martin Charnin. For the first year of the tour, Conrad John Schuck played Daddy Warbucks, Alene Robertson was Miss Hannigan and Annie was played by Marissa O'Donnell.[16] Throughout the run of the show, there were a couple of replacements, including Amanda Balon, who took over as Molly. For the 2nd year of the tour, Annie was played by Marissa O'Donnell again.[17] This Equity Tour closed on March 25, 2007, at the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland. The 2007–08 tour starred Amanda Balon as Annie. The 2008–09 cast for the tour featured Tianna Stevens as Annie. Early in 2009, Amanda Balon returned temporarily to play the role of Annie until Madison Kerth was rehearsed to play the title role. Also returning were Barton, Andrews and Meisner. Other cast members included Mackenzie Aladjem (Molly). In the 2009–10 tour, Kerth returned as Annie along with most of the previous year's cast, adding Jordan Boezem (from Spotlight Kids in Sarasota, Fl) in the role of July.[18][19]

text: Broadway revival (2012)[edit]

text: A 35th Anniversary production opened on Broadway in 2012. Thomas Meehan revised the musical, with James Lapine directing.[20] Lilla Crawford starred as Annie[21] with Katie Finneran as Miss Hannigan,[22] and Anthony Warlow playing "Daddy" Warbucks.[23] Featured cast includes Brynn O'Malley, Clarke Thorell and J. Elaine Marcos as Grace Farrell, Rooster and Lily St. Regis (respectively).[24] The revival started previews at the Palace Theatre on October 3, 2012, and officially opened on November 8, 2012 receiving mostly mixed reviews.[24] Notable replacements include Jane Lynch and Faith Prince as Miss Hannigan.[25][26] On July 30, Taylor Richardson and Sadie Sink both began alternating the role of Annie, replacing Crawford.[27] This production closed on January 5, 2014, after 38 previews and 487 regular performances.[28]

text: 2014–17 United States tours[edit]

text: Starting in September 2014, a 40th anniversary traveling production of Annie was launched by TROIKA Entertainment. Directed by Martin Charnin, the tour kicked off in Detroit, Michigan. For the first year of the tour, Issie Swickle played the title character alongside Gilgamesh Tagget and Lynn Andrews as Oliver Warbucks and Miss Hannigan respectively. [29] There were many replacements throughout the tour, and by the end Gilgamesh Tagget was the only remaining original member. For most of the second year of the tour, Heidi Gray played the red head. For the third and final year of the tour Tori Bates played Annie and became the first bi-racial Annie in a professional production. [30] The 40th Anniversary performance was celebrated in Baltimore, Maryland on April 21, 2017 with Angelina Carballo as Annie. [31] The tour came to a close in Boston, Massachusetts on May 21, 2017 after 745 performances.

text: West End revival (2017)[edit]

text: A West End revival began at the Piccadilly Theatre in London opening on 5 June 2017 (previews beginning 23 May) for a limited run until 6 January 2018. Miranda Hart will make her musical debut as Miss Hannigan until 17 September, the production will be directed by Nikolai Foster and produced by Michael Harrison and David Ian. The production will be identical to the 2015–16 UK and Ireland tour.[32] The 3 girls who are sharing the main role are Madeleine Haynes (reprising her the role from the UK tour), Lola Moxom and Ruby Stokes. From 19 September, for a limited 10 week run, Craig Revel Horwood returned to the role of Miss Hannigan, reprising his role from the 2015–16 UK and Ireland tour. Due to phenomenal success at the box office, the production extended its limited run, with Meera Syal as Miss Hannigan from 27 November[33], through to the show's conclusion on 18 February 2018, when it will close to make way for the musical adaptation of Strictly Ballroom.[34]

text: International productions[edit]

text: Annie has been produced professionally in Argentina (19821), Australia (19781, 2000, 20111, 2012), Denmark (1982), Germany(1999), Hungary (1998), Ireland (2003, 20163), Israel (20011, 2010), Italy (1982,2006), Japan (1979, 1986, 2004, 2010, 2012)2, United Kingdom (19781, 1983, 1998, tours from 2000–2010), Mexico (19791,1991, 2010, 2015), Netherlands (1997–19991, 2005–20071, 2012–20131), Norway (19911, 20041, 2013 ), Philippines (1978, 1987, 1998, 2016), Portugal (1982,1, 2010), Spain (19821, 20001, 2010), Sweden (1979 (Stockholm), 1999 (Stockholm), 2005–2006 (Malmö)1), Peru (1986, 1997, 2002), Zimbabwe (2003), Russia (2002–2009), Colombia (2006), Belgium (1992, 2008–2009, 2012), Poland (1989), North America (1978, 2003, 2018), United Arab Emirates 2009 (Dubai), Denmark (2011), Puerto Rico (2012), Singapore (2012), Greece (2013).

