'Annie' Broadway revival in the works

NEW YORK, June 8 (UPI) -- A new production of the musical "Annie" is scheduled to open on Broadway in Fall 2012, the show's producers announced.

"Annie" features music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin and book by Thomas Meehan. It is based on the newspaper comic strip character "Little Orphan Annie" by Harold Gray. The original production opened April 21, 1977, at Manhattan's Alvin Theatre.

Producer Arielle Tepper Madover, currently represented on Broadway with the Tony Award-nominated play "Red," announced Monday that she has acquired the rights for "Annie" and will produce an all-new production.

She said her grandmother took her to see 'Annie' when she was 8.

"It was my first Broadway show," Madover said in a statement. "From that moment, I knew that I wanted to work in the theater. The past 30 years have prepared me to produce this show on Broadway and I cannot wait to share it with a new generation of Broadway audiences and with my own children."

"We're truly thrilled to have 'Annie' return to Broadway in a brand new production," Strouse, Charnin and Meehan said in the statement. "We think it seems like a great time to welcome back the hope, optimism and spirit of 'Annie.' She changed our lives forever."