Bethlehem Central Middle School has announced that this year’s school musical will be Annie JR. Performance dates are January 16-19, 2025. The show will be the first musical to debut in the school’s newly renovated auditorium.

Based on the popular comic strip and adapted from the Tony Award-winning Best Musical, with a beloved book and score by Tony Award winners, Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin, Annie JR. features everyone’s favorite little redhead in her very first adventure.

With equal measures of pluck and positivity, little orphan Annie charms everyone’s hearts despite a next-to-nothing start in 1930s New York City. Annie is determined to find the parents who abandoned her years ago on the doorstep of an orphanage run by the cruel Miss Hannigan. Annie eventually foils Miss Hannigan’s evil machinations, finding a new home and family in billionaire Oliver Warbucks, his personal secretary, Grace Farrell, and a lovable mutt named Sandy.

Auditions for Annie JR. will be held in early October. An informational meeting for students and parents/guardians will be held in late September. 

Lindsay Dashew, the show’s director, encourages all interested middle school students to consider being a part of the show, onstage or backstage.

“It is possible to play a sport and be part of the musical,” said Dashew. “Students who are involved in other activities, and their families, should at least come to the informational meeting to learn more about the time commitment and more importantly, about the opportunities that the musical has to offer.”

Meeting and audition dates will be released in early September, along with an updated BCMS Musical website. Anyone with questions about the middle school musical can email Lindsay Dashew at ldashew@bethlehemschools.org.