text: 1Indicates the production made an official cast recording.

text: 2In Japan, a special demo recording of selected songs is made each year, with the new actress playing Annie.

text: 3In Ireland, in the 2016 production, the actresses playing Annie and Molly (Aoife McNamara & Simone McInerney) alternated between the roles.

text: Stage sequels[edit]

text: The first attempt at a sequel, Annie 2: Miss Hannigan's Revenge, opened at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. in December 1989 to universally disastrous reviews. Extensive reworking of the script and score proved futile, and the project ended before reaching Broadway.[35]

text: In 1993, a second attempt (with a similar plot and score) titled Annie Warbucks was developed in a workshop at the Goodspeed Opera House under the direction of Michael P. Price where the original Annie enjoyed its world premier in 1976. It subsequently opened at the Off Broadway Variety Arts Theatre, where it ran for 200 performances.

text: Musical numbers[edit]

text:
Act I

Overture – Orchestra
"Maybe" – Annie and Orphans
"It's the Hard Knock Life" – Annie and Orphans
"It's the Hard Knock Life" (Reprise) – Orphans
"Tomorrow" – Annie
"We'd Like to Thank You, Herbert Hoover" – Hooverville-ites
"Little Girls" – Miss Hannigan
"Little Girls" (Reprise) – Miss Hannigan
"I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here" – Grace, Annie and Staff
"N.Y.C." – Warbucks, Grace, Annie, Star-to-Be and Chorus
"N.Y.C." (Reprise) / "Lullaby" – Warbucks
"You Make Me Happy" – Miss Hannigan, Grace †
"Easy Street" – Rooster, Miss Hannigan and Lily
"You Won't Be an Orphan for Long" – Grace and Warbucks
"Why Should I Change a Thing?" – Warbucks ‡
"Maybe" (Reprise) – Annie

Act II

"Maybe" (Reprise II) – Annie
"You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile" – Bert Healy and the Boylan Sisters
"You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile" (Children Reprise) – Orphans
"Easy Street" (Reprise) – Rooster, Miss Hannigan and Lily
"Tomorrow" (Cabinet Reprise) – Annie, Roosevelt, Warbucks and Cabinet
"Tomorrow" (Cabinet Reprise II) – Roosevelt and the Cabinet
"Something Was Missing" – Warbucks
"Annie" – Grace, Drake and Staff
"I Don't Need Anything But You" – Warbucks and Annie
"Maybe" (Reprise III) – Annie
"A New Deal for Christmas" – Warbucks, Grace, Annie, Roosevelt and staff
"Tomorrow" (Finale) – Company

text:
† This number was added as a showcase for Nell Carter in the 1997 Broadway revival. It has not appeared in any subsequent productions.
‡ This number was added as a showcase for Anthony Warlow in a 2000 Australian production, and has since become an optional part of the show, as it notably did not appear in the 2012 Broadway revival,[36] also starring Warlow.

text: Recordings[edit]

text: The Original Broadway Cast recording was released in 1977; a CD containing bonus tracks was released on September 15, 1998 by Sony (ASIN: B00000AG6Z). The 1995 London studio cast recording, featuring the National Symphony Orchestra, stars Sarah French as Annie, Kim Criswell as Miss Hannigan and Ron Raines as Daddy Warbucks.

