Orphan 3.0: 'Annie' Hits Silver Screen with Colorblind Casting

Picture a big-eyed, scared little girl with a grating New York accent facing the mean streets alone. That was me at 9 years old, relocating from Long Island to Virginia weeks before my 10th birthday. I said goodbye to the beloved delis and vacant lots abutting the Sunrise Highway and offered a half-hearted "Howaya, youse guys" to my new neighbors south of the Mason-Dixon line.

It was 1982, and the only prospect that offered any solace was the premiere of the new "Annie" movie. I spent my birthday enamored by the antics of this spunky little orphan, accompanied by only one guest: the cousin of a friend from back home, whose name I can't remember, if I ever knew it at all. No matter -- that began both my love affair with "Annie," as well as a string of unpredictable, redheaded girlfriends once I came out seven years later.

Little Orphan Annie first captured America's heart in the funny papers in Harold Gray's daily comic strip, "Little Orphan Annie," which was syndicated from 1894 to 1968. The Annie comic dealt with hot-button issues of the time, including organized labor, communism and the New Deal.

It was during the Great Depression over the airwaves that Annie would find her biggest audience on the "Little Orphan Annie" radio show, which was broadcast from 1931 to 1942. The popular radio serial would later become immortalized in Woody Allen's 1987 film "Radio Days" and the holiday classic "A Christmas Story." Remember when Ralphie couldn't wait to get his Little Orphan Annie decoder ring, only to find out it was all part of a commercial scheme to sell Ovaltine?

And while Annie would live on in the syndicated comic strip, she'd have to wait 30 years for tough economic times to once again put her the spotlight. In 1977, while New York City was on the brink of bankruptcy, hit-starved theatergoers flocked to the Alvin (now Neil Simon) Theatre to see the musical "Annie." The show's theme of optimism in tough times resonated with recession-era audiences who flocked to see it for nearly six years. Winning seven Tony Awards that year, it made a Broadway legend of its 14-year-old star, Andrea McArdle, whose rendition of the show's anthem "Tomorrow" still is considered the gold standard.

It would take five years for the musical "Annie" to make it to the big screen. In 1982, the show was adapted into a film directed by John Huston starring Albert Finney as Daddy Warbucks, the incomparable Carol Burnett as Miss Hannigan and an unknown Aileen Quinn as the redheaded orphan. This is the incarnation with which I, as a 10-year-old, fell in love. Critics were mixed, but it became a huge hit with kids, spawning a bevy of merchandise. I had the lunchbox, the rag doll and the sticker book.

In 1999, Disney and Columbia Pictures decided to remake "Annie" for the small screen, enlisting a pre-"Chicago" Rob Marshall to helm the project. "Annie" 2.0 starred film stars Kathy Bates and Victor Garber along with Broadway stalwarts Alan Cumming, Audra McDonald and Kristin Chenoweth. McCardle even had a cameo, for good measure.

"Annie" 2.0 would end up taking home two Emmy Awards and a Peabody. And though it pleased purists of the original musical displeased with the 1982 film, few people remember it as their "Annie."

Now, for the third time in as many decades, the loveable Little Orphan Annie has found her way on the screen, this time in an updated version of the popular stage musical with a colorblind cast, featuring an African-American Annie and Daddy Warbucks character.

Departing from the two previous filmed incarnations of the musical, the latest "Annie" is set in the 21st century. The Great Depression orphanage has been updated to a crowded foster home during New York's Great Recession. Like a sexy version of Mayor Bloomberg, Annie's benefactor, Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks, has been reimagined as billionaire with political aspirations. Most of the songs in Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin's Tony Award-winning score -- including the iconic anthem of optimism, "Tomorrow" -- remain with some serious updates.

"Annie" 3.0 stars Academy Award-nominee Quvenzhan� Wallis ("Beasts of the Southern Wild") as Annie, the foster kid who's tough enough to make her way on the streets of New York in 2014. Originally left by her parents as a baby with the promise that they'd be back for her someday, it's been a hard-knock life ever since with her mean foster mom, Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz).

But everything's about to change when the hard-nosed tycoon and New York mayoral candidate Benjamin "Will" Stacks (Jamie Foxx) -- advised by his brilliant VP Grace (Rose Byrne) and his shrewd and scheming campaign advisor, Guy (Bobby Cannavale) -- makes a thinly veiled campaign move and takes in the loveable orphan. Stacks thinks he's saving her, but Annie's self-assured nature and bright, sun-will-come-out-tomorrow outlook on life just might mean she's the one rescuing him.

The music is just as captivating as ever. The elusive Sia chimes in with her poppy version of "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile," and the hip-hop version of "It's A Hard-Knock Life" finds itself a second life here.

Director/Producer/Screenwriter Will Gluck teams with producers James Lassiter, Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith, Caleeb Pinkett and Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Laurence "Jay" Brown and Tyran "Ty Ty" Smith with a modern telling that captures the magic of the classic characters and original show that won seven Tony Awards. The screenplay is by Will Gluck and Aline Brosh McKenna.

While a colorblind "Annie" seems like a novel idea, it's one that's been kicking around for a while with the show's original star. "I've always wanted to see an all-black Annie," said the show's original orphan, Andrea McArdle, who was shopping around the idea several years ago with Ben Vereen in mind for Daddy Warbucks. "It just makes sense. Charles (Strouse)'s music has such soul to it."

Due to rights issues with a 2012 Broadway revival of the musical, McArdle's dream was put on hold. But thanks to 3.0, her vision of an African-American Annie is about to be realized.

And of Quvenzhan� Wallis, who will be stepping into her Mary Janes, McArdle told EDGE, "In order for 'Annie' to work on stage or a movie, the whole thing hinges on that kid. The audience has to love her for the show to work. They have to want her to win in the end. I've seen some of the B-roll and the trailer for the new 'Annie' movie, and I already love that kid."

Now that's an endorsement you can't ignore! With sprightly Wallis in the lead role, this enduring story gets a much-needed dose of diversity. Instead of the Hoovervilles of the 1930s, she must deal with today's recession-era New York City. The time will change, but the shysters and swindlers will remain the same.

Will Miss Hannigan sell Annie out to her fake "parents"? Will Daddy Warbucks -- er, Benjamin Stacks -- be there to save her? Will she ever help defeat those Bolsheviks? Leapin' lizards, you'll have to head to the movies to find out for yourself!

Columbia Pictures' "Annie" hits local theaters on December 19. For more information, visit www.annie-movie.com.