‘Annie Live!' on NBC Dec. 2

Annie Live! NBCUniversal
(Image credit: Paul Gilmore/NBC)

Annie Live! airs on NBC Dec. 2, the latest live stage production from the network. Celina Smith plays Annie, Taraji P. Henson is Miss Hannigan, Harry Connick Jr. is Daddy Warbucks, Nicole Scherzinger plays Grace, Tituss Burgess portrays Rooster and Megan Hilty is Lily St. Regis, filling in for Jane Krakowski, who was stricken with COVID.

Andrea McArdle, who played Annie on Broadway in 1977, plays Eleanor Roosevelt. Alan Toy portrays President Roosevelt.

Robert Greenblatt executive produces along with Neil Meron, who has exec produced all of NBC’s live musicals since 2013’s The Sound of Music Live!. Sergio Trujillo choreographs the production. 

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“It is a joy to come back to NBC and produce a new live musical, a form I loved bringing back to life with my partners Neil Meron and the late Craig Zadan,” said Greenblatt, former NBC entertainment chairman, when the project was announced “And we’re thrilled to work with Susan Rovner and her new team because they share our belief in the power of broadcast television to bring families together for events like these.”

The live event is being produced by Chloe Productions.

Besides The Sound of Music Live!, past NBC stage musicals include Peter Pan Live!, Jesus Christ Superstar Live! and The Wiz Live!.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.