text: A 30th anniversary cast recording was released in 2008 on Time–Life Records. An all-star cast of former Annie cast members includes Carol Burnett, Sally Struthers, Kathie Lee Gifford, Andrea McArdle, John Schuck, Harve Presnell, Gary Beach and Amanda Balon. The rest of the cast is made up of the members of the 30th Anniversary Tour. This recording is a double CD set and includes the entire show as it is performed now on the first disc. The second one includes songs from the sequel, "Annie 2: Miss Hannigan's Revenge" as well as songs that were cut from or added to the original production. There is also a song from the 1977 Annie Christmas special. The booklet is made up of original drawings by Philo Barnhart, who is the creator of Ariel and Ursula in "The Little Mermaid", and is presented in a comic book style.[37]

text: Novelisations[edit]

text: Thomas Meehan[edit]

text: In 1980, Macmillan Books published Meehan's novelisation of his script for the musical, later reprinted by Puffin Books in 2014. Several of the lyrics from songs from the show were adapted into dialogue and monologue for the novelisation, not least Tomorrow whose main lyric is depicted as being Annie's personal motto. Meehan used the novel to restore material cut from his original storyline and develop the Annie story into his original concept of what he considered to be a 20th Century American version of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, albeit with a female rather than male orphan as the protagonist.[3]

text: The novel goes into greater depth regarding the backgrounds of many of the characters and particularly about hardship at the orphanage, at which brutal beatings and emotional abuse from Miss Hannigan are everyday occurrences. Unlike the high camp portrayal of Miss Hannigan in most productions of the musical, the novelisation – in the tradition of Dickens' original novel of Oliver Twist – emphatically depicts her as a truly sinister and malevolent villainess – "a skinny hatchet faced woman with short jet-black hair (who) reminded the orphans of a particularly unpleasant looking – and all too real – Halloween witch".[38]

text: A greater emphasis is placed on the sheer drudgery and illegality of the orphans' sewing labours in the orphanage basement. However, whereas in the musical the orphans are not enrolled in school until the final scene, in the novelisation they attend a public school, PS62, where they suffer from snobbery from teachers and harassment from non-orphan pupils, particularly from a spoiled rich girl named Myrtle Vandenmeer. The legal name of Rooster's girlfriend Lily St Regis is given in the book as being Muriel Jane Gumper.[38][39]

text: In the novel, Annie spends several months on the run from the orphanage, initially spending the winter as resident staff in Bixby's Beanery, a low-grade café run by couple Fred and Gert Bixby, before escaping after she finds Sandy. She then spends several months living in the Hooverville with Sophie and the Apple Seller (who is named as G. Randall "Randy" Whitworth Jr, a former stockbroker left destitute by the Depression) who, in the novelisation, are adult characters and a couple. It is revealed at the end that Randy, Sophie and all the other Hoovervillites had been released from prison and given jobs and homes by Warbucks as gratitude for taking care of Annie. Also reappearing at the end of the book is Sandy, previously written out of the book while fleeing police during the raid on the Hooverville, who it transpires was successfully traced by agents from Pinkerton hired by Warbucks.[38][39]

text: Leonore Fleischer[edit]

text: A second novelisation of Annie, by Leonore Fleischer, was published by Random House in 1982. This was a tie-in with the film and was adapted directly from the screenplay.[40][41]

text: Film and television[edit]

text: The Columbia Pictures film was released in 1982, starring Albert Finney as Daddy Warbucks, Carol Burnett as Miss Hannigan, Ann Reinking as Grace Farrell, Tim Curry as Rooster, Bernadette Peters as Lily, and newcomer Aileen Quinn as Annie. A sequel, Annie: A Royal Adventure! was made for television in 1995. It starred Ashley Johnson, Joan Collins, George Hearn, and Ian McDiarmid. Aside from a reprise of "Tomorrow", there are no songs in it.

text: A made-for-TV Wonderful World of Disney movie version, produced by The Walt Disney Company and directed by Rob Marshall, was broadcast in 1999; it starred Victor Garber as Daddy Warbucks, Kathy Bates as Miss Hannigan, Audra McDonald as Grace Farrell, Alan Cumming as Rooster, Kristin Chenoweth as Lily, and newcomer Alicia Morton as Annie.

text: A documentary film, Life After Tomorrow, was directed and produced by one of the original Broadway and National Tour orphans, Julie Stevens and partner, Gil Cates Jr. It reunites more than 40 women who played orphans in the show and reveals the highs and lows of their experiences as child actresses in a cultural phenomenon. The film premiered on Showtime and was released on DVD in 2008.

