TV News

Annie to Air Live on NBC This Holiday Season

The live musical will be directed by Lear deBessonet.

(© David Gordon)
(© David Gordon)

Lear deBessonet will direct a live televised production of Annie for NBC this holiday season. The air date is still to be announced.

Alex Rudzinski will serve as the live TV director and executive producer, with deBessonet, the artistic director of New York City Center Encores! and creator of the Public Works program at the Public Theater, serving as stage director. The production will have choreography by Tony winner Sergio Trujillo, costumes by Paul Tazewell, sets by Jason Sherwood, and orchestrations by Stephen Oremus. Bob Greenblatt and Neil Meron are producing alongside Chloe Productions.

The Tony Award-winning musical adaptation of Harold Gray's comic strip features music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and a book by Thomas Meehan. This will be the fourth filmed iteration of the show, following the original 1982 movie starring Carol Burnett and Albert Finney, the 1999 TV film led by Kathy Bates and Victor Garber, and the 2014 movie remake, with Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz.