Get ready to sing along to the eternal anthem of optimism “Tomorrow” as you watch the beloved musical Annie, which will make its Indonesia debut in August.

The rags-to-riches tale of a little orphan boasts a heartwarming story and memorable Broadway scores that will delight audiences of all ages.

Many Indonesians know the iconic song “Tomorrow” from its 1982 movie adaptation and or the 2014 movie version starring Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz.

But perhaps very few have seen the original Annie musical as it has never before been staged in the country.

For the first time ever, Indonesians will have the chance to see the classic musical Annie at the Ciputra Artpreneur Theater in Jakarta from Aug. 2 to 14.

The production harks back to the original Annie, based on the book and score by Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin.

The 1977 musical, adapted from Harold Gray’s popular comic strip Little Orphan Annie, won seven Tony Awards and became one of the best-loved family musicals of all time.

Directed by original lyricist and director Martin Charnin and choreographed by Liza Gennaro, the musical tells the story of Annie, the bright red-headed, curly-topped little girl who lives in an orphanage run by the tyrannical Miss Hannigan during the Great Depression in the 1930s. Annie leads a miserable life until one day billionaire Oliver Warbucks takes her to his mansion for the Christmas holidays.

“Annie is the most optimistic child you will ever hear out. She believes that the sun will always come tomorrow,” 12-year-old Heidi Gray, who plays the title role, said during a press conference in Jakarta recently.

“I feel like being Annie really helps me look at the bright side of things,” she added.

During the press conference, Gray stunned journalists with her adorable and impressive skills in singing “Maybe” and “Tomorrow”.

Gray has performed as Annie for six months and toured across the US and Canada.

“Everybody tells me ‘You don’t have to be like them, you have to be your own Annie’. So I feel like I play a sort of sweeter Annie but I feel like at times in the show, I can be like tough because you have to be tough at some parts of the show,” she added.

The week-long run in Jakarta will be the first Annie musical performed outside North America. Together with the 24-strong cast – including six children who play orphans – Gray will perform unforgettable songs such as “It’s a Hard-Knock Life,” “Easy Street” and “I Don’t Need Anything But You”.

“I am so excited to be able to perform for Jakarta and see how the audience will react to the jokes and what their response to the show,” Gray said.

In the musical, Gray will also perform tricks with Sandy, Annie’s scruffy yellow dog. Sandy will be played alternately by two trained dogs, Macy and Sunny.

“It’s actually funny, they make a joke, like, never work with children and animals and here we are,” stage manager Suzayn Mackenzie Roy pointed out, laughing.

Roy said the production team had made special arrangements for underage performers and animals in the musical. The dogs are trained by a dog wrangler, while the children are supervised by a child minder. In addition to that, each of the children is accompanied by their parents throughout the tour.

Ciputra Artpreneur general manager Yati Yusoff said that in the lead-up to the show, Ciputra Artpreneur would hold a singing contest of songs from Annie and a photo competition with the theme “Me and My Pet”. Each winner will be awarded with a pair of Gold class tickets.

The theater will hold one Annie show every weekday and two shows on both Saturday and Sunday. Ticket prices range from Rp 650,000 (US$49) for a Bronze seat on a weekday show to Rp 2.75 million for a Titanium ticket to a weekend show.

Ciputra Artpreneur is offering a 30 percent discount for those who purchase tickets during the early bird period, running from June 8 until June 30, and a Ramadhan special, with 20 percent off tickets purchased between July 1 and July 20.

Following the Jakarta shows, Annie will tour to Singapore before going back to the US.

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