text: In January 2011, Will Smith announced plans for a redux of Annie set in the present day, produced with his wife Jada Pinkett Smith and rapper Jay-Z for release by Columbia Pictures, now owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment.[42] This version was to star the Smiths' daughter, Willow, as Annie; as she had aged out of the part before production began, she was replaced by Academy Award-nominated actress Quvenzhané Wallis.[43] Directed by Will Gluck and released on December 19, 2014,[44][45] this version of Annie also stars Jamie Foxx as Will Stacks (an update of Daddy Warbucks),[46] Rose Byrne as Grace Farrell, and Cameron Diaz as Miss Hannigan.[47] The film's song score includes most of the original musical's songs plus new compositions produced by Greg Kurstin and Sia.[48]

text: Annie Jr.[edit]

text: Annie Jr. is a musical licensed by Music Theatre International's Broadway Junior collection, specially edited to be performed by youngsters in a shortened version. It is performed internationally every year by acting academies, programs, schools, and theatre camps.[49][50] MTI also licenses another youth version of the show, called Annie KIDS, a 30-minute length version meant for elementary school aged performers.[51]

text: Stage differences (1977 musical)[edit]

text: The songs "We'd Like to Thank You Herbert Hoover", "A New Deal for Christmas", "Something Was Missing" and "Tomorrow (Cabinet Reprise)" were cut. There is only one version of "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile", which is sung by the orphans. Also, there are only two "Maybe" reprises. The song "You won't Be an Orphan For Long" only features Annie and Daddy Warbucks. The songs "Easy Street" and "Little Girls" were also shortened.

text: Pop culture references[edit]

text: Annie's popularity is reflected in its numerous mentions in popular media. References to the show appear in films such as Austin Powers: Goldmember, where Dr. Evil and Mini-Me perform Jay-Z's version of the song 'Hard Knock Life'; and in the 1994 John Waters dark comedy Serial Mom, where a woman is bludgeoned to death with a leg of mutton by the titular serial killer while watching the 1982 film version and singing along. It is parodied in Reefer Madness, where President Franklin D. Roosevelt shows up as the deus ex machina at the end of the satirical musical to tell the assembled crowd, "A little orphan girl once told me that the sun would come out tomorrow. Her adopted father was a powerful billionaire, so I suppressed the urge to laugh in her face, but now, by gum, I think she may have been on to something!"

text: References in television series include:

text:
In The X-Files episode "Die Hand Die Verletzt (The hand that hurts)", Annie is suggested as a more appropriate school production than Jesus Christ Superstar, for a high school that turns out to be run by a Satanic coven.
Pushing Daisies where Emerson referred to Chuck's father as "Daddy Dead-bucks" in the episode entitled "The Norwegians" (Season 2: Episode 10).
An episode of SCTV, features a spoof commercial of the "original" cast, now older adults still playing their kid roles, performing the 8,000th performance of Annie.
Zoey 101, where Marc wants the school production changed to Annie.
Full House, where Stephanie Tanner sings the song in several episodes
The Family Guy episode "Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater" (1999), where the Griffin family inherits a luxury mansion, and the staff puts on a large-scale production number spoofing the song "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here". Also, in the episode "Brian's Got a Brand New Bag" (2009), a number of "orphaned" DVDs (movies nobody wants to buy such as Enemy Mine, and What Dreams May Come) at a store, sing the opening of "Maybe".
"I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here" is also spoofed in the Drawn Together episode "Alzheimer's That Ends Well".
In the first episode of Boston Legal, Alan Shore represents a black girl who was not hired as Annie in the national tour, and wins the case with the help of Al Sharpton.
In the South Park episode "Ginger Kids", Eric Cartman and his group of Ginger Supremacists protest against Annie being played by a non-freckled, non-red-haired girl.
On Yes, Dear, Dominic and his new friend Ronnie put on a show for the parents including "Hard Knock Life", to Jimmy's horror.
On 30 Rock, Liz Lemon is discovered in her office after hours listening to music on her headset and singing "Maybe".
Also in 30 Rock, "The Tuxedo Begins", an unnamed caricature of an aspiring actress (quickly revealed to be a prostitute) sings parts of "NYC" both in the beginning and end of the episode. The role was played by thespian Sarah Schenkkan. The melody and harmony of the same song are quoted by the soundtrack of the episode, and a mariachi version is played over the closing credits.
The stop-motion comedy show Robot Chicken parodied Annie in episodes including "Maurice Was Caught" (2009).[52]
In "The Potter Puppet Pals", in the episode Neville's Birthday, Ron states that he is going to try out for the lead in Annie.
NCIS has referenced Annie twice: when Israeli character Ziva David's coworkers were explaining The American Dream to her, and when forensic scientist Abby Sciuto finds out she was adopted, calling herself as 'Little Orphan Abby'.
On Friends, Chandler shows his love of Annie by saying to Monica how she also has a copy of the Annie Soundtrack CD, but in fact, both are his.
"Lights Out", an episode of Glee, has cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) singing "Little Girls". Coincidentally, Lynch would go on to play Miss Hannigan in a 2013 revival of Annie.
In "Makeover", an episode of Glee, a guest starring Sarah Jessica Parker as Isabelle Wright from Vogue.com with Kurt Hummel and Rachel Berry sing "You're never fully dressed without a smile".
In the Netflix series Haters Back Off, Miranda Sings and her family attempt to mount a backyard production of Annie (with extensive book and score revisions) in the episode "Staring in a Musicall".

