ANNIE IS COMING TO DETROIT

Just thinkin' about Tomorrow, clears away the cobwebs, and the sorrow,'Til there's none because there is the theatrical production of ANNIE coming to Detroit's Fisher Theatre this Spring to providing a count down to the last dreary remaining days of Winter as the City awaits for the show's arrival. Leapin’ Lizards! Broadway In Detroit has announced that an all-new tour of the iconic Tony Award®-winning musical ANNIE will play at the Fisher Theatre from April 25-30. Tickets for the Detroit engagement go on sale Friday, February 10 at 10:00 a.m. and will be available online at Ticketmaster.com, BroadwayinDetroit.com, and in person at the Fisher Theatre Box Office.

ANNIE is directed by Jenn Thompson, who at the age of 10 stepped into the role of “Pepper” in the Original Broadway production, choreographed by Patricia Wilcox (Motown, A Night with Janis Joplin), with orchestrations by Dan DeLange. The lovable mutt “Sandy” is once again trained by Tony Award®Honoree William Berloni (ANNIE, A Christmas Story, Legally Blonde). Addison, a stray mutt rescued by William Berloni through the Humane Society in 2017, stars as Sandy. Joining Addison are a tremendous supporting cast of humans, will be Ellie Pulsifer, a 12-year-old actress from South Florida, making her tour debut in the title role of Annie. Ok, maybe Addison is supporting them because she can't sing the songs that the show is known for! 

“This show, with its iconic title character, continues to delight generations of theatre-lovers old and new by joyfully singing directly into the face of great adversity with perseverance, guts and guile,” director Jenn Thompson remarked to ageekdaddy.com. “For decades, ANNIE has continued to shine brightly, not only as an appeal to our better angels, but also as an example of the thrill of hope, hard-won: promising a better ‘Tomorrow’ not only for Annie herself, but for all who need her message now more than ever.”

By permission of Tribune Content Agency, LLC, ANNIE is based on Harold Gray's popular comic strip “Little Orphan Annie” which premiered in the 1920s in the New York Daily News and became one of the most widely read strips in the 30s and 40s. Lyricist Martin Charnin bought a coffee table book called “The Life and Hard Times of Little Orphan Annie” as a Christmas gift for a friend in 1970. The clerk at the bookstore was too busy to wrap the book, so Charnin took the book home to wrap it. Instead, he read it and fell in love with the strip and set out to secure the rights. The friend never got the book.

Charnin's adaption of the comic strip had its world premiere on Aug 10, 1976 at the Goodspeed Opera House and opened on Broadway on April 21, 1977 at the Alvin Theatre. It went on to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, seven Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical, the Grammy for Best Cast Show Album and seven Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Book (Thomas Meehan) and Best Score (Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin). It closed on Broadway after playing 2,377 performances. ANNIE was revived on Broadway in 1997 and again in 2014. It has been made into a film three times (1982, 1999, 2014) and was most recently featured as a live television production on NBC. The show remains one of the biggest Broadway musical hits ever; it has been performed in 28 languages and has been running somewhere around the world for 45 years.

Holding onto hope when times are tough can take an awful lot of determination, and sometimes, an awful lot of determination comes in a surprisingly small package. Little Orphan Annie has reminded generations of theatergoers that sunshine is always right around the corner, and now the best-loved musical of all time is set to return in this new production – just as you remember it and just when we need it most. This celebration of family, optimism and the American spirit remains the ultimate cure for all the hard knocks life throws your way. The beloved score for ANNIE includes “Maybe,” “It’s the Hard Knock Life,” “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile,” “Easy Street,” “I Don’t Need Anything But You” and the eternal anthem of optimism, “Tomorrow.”

Performance times for ANNIE appearing April 25-30 at the Fisher Theatre located 3011 W Grand Blvd., Detroit MI 48202 are: 

• Tuesday through Saturday evening performances at 7:30 p.m. 
• Thursday matinee performance at 12:00 p.m. 
• Saturday & Sunday matinee performance at 2:00 p.m. 
• Special Open Caption performance on Friday, April 28 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets for ANNIE at the Fisher Theatre start at $35. Photographs courtesy of Broadway in Detroit.

Odd Squad DVD: Dance Like Nobody's Watching

** A Geek Daddy received the featured product for free to review**

My daughter's favorite television show is ODD SQUAD on PBS Kids and she wants to rush home from school everyday so she won't miss an episode.  Now I have to say that this is an applaudable selection not just because of ODD SQUAD'S educational focus but also because its episodes are so witty and well written that my wife and I will often find ourselves regularly joining our kids in watching the show because we also find it amusing and enjoyable to watch.  So our entire family was excited to receive the new ODD SQUAD dvd "Dance Like Nobody's Watching" which is now available to purchase on the Shop PBS online store and at various other retailers.

This dvd will let our kids watch some of their favorite ODD SQUAD episodes whenever they want.  "Dance Like Nobody's Watching" features 6 episodes from ODD SQUAD that all have a mathematical themed story and each feature musical numbers:

“Soundcheck”
Olive and Otto must figure out how and why things are disappearing around town when all Otto wants to do is listen to a song by his favorite band, Soundcheck.

“Soundcheck Part Deux”
When the members of Soundcheck go missing, Otto and Olive must bring them back together in time for their big concert. Otto uses his special superfan closet to help collect data to solve the case.

“A Case of the Sing-Alongs”
When Mayor Macklemore catches a case of the Sing-A-Longs, Olive and Otto must discover the cause before the Mayor sings his way out of his job!

“O is Not for Old”
The agents throw a surprise party for Ms. O and are having trouble making decisions about the details. They send O’Malley to delay Ms. O by various means while they try to figure them out.

“Mystic Egg Pizza”
With the help of Odd Squad, Delivery Debbie and Delivery Doug must figure out why their food is disappearing.

I have to warn you that my kids have memorized the songs from these episodes and you could find yourself humming these tunes, like "Take Away 4" in the car or at work.  My kids favorites are the ones sung by Soundcheck.  Hmm I wonder if it is ODD that my kids are such big fans of a fictional boy band when they really don't care for the real musical performances?  Anyway the musical numbers are actually pretty catchy, especially the big Sing-Alongs episode finale, and reinforce educational math concepts which is definitely a good thing.



Geared for children ages 5-8, ODD SQUAD follows two young agents, Olive and Otto, who are part of an agency led by Ms. O that seeks to save the day using math when odd things happen.



PBS has also created a free augmented reality app for iPads and iPhones to go with the DVD.  As they release additional ODD SQUAD dvds, you will be able to scan each individual package to unlock a unique gadget with its own special abilities. For this particular dvd, the musical changeinator is made available from the ODD SQUAD laboratory to play around with.

Open the app and scan the back side of the dvd package.

Ms. O's favorite thing in the whole wide world will appear - a juice box.

Shoot the juice box with the musical changeinator and it will start dancing to a soundtrack playing from your device and emitting special effects on the screen.

You can also move the juice box around utilizing the camera in your mobile device so that it can interact with your surroundings.

ODD SQUAD: DANCE LIKE NOBODY'S WATCHING gets A Geek Daddy nod of approval for not just being educational but also  also very entertaining.  It is a show which can bring the whole family together to enjoy and learn from it.  I'd recommend picking up a copy of this dvd to have handy for summer break, especially if you are looking to amuse some kids during a long car trip and have an in-vehicle or portable dvd player to take along for the ride.

For those of you interested in joining the ODD SQUAD here is a badge that can can personalized courtesy of PBS Kids: