Annie, a new Norwegian Christmas classic

This season, Folketeateret in Oslo is focusing on establishing the Broadway musical Annie as a new Christmas tradition, and it is making plans to launch the play in November 2023.

This seems appropriate, because the musical about the orphan Annie takes place precisely at Christmastime in the 1930s in New York City, when a lonely billionaire needs someone to spend the Christmas holiday with.

Scenekvelder, the company behind the production, promises “a grand pre-Christmas experience for the whole family, with beautiful music and warm moments.”

“We simply want to create a new and nice Christmas tradition for the audience,” saif Karianne Jæger, executive producer at Scenekvelder. The production company previously staged Annie at the theater in 2013 and received good reviews.

What about Journey to the Christmas Star?

But where does the Norwegian Christmas classic Journey to the Christmas Star end up in this picture? It made headlines in 2019 when Scenekvelder “hijacked” the traditional Christmas performance, which had for many years taken place at the National Theater in Oslo.

According to the newspaper Morgenbladet, the family of the creator, Sverre Brandt, who are the holders to the play’s rights, were not satisfied with the National Theater’s rewritten 2016 version.

As as result, Journey to the Christmas Star was staged at Folketeateret for the 2020 Christmas season. The traditional performance got off to a bumpy start with the pandemic and audience restrictions. Two Christmases in a row were affected.

But this Christmas season, a new premiere of Journey to the Christmas Star took place at Folketeatret on Nov. 16.

“We have the rights to stage Journey to the Christmas Star until 2024. That is why it is important for us to establish a new Christmas tradition at Folketeateret,” said Birgitte Lovise Ruud Fagstad, marketing and PR manager at Scenekvelder.

Already this month, Scenekvelder will start its search for next year’s Annie actor.