tag: ul

text: The song "Tomorrow" is sung in many media references, including by Joe's aunt in a scene in the film You've Got Mail; in Dave, by Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver; by Lewis on The Drew Carey Show; by Jane Krakowski in the fourth season of Ally McBeal; in Roseanne, by Darlene and Becky; by Reese Witherspoon in Just Like Heaven; by Donkey in the CGI movies Shrek II (although he passes out halfway through the second line) and Shrek Forever After when he is pulling the witches' cart to Rumpelstiltskin with an unconscious Shrek inside after making the deal with Rumpelstiltskin; in a commercial for Lowe's Hardware promoting their next-day delivery; by the Royle Family in the episode "The Queen of Sheba" of the eponymous series; by contestant Teresa Cooper on an episode of Survivor: Africa; in a Duel Masters episode, it is recited by Shobu; by Marta in School Of Rock; in Like Mike, by a couple hoping to be Calvin's adoptive parents; and in Addams Family Values. In the Ugly Betty episode "Lose the Boss" the song can be heard playing in the bedroom of Justin Suarez after he was sent there for fighting in school. Pastiche versions of the song are sung in the Disney theme park attraction It's Tough to be a Bug! and in the Rooms To Go next-day delivery ad campaign. The long-running Broadway parody production of Forbidden Broadway took up "Tomorrow" as sung by an adult Annie ("I'm thirty years old . . . tomorrow") pleading for a sequel to the original musical.

text: The climax of the animated film Igor involved a giant robot portraying Annie.

text: Other prominent media references include the following:

text:
Producer The 45 King heavily sampled "It's the Hard-Knock Life" from the original Broadway cast recording on rapper Jay-Z's single "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)" (1998).[53]
The NFL Network produced two Super Bowl ads in 2004 and 2005 featuring "Tomorrow." A series of football celebrities who were retired or did not make it to that year's Super Bowl would sing the song, ending with the caption, "...Tomorrow, we're all undefeated again."[54][55]
Comedian Zach Galifianakis lip-synched to a recording of "Tomorrow" during his monologue on the March 12, 2011 episode of Saturday Night Live. He was dressed as Annie.

text: Awards and nominations[edit]

text: Original Broadway production[edit]

text:
Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result

1977
Tony Award
Best Musical
Won

Best Book of a Musical
Thomas Meehan
Won

Best Original Score
Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin
Won

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
Reid Shelton
Nominated

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
Andrea McArdle
Nominated

Dorothy Loudon
Won

Best Direction of a Musical
Martin Charnin
Nominated

Best Choreography
Peter Gennaro
Won

Best Scenic Design
David Mitchell
Won

Best Costume Design
Theoni V. Aldredge
Won

Drama Desk Award
Outstanding Musical
Won

Outstanding Book of a Musical
Thomas Meehan
Won

Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Reid Shelton
Nominated

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Dorothy Loudon
Won

Outstanding Director of a Musical
Martin Charnin
Won

Outstanding Choreography
Peter Gennaro
Won

Outstanding Music
Charles Strouse
Nominated

Outstanding Lyrics
Martin Charnin
Won

Outstanding Costume Design
Theoni V. Aldredge
Won

1978
Grammy Award
Best Cast Show Album
Won

text: 1997 Broadway revival[edit]

