SPRINGFIELD — How many actors portraying Annie does it take to stage the popular smash Broadway musical “Annie”?
If you are the Springfield Community Theater of MA, which is producing the beloved play this weekend at 52 Sumner, the answer is two.
And they are both equally cute and talented.
Teagan Bajor, 11, of West Springfield, takes on the iconic role of the adventurous orphan on Saturday at 6:30 p.m., while Maryliz Maldonado, 10, of Northampton, steps into the role on Sunday for an afternoon matinee at 1:30 p.m.
“I hit the ‘Annie’ lottery in finding these two talented young actors. They are just breathtaking and appear in almost every scene but one. They are really putting their hearts and souls into embracing the character of Annie,” said Vana Nespor, artistic director of Springfield Community Theater of MA, who is also directing the play.
Both girls are familiar with the Annie character they will be playing.
“I actually saw the revival on Broadway and loved it so much that it inspired me to audition for the 52Sumner production. It’s the best play ever. I wanted to be Annie so much once I saw the Broadway version,” Maldonado said.
Bajor saw the movies and the Annie Live! television special that aired on NBC.
“I really enjoyed seeing the movies which I watched with my sisters and loved Annie who is a very strong and positive character,” she said.
Bajor has previously performed in “Willy Wonka” with the St. Michael’s Players in East Longmeadow and in “Finding Nemo” at the Academy of Music in Northampton.
“I’ve always wanted to be an actor,” she said.
Acting is clearly in the sights of young Maldonado who is already represented by several national talent agencies in New York and California.
She recently performed in the Sabado Gigante skit on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special” and flew to Poland for an OLLY vitamins commercial that will run in ads for Target, Walmart and Amazon. She has also performed in numerous other plays, including “Seussical The Musical” with Amherst Community Theater.
“I love acting. You can be a new character, and you can sing, dance, act and do all of them at the same time like in ‘Annie,’” Maldonado said.
Learning lines can be a challenge for any actor, especially if you are younger and the lead in a musical which requires you to learn lines, the lyrics to songs, and choreography.
“I’ve actually been preparing since April during recess at school with my friends to get more familiar with the lines. I’m taking it step by step, the lines, then the choreography, and the singing. I’m really excited to see how months and months of hard work can turn into something really fun,” Bajor said.
“I love the process which can sometimes be pretty tricky, but I always get it in the end. It’s practice, practice, practice,” Maldonado said.
If you are wondering if there is any competition between the two girls, the answer is no.
“We have become good friends,” Bajor said.
“We always go over lines together and even have our own special handshake,” Maldonado said.
Based on the popular comic strip by Harold Gray, “Annie” has become a worldwide phenomenon and was the winner of seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The book and score by Tony Award winners Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin features some of the greatest musical theater hits ever written including “Tomorrow,” “It’s the Hard-Knock Life,” and “Maybe.”
The story focuses on little orphan Annnie who is determined to find the parents who abandoned her years ago on the doorsteps of a New York City orphanage run by the cruel and embittered Miss Hannigan. With the help of the other girls in the orphanage, Annie escapes. She helps to foil Miss Hannigan’s and her evil brother’s plot, and along the way even befriends President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
“Annie” is the second play to be staged by Springfield Community Theater of MA following their successful inaugural production of A.R. Gurney’s “Love Letters.”
“We had a purpose with ‘Love Letters.’ It was to get our new community theater on the map, so people could learn about us. Having four dynamic well-known community members sharing the roles – Mayor Domenic Sarno, Kathy Tobin, Steve Hays and Brenda Garton-Sjoberg – helped to give us a sudden presence,” Nespor said.
“We didn’t make a lot of money with the play, but it got us exposure on television, radio and in the newspaper. You can’t ask for sponsorships or actors to appear in your shows if they don’t know who you are. But we had a huge response and support from the community and that was exciting for us,” she added.
Requiring only two actors and a table and two chairs for them to sit at as actors literally reading their “love letters” from over the years to one another, “Love Letters” was not an intricate first production to stage. For their second outing, Nespor could have played it easy as they look to build a following but decided to take a chance with the most difficult of plays to stage, especially for a community theater – a musical. They are often costly for local theater groups, but for big Broadway producers as well, because of the elaborate sets, costumes, props, and bigger casts, as well as a litany of other factors adding to the cost including securing the rights for the artistic property.
“It is a huge challenge. There is no doubt about that. It’s a fun show with its own set of challenges from needing lots of costumes, props, sets and more, not to mention finding the many actors and staff such as a choreographer, sound engineer, set designer and others needed to make the magic at 52 Sumner all possible,” Nespor said, noting they are using professionally-recorded tracks for the score with the hope of one day being able to afford a live band.
The play’s director noted she is an “extraordinarily proud mother.”
“I’m so proud of the entire ensemble and production staff who are doing this for no pay because they believe we should have community theater available in Springfield,” Nespor said.
Production Manager Roxanne Gambill is one of the many folks devoting their free time to the project.
“I’m also costume designer, volunteer coordinator, and child wrangler,” she laughed referencing the cast of some 15 children alone needed for the play which features a cast of some 35 actors.
Gambill, who moved to Massachusetts 18 months ago after living in Los Angeles, noted she was looking for a way to get back involved in community theater when she came upon information about Springfield Community Theater of MA.
“As the saying goes, ‘You work in theater not for the money, but because you love it and are passionate about it,’ which is especially true for community theater where these are not paid positions. You must love it to do it and my heart has always been in it. One of the best things for me was being on stage, but now I really feel better seeing my cast shine on stage and take pride in making them look and be their best on stage,” Gambill said.
Her daughter, Ashley Gambill, is resident choreographer for the new theater and is no stranger to the stage. She began her training in California and continued when she moved to London with her family in 2013. She has attended masterclasses at the famous Pineapple Dance Studios in London as well as OpenJar Studios in New York City and is a graduate of the esteemed Orange County School of the Arts in Southern California where she graduated with honors from the Musical Theatre Conservatory. She currently attends Pace University in New York where she is earning her BFA in Film, Television, Voiceover and Commercials. She can be seen in the upcoming film “The Vast Lonesome.” Learn more about the film @vastlonesomemovie on Instagram or on IMDB.
“This is full circle for the both of us,” Gambill said about her daughter, who performed as the orphan July in “Annie” 10 years ago at the Arts Theatre in the West End of London.
Angela Park, who is executive director of 52 Sumner, is serving as producer of the play.
Tickets, priced at $16-$23, are available online at 52sumner.com, where additional information is available about upcoming events and future Springfield Community Theater of MA productions.
For information on the nonprofit theater, visit springfield-community-theater-of-ma.org.
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