“Annie: The Musical” at Pine Grove Area High School

Miss+Hannigan+played+by+Micaela+Crochunis

Keith Koppenhaver

Miss Hannigan played by Micaela Crochunis

Alyssa Zerbe and Bryce Delp

The Cardinal Spotlight Theatre presents Annie: The Musical as their musical production for the 2019 season under the direction of Mr. Kenneth Gibson. The show is based on Harold Gray’s comic strip and features some of the most widely recognizable musical numbers of all time such as “Hard Knock Life” and “Tomorrow.” Morgan Flick, Senior, stars as the red headed orphan Annie alongside Trey Reynolds, Junior, who plays billionaire Oliver Warbucks.

The students involved demonstrate immense dedication to the production. Much of show’s production is done by students. “As you may notice, our lights, sound, and choreography has been student led for many years now. While Mr. Fessler and Mrs. Bux put their finishing touches on the production, a huge portion of the work is done by our students,” says Mr. Gibson. Angela DiFalco, Junior, fulfills the role of choreographer after the students previously responsible for it graduated last school year. Trey Reynolds, one of the lead actors, showed special dedication to his performance. “Trey shaved his head bald to make his part more real,” says Senior Brandon Yesenosky, “If that’s not dedication, what is?” Another aspect that adds to the realism is the inclusion of a real dog to play the part of Sandy, Annie’s beloved dog.

Though bad weather cut down the amount of time for preparation, the cast and crew managed to successfully work through it. “We missed some practice during the winter season but when the next practice came we all brought our A-game and the weather didn’t stop the crowds from coming,” says Junior Jesse Diego, “The day it hailed was one of our most busy nights.”

“Everyone is always so emotional at the end. We go through this whole process of dancing and singing and working so hard together, we have a family bond where we’d do anything for each other and with the seniors leaving it makes it even harder to say goodbye. It’s the last time to perform with them and they are all so talented and amazing. Tears are always shed at the end but everyone is always happy that they got to experience the musical,” says Jesse Diego.