Annie: stage vs screen

Annie was a hit comic strip and then a 1977 Broadway musical, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and a book by Thomas Meehan, before it became a movie. John Huston directed the 1982 film with Aileen Quinn, Albert Finney, and Carol Burnett, and Will Gluck directed a modernized 2014 version with Quvenzhané Wallis and Jamie Foxx. An ABC television movie followed in 1999. Here is how the films differ from the stage show.

Stage

Broadway musical (1977)

Screen

Annie (1982), directed by John Huston, and Annie (2014), directed by Will Gluck

1. The setting and season change

The stage show takes place in New York in 1933, in the weeks before Christmas. Huston's 1982 film keeps the Depression-era setting but was shot in summer, so it moves the story to the days around the Fourth of July. The 2014 film drops the period altogether and sets the story in present-day New York, with Annie living in a Harlem foster home rather than an orphanage.

2. Warbucks becomes Will Stacks in 2014

The stage and 1982 film feature the billionaire Oliver Warbucks, played by Albert Finney on screen. The 2014 film replaces him with Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx), a cellphone mogul running for mayor of New York who takes Annie in after a viral rescue. His campaign gives the story a modern reason for the arrangement.

3. Miss Hannigan changes sides in 1982

On stage, Miss Hannigan is in on the scheme and is arrested with her brother Rooster and his girlfriend Lily. In the 1982 film, Carol Burnett's Hannigan is horrified by the plan to kill Annie, tries to stop Rooster, is knocked out, and turns up redeemed at the party. The 2014 film makes her Colleen Hannigan (Cameron Diaz), a former singer who runs the foster home.

4. A kidnapping and a helicopter rescue

The stage show ends with Rooster and Lily unmasked at Warbucks's mansion as the fake Mudges. The 1982 film instead has Annie kidnapped. Rooster (Tim Curry) chases her up a raised drawbridge, and Warbucks's bodyguard Punjab (Geoffrey Holder) rescues her from a helicopter. In 2014 there is no Rooster or Lily: campaign adviser Guy Danlily and Colleen plot to pass off hired impostors as her parents.

5. Who adopts Annie

In the stage musical, Warbucks adopts Annie himself once her real parents are found to have died. In the 1982 film, Grace Farrell (Ann Reinking) is Warbucks's secretary and love interest, and the two adopt Annie together. In ABC's 1999 TV movie, Grace (Audra McDonald) becomes engaged to Warbucks. In 2014, Stacks and his assistant Grace (Rose Byrne) admit their love, and Stacks adopts Annie and her foster sisters.

6. Songs cut and added in 1982

The 1982 film omits "N.Y.C.," "Something Was Missing," "You Won't Be an Orphan for Long," "Annie," "A New Deal for Christmas," and "We'd Like to Thank You, Herbert Hoover." It adds new numbers including "Dumb Dog," "Sandy," and "Let's Go to the Movies." Favorites such as "Tomorrow," "It's the Hard Knock Life," "Little Girls," and "Easy Street" remain, and "Maybe" returns in reprise form.

7. A pop and hip-hop score in 2014

Sia and Greg Kurstin rearranged the music for the 2014 film, turning "It's the Hard Knock Life" into a hip-hop number. "Maybe," "Tomorrow," "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here," "Little Girls," and "Easy Street" return. New songs include "Opportunity," which earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song, "Who Am I?," and "The City's Yours," which Sia wrote with Stargate.

8. What happened to Annie's parents

On stage, the FBI finds that Annie's parents, David and Margaret Bennett, died in a fire when she was a baby. The 1982 film also has Miss Hannigan reveal that they died in a fire. The 2014 film instead leaves their fate open and ends with Annie welcomed into a new family.

Annie movie vs musical: FAQs