text:
Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result

1997
Tony Award
Best Revival of a Musical
Nominated

text: 1998 London revival[edit]

text:
Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result

1999
Laurence Olivier Award
Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical
Andrew Kennedy
Nominated

Best Theatre Choreographer
Peter Gennaro
Nominated

text: 2013 Broadway revival[edit]

text:
Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result

2013
Tony Award
Best Revival of a Musical
Nominated

Drama Desk Award
Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Anthony Warlow
Nominated


document_title: Sebastian the Ibis

question_text: what is the name of the miami hurricanes mascot

text: Sebastian the Ibis

text:
Sebastian the Ibis

University
University of Miami

Conference
ACC

Description
Anthropomorphic American white ibis

Origin of name
San Sebastian Hall

First seen
1957

text: Sebastian the Ibis is the official mascot for the University of Miami. He is an anthropomorphized American white ibis with a Miami Hurricanes football jersey, number 0. Sebastian is the first and only Hispanic-American college mascot and identifies as Cuban.[1]

text: History[edit]

text: The ibis was chosen as Miami's unofficial mascot by Nathan Duncan in 1926 when the school's yearbook chose its name to be "The Ibis."[2]

text: The first official mascot for the Miami Hurricanes was a 65-pound brown and white boxer dog named Hurricane I. Chosen in 1950, the canine wore a ceremonial orange and green blanket with his name lettered in white.

text: Sebastian was created in August 1957 by Norman A. Whitten, Director of the Student Union at UM, and was used as a homecoming competition entry. The next year, student John Stormont performed at Hurricanes football games dressed up in a makeshift ibis costume. The original costume was made from various materials: armolite insulation for the head, white terry cloth for the body to resemble feathers, ROTC spats for the feet, and toes made from burlap. "The whole costume took three weeks to complete and cost about $30", Stormont said in a Miami Herald interview. The current costume dates from 1984.[2]

text: The ibis was originally named "Icky", but was then renamed after San Sebastian Hall (where Stormont was a resident), which became a university dormitory in 1939. The building, now an apartment building, still stands at the intersection of LeJeune Road and University Drive in Coral Gables.

text: During the first national championship season for the Miami Hurricanes football team, including their 31-30 victory over #1 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, the Ibis was portrayed by Bill Mooney, a senior at the university, from Orangeburg, NY. This second generation Ibis costume was designed and made by UM alumnus and former Disney artist Randy Jack (RJ) Ogren. It was also in the National Championship victory parade riding with Coach Schnellenberger. [4]

text: From 1984 through 1992, Sebastian was portrayed by John Routh, who also portrayed The Miami Maniac at baseball games, and later Billy the Marlin for the Florida Marlins. Routh created what is now Sebastian's signature: the C-A-N-E-S cheer, where Sebastian forms the letters with his body.[5]

text: Sebastian was tackled by a group of policemen in 1989 for attempting to put out Chief Osceola's flaming spear. At the time he was wearing a fireman’s helmet and yellow raincoat and holding a fire extinguisher. When a police officer tried to grab the fire extinguisher he was sprayed in the chest. Sebastian was handcuffed by the other four officers but released when they realized how ridiculous it looked for them to be arresting a bird.

text: Sebastian typically leads the University of Miami football team as it enters the field through the smoke.


document_title: Night in the Woods

question_text: where does night in the woods take place

text: Night in the Woods

text: Overview[edit]

text: Mae, an only child, has returned home to Possum Springs, where times have changed since the closing of its coal mines. Now living in her parents' attic, she uncovers a dark mystery that leads her into the nearby woods. She is forced to confront a horrible secret the town has hidden for decades involving not only the town's mine, but also the recent disappearance of her longtime friend Casey. Mae's friends also include Bea, a cigarette-smoking alligator and Mae's childhood friend; Gregg, a hyperactive fox; and his boyfriend, a bear named Angus. Paste describes the themes covered as "mental illness, depression, the stagnancy of the middle and lower classes, and the slow death of small town America."[4]

text: As Mae, players run, jump, and learn other mechanics that allow them to explore Possum Springs, a town populated by various anthropomorphic animals. Benson describes the key actions for the player as "explore, converse, see and touch", while Holowka describes their approach as "narrative-focused" rather than "gameplay-first".[5] Players make decisions that affect the course of the story, though Benson has said, "it's more like 'do you hang out with this person?' Okay, cool. That person might not know you as well by the end of the game, but this person you hung out with, you're going to get to see their storyline."[6]

