Harry Connick Jr. Cast as Daddy Warbucks in NBC's Annie Live!
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Now here's some news guaranteed to clear away the cobwebs and the sorrow!
Harry Connick Jr. has been cast as billionaire Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks in the upcoming holiday production of Annie Live! on NBC.
The New Orleans-native will reportedly star alongside Taraji P. Henson in the latest imagining of the beloved musical. Henson will take on the role of the cruel head of Annie's orphanage, Miss Hannigan. The nationwide search for the red-headed title character is currently still underway.
"It's such a classic show and it's a show that I'm so familiar with, just from seeing it a million times," Connick Jr. told People, a Southern Living sister publication. "And it's one of those things where you watch it and enjoy it and never really imagine yourself a part of it, so when I was asked to play Daddy Warbucks it was kind of surreal because that's such an iconic role."
The Grammy- and Emmy-winning performer said he's more than familiar with the story after countless viewings of the 1982 film version with his three daughters.
"I've seen the Carol Burnett, Bernadette Peters, and Albert Finney version dozens of times probably because all three of our daughters love that show and the performances are so great," he told People.
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Annie Live! will be NBC's sixth live musical since the runaway success of 2013's The Sound of Music Live!.
Annie Live! will air December 2 on NBC.
