WCGS Musical – A Note from the Director

A Note from the Director

Attitude. It is something we choose. And it affects everything.

In 1933 New York City, many people have a lot to complain about. The Great Depression has millions of Americans ragged, hungry, and homeless. Some barely survive in Shanty Towns where living quarters are made of cardboard, scrap wood, and scrap metal. They wait in bread lines that stretch for miles. Americans are still blaming Herbert Hoover for his failed policies.

The news coming from Germany also has the Americans on edge. Is the world heading toward another war? President Franklin Delano Roosevelt has his hands full.

In this historical setting, we meet Annie and her fellow orphans. These children also have plenty to complain about. In a nation familiar with child labor, orphanages are used as labor camps. At the New York City Municipal Orphanage, the children in our story work as seamstresses under the supervision of the embittered Miss Hannigan who herself feels stuck in a job she despises.

In this bleak atmosphere, each person has a choice. A choice of attitude, outlook, and perspective. What will they choose to focus on? Our heroine, Annie, chooses to focus on a little bit of hope, a hope that her parents are still out there and will come back for her someday. She lets that hope rise as she sings, “The sun will come out tomorrow.” Her attitude affects those around her. She brings hope to her fellow orphans. She challenges the perspective of the homeless in Hooverville. She finds a like-mind in President Roosevelt, and she inspires him and his cabinet to discover a New Deal. She melts the heart of the billionaire Oliver Warbucks, who has been singularly focused on self. She brings joy to every room she enters with an infectious smile and positive attitude.

We, too, change the atmosphere of each room we enter with the aura of our attitude. Will we focus on what is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, what is of good report, worthy of praise and excellent (Philippians 4:8)? Or will we play the victim like Miss Hannigan and blame our negative attitude on others? After all, we have much more to hang our hope on than Annie did. Jesus, the Son of God, did come out. He came out of the grave, defeating sin and death, so that we can live a life full of hope. And, we don’t even have to wait for tomorrow.

Jill Tweeten, Director