The Gingerbread Players present ANNIE

The Broadway hit, based on the beloved comic strip Little Orphan Annie, opens on April 21.

The Gingerbread Players will cap their 2011-12 season with a six-performance run of Annie, the classic family musical by Thomas Meehan (book), Charles Strouse (music) and Martin Charnin (lyrics). Inspired by the long-running comic strip by Harold Gray, this tale of a little orphan girl who wins the love of a hard-bitten tycoon in Depression-era New York still warms hearts today. The score, including such unforgettable numbers as "The Sun'll Come Out Tomorrow," "Easy Street" and "Hard-Knock Life," is a toe-tapping delight. The cast of forty-five children and adults, headed by Caroline Rosenblum, making her Gingerbread Players debut as Annie, features local favorites. David H. Friedman as Daddy Warbucks, Ngan Ping Chiang as Miss Hannigan, Terri Matassov as Grace Farrell and Andrew Dinan as F.D.R. Kenneth Eckert and Joanna Guinther play the villainous duo Rooster Hannigan and Lily St. Regis. Annie, with sets by Rosemary Favia and costumes by Joanna Guinther, runs for six performances: Saturday, April 21, at 2:30 & 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, April 22, at 2:30 p.m.; Friday, April 27, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, April 28, at 2:30 p.m.; and Sunday, April 29, at 2:30 p.m. The company's trademark gingerbread cookies and cakes will be on sale during intermission. At a suggested donation of $12, with a discount rate of $10 for groups of six or more, the Gingerbread Players remain one of the best theater bargains in town. For ticket reservations, click on the box-office link or call 718-268-7772.