text: Plot[edit]

text: Margaret "Mae" Borowski is a 20-year-old college dropout, who relocates back to her hometown of Possum Springs, which has been struck by the closure of the coal mines and the stagnating economy. She meets up with her old friends, including gloomy but intelligent Beatrice "Bea" Santello, hyperactive anarchist troublemaker Greggory "Gregg" Lee, and Gregg's quiet but modest boyfriend Angus Delaney. Mae also learns that another one of her old friends, Casey Hartley, has mysteriously disappeared.

text: Mae spends several days exploring Possum Springs and spending time with her friends, but she also begins to have strange and vivid dreams. At the town's Halloween festival, Mae witnesses a teenager being kidnapped by a mysterious figure. The four friends begin working together to figure out what is going on, with Mae's mental health slowly deteriorating with every one of her dreams. After intensive searching, the four stumble across a strange group of cloaked figures in the woods, who chase after them; Mae ends up falling and lapses into a coma.

text: Mae eventually wakes up and returns to her friends, and she reveals that the reason she dropped out was due to her increasing dissociation from people and the world (it is implied that Mae suffers from some sort of dissociative disorder), seeing everything as merely shapes. Mae's journal, in which she draws pictures for each major event in the game, was given to her by a doctor to write down her emotions after she bludgeoned a student with a baseball bat six years ago as a result of a dissociative episode. Due to this incident, the townsfolk became wary of Mae and caused a financial and emotional strain in her family. As her dissociation worsened at college, Mae mustered up the strength to leave and return home, hoping that being back in Possum Springs would help her return to normal.

text: Still wounded, Mae decides to venture out into the woods alone to find the group who chased her and the others, only for Gregg, Bea, and Angus to refuse to let her go by herself. The group enter the old mines and meet the mysterious group, who are revealed to be a cult. The cult turns out to be behind the kidnappings of several residents, including Casey, taking those whom they deem useless to society and whom they say will "not be missed" into the mines to sacrifice them to a god-like entity called the Black Goat in exchange for keeping the economy of Possum Springs afloat. The cult's leader allows the group to leave, threatening them never to tell anyone about the cult - however while riding up the mine's elevator, a member of the group attempts to kill Mae. The others manage to save her and the elevator falls, collapsing the mine and presumably trapping the cult underground.

text: Depending on who the player interacted with the most throughout the course of the game, Mae will sit down with either Bea or Gregg and talk about the events of the previous night, and all the things that have happened in Possum Springs. The others join them shortly after, and Mae tells them that although they will all be forced to grow and adapt to life as it goes on for better and for worse, they can still enjoy their time together now. The game ends as the four decide to forget about their problems for the time being and have band practice.

text: Development[edit]

text: Night in the Woods was announced on October 22, 2013, on Kickstarter. Holowka and Benson set a US$50,000 funding goal, which was reached in only 26 hours.[7] The project eventually earned over US$200,000 in crowdfunding. The additional funding allowed Infinite Fall to hire animator Charles Huettner to create additional animations, and for Infinite Ammo and game developer Adam Saltsman to create a roguelike that is playable within Night in the Woods. While Benson believed adding further stretch goals would result in additional backers, Infinite Fall limited the amount of stretch goals to avoid scope creep.[8] Benson names Chris Ware, Mike Mignola, Mary Blair, Flannery O’Connor, and Richard Scarry as influences on his work on Night in the Woods.[9][10]

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text: Developer Alec Holowka created the soundtrack for Night in the Woods. Three albums of the game's music were released via Bandcamp on March 9, 2017.[11] Holowka names DIIV as a large influence on the game's score.[9]

text: Reception[edit]

text:
Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator
Score

Metacritic
PC: 87

Review scores

Publication
Score

Game Informer
8.8/10 [15]

GameSpot
9/10 [14]

IGN
8.7/10 [12]

PC Gamer (US)
8.2/10 [16]

Polygon
7.5/10 [13]

text: Night in the Woods has received very favourable reviews. On Metacritic, the PS4 version has an average score of 86 from 11 critics[17] and the PC version has an average score of 87 from 22 critics.[18] Praise is mainly given to the writing and characters.