A new podcast imagines what happens five years after the events of beloved musical “Annie.”
“Tomorrow,” a scripted drama series featuring new music and new arrangements of the musical’s classic songs, premieres exclusively on Amazon Music and Wondery on Monday, Dec. 13, before it will come to other major audio platforms a month later.
Intended to run for a full year, the weekly podcast series stars Laura Benanti (“Supergirl,” “Into the Woods,” “Gossip Girl”) as Miss Hannigan, Lance Reddick (“John Wick,” “The Wire”) as Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks, and Alan Ruck (“Succession,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”) as Drake, Annie’s robo-butler.
The teenaged Annie is played by newcomer Abbie-Grace Levi. The cast also includes Anjali Jay (“Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb”), Jon Lindstrom (“Bosch”), Bobbi Bordley (“Blue Bloods”), Anne Beyer (“The Chosen”) and newcomer Sam Zaslow-Braverman.
The scripted podcast is set five years after Annie’s adoption by Warbucks in a near-future New York City. Annie, now 15, is a singer-songwriter-influencer extraordinaire who along with her fellow orphan friends must solve a shocking mystery that threatens to cripple the Warbucks empire. The crisis may be connected to Annie’s old nemesis, Agatha Hannigan, who was recently released from prison after serving a five-year term — or it could be connected to Annie’s past… and a second locket found near her parents’ grave.
Amazon Music and Amazon-owned Wondery will release “Tomorrow” episodes exclusively for 30 days, starting Dec. 13 for free on the Amazon Music app and commercial-free on the Wondery Plus subscription app. The show will be available to all podcast platforms starting Jan. 17 following the exclusive Amazon Music and Wondery window.
The first season will release weekly on Mondays over the course of the entire year — with a total of about 60 episodes total planned for “Tomorrow.” The idea is that the weekly audio drama will become a family favorite, akin to a weekly TV show.
“We are excited to introduce new listeners to great family audio entertainment and create superfans of all ages and different generations who can listen together and can’t wait to talk about what’s coming next,” Ben Strouse, CEO of podcast company Gen-Z Media, which is producing . “We love the idea that someone’s favorite new weekly show is the iconic ‘Annie’ story — in audio.”
The series is based on story and characters from the musical “Annie” by Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin and Thomas Meehan. “Tomorrow” is created and produced by David Kreizman, Ben Strouse and Chris Tarry at Gen-Z Media.
The story is by Kreizman and Strouse, written by Kreizman, Strouse, Donna Swajeski and Marla Kanelos, and directed by Kreizman and Claire McClanahan. The podcast features original music and arrangements by Chris Tarry, Shawn Pierce and David Molloy, with Annie vocals by Haley Klinkhammer.
Gen-Z Media is represented by UTA and Verve. Benanti is repped by Untitled Entertainment and UTA. Reddick’s reps are Grandview, A3 Artists Agency for voiceover and Paradigm for theatrical. Ruck is repped by Innovative Artists, APA, Mark Teitelbaum at Teitelbaum Artists Group, and Mitch Smelkinson at Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher.
Listen to the trailer for “Tomorrow”:
Source : Variety
