Mothers & Daughters

♦ Shiloh Bohman and her three daughters, Chandler, age 10, Maddie, 8 and Dakota, 7.

	If you go WHAT: “Annie” WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 24, and 2 p.m. Nov. 25. Repeats 7:30 p.m. Nov. 30, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 1, 2 p.m. Dec. 2 and Dec. 7-9 WHERE: Rodey Theatre, Center for the Arts, UNM campus HOW MUCH: $18, $20 and $22 with a $2 discount for students and seniors at www.unmtickets.com, at ticket offices in the UNM Bookstore and the Pit, by calling 925-5858 or toll-free 877-664-8661 or at area Albertsons supermarkets or at the door

♦ Jessica Shaffer-Gant and her daughter, Ariana, who is 12.

♦ And Beth Paone Fuller and her 12-year-old daughter, Emma.

Emma was picked for the title role in the musical. Her very first time on stage was in a Growing Stages summer camp production of “Shrek the Musical.”

“Once I did that, I loved being on stage and wanted to do it again. (‘Annie’) was my first audition. I wanted any part they would give me,” the home-schooled Emma said. “I just wanted to be on stage again.”

For the audition, she sang “In My Own Little Corner” and for the callback she did a dance audition and cold readings. When she was informed she’d been chosen for the title role, Emma was ecstatic, as ecstatic as only a 12-year-old could be.

“I couldn’t stop laughing and giggling and jumping up and down the whole day they told me,” she said.

“Annie,” a long-running Broadway musical, follows the spunky redheaded Little Orphan Annie’s adventures in New York City in 1933. She plots to escape the clutches of the mean Miss Hannigan, matron of the orphanage where she finds herself. Annie is determined to find the parents she’s convinced still want her, and eventually is adopted by the billionaire Daddy Warbucks. She finds her dog Sandy after she flees the orphanage.

Director Zane Barker said the decision to choose the actor who would portray Annie came down to Emma and two other girls.

“I just felt a warmth in her acting that really lent itself to the role,” Barker said. “And she made a beautiful connection with the people she was reading with. She was able to establish a real relationship with the other actors on stage. I felt she was a real natural for the part,” Barker said.

Rehearsals have been tough but rewarding for her. “It’s wonderful working with all these talented people. I have a great time every time I go to rehearsal. It’s kind of like a little support group,” Emma said.

Her mom, Beth Fuller, portrays Mrs. Greer, the head housekeeper for the rich Oliver Warbucks. She thinks that being with her daughter in the show is “a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Shiloh Bohman, who’s a member of the ensemble, feels the same way about being with her daughters in “Annie.” “I don’t know if I will have that opportunity again. So it’s a great memory to have,” she said.

Kate Reese, left, is Miss Hannigan, who admonishes young Molly, played by Dakota Bohman, right, as Annie, played by Emma Fuller, center, looks on.

Bohman recalled that at the callback, director Barker asked her if she wanted to be in the show. Barker, she said, also was trying to find a way for all three of her daughters to be in the cast. They are.

Dakota is the youngest of the kids in the orphanage and is the only one of the four Bohmans who has solos.

Bohman said some of the history instruction she’s recently been giving her home-schooled daughters has been about the Great Depression, the period in which the musical is set.

“Maddie and Chandler and I are in the number ‘Hooverville.’ We sing about that, and in home school we are able to incorporate what we learn in the play,” Bohman said.

She said all three daughters gained great theatrical experience last summer when they attended a PLAY Conservatory intensive workshop.

“It was seven hours a day, five days a week for six weeks,” Bohman said. “They studied professional skills – taking stage directions, applying makeup, learning choreography. … They had a vocal coach and were in acting class.”

Shaffer-Gant is in the ensemble and has two minor roles. Her daughter Ariana is the orphan July. She and Ariana also were in Landmark Musicals’ “Oliver!” a couple of years ago.

“I adore being on stage and I adore being on stage with my mom,” Ariana said.

Her mom added: “It’s a lot of fun. I even enjoy watching her in rehearsal. One of the exciting things about this show is the camaraderie. The kids get along very well.”

These three moms – Shaffer-Gant, Bohman and Fuller, Barker said – have all been in theatrical productions or concerts on their own.

“We wanted them in the show because they’re good. They’re really strong performers,” he said. “And it’s nice for them to do theater with their children. I’m looking forward to that myself.”

There’s yet another on-stage family connection in “Annie” – David Aubrey, who plays Rooster, and Jessica Rae Aubrey, who is Lily. The Aubreys are husband and wife.

Emma Fuller said she’s filled with such good thoughts when she sings the musical’s signature song “Tomorrow.”

“I feel the sun will come out every single day,” she said.