Laiken Jules is two weeks into the run of her life, and now anyone who cannot get to East Haddam can hear a piece of it. Playbill shared an exclusive clip Thursday morning of the 10-year-old singing “Tomorrow,” the signature anthem of Annie, in Goodspeed Musicals’ 50th anniversary production.
In the clip, Jules stands center stage in Annie’s orphanage dress and red cardigan and delivers the song full out, holding the leash of Scotty, the shelter dog playing Sandy, who sits perfectly still at her side against the production’s bridge backdrop.
It is the latest milestone in a homecoming run that keeps gathering them. Annie, with a book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin, premiered at the Goodspeed Opera House on August 10, 1976, before transferring to Broadway the following spring. This anniversary production opened October 30 on the same East Haddam, Connecticut stage, directed by Jenn Thompson, who played the orphan Pepper in the original Broadway company.
Jules’ road to that stage moved fast. The young performer, who first built an audience on TikTok, was cast as Annie in September and made her professional debut on opening night. Readers got an early look at the company in October, when Goodspeed shared rehearsal footage of “It’s the Hard Knock Life.”
Annie runs through January 2, 2027 at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut, extended by popular demand from its original December 27 closing.