Don't miss Birds of a Feather star Lesley Joseph in Annie at the Edinburgh Playhouse

EVERYONE’S favourite snob, Bird’s of a Feather’s Dorien Green, aka actress Lesley Joseph, swaps her designer outfits for a bottle of gin at the Playhouse as she returns to the role of Miss Hannigan in the hit musical Annie.

Lesley Joseph as Miss Hannigan

The much-loved actress reprises the role having previously played the part in the 2015/16 tour.

Best known as man-mad Dorien in the hugely successful TV sitcom alongside Pauline Quirke and Linda Robson, Joseph most recently appeared as Frau Blucher in the West End production of the Mel Brooks musical Young Frankenstein, for which she received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical.

In Annie, she leads a cast of top musical theatre talent with Alex Bourne as Oliver Warbucks, Richard Meek as Rooster, Jenny Gayner as Lily and Carolyn Maitland as Grace Farrell.The title role of little orphan Annie is shared by Faye Katsande, Ava Smith and Freya Yates, who are joined by three teams of young performers who play the girls in Miss Hannigan’s orphanage.

Set in 1930s New York during The Great Depression, brave young Annie is forced to live a life of misery and torment at Miss Hannigan’s orphanage.

Determined to find her real parents, her luck changes when she is chosen to spend Christmas at the residence of famous billionaire, Oliver Warbucks. Spiteful Miss Hannigan has other ideas and hatches a plan to spoil Annie’s search.

With its award-winning book and score, this new production includes the unforgettable songs It’s A Hard Knock Life, Easy Street, I Don’t Need Anything But You and Tomorrow.

Based on the Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin and a book by Thomas Meehan, the original Broadway production of Annie opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years. That production gave birth to numerous other productions in countries around the world, as well as winning the Tony Award for Best Musical.

This production comes direct from an extended season in the West End, which followed a sell-out tour of the UK and Ireland in 2015/16 as well as a recent sell-out season in Toronto.Get ready for the sun to come out...

Annie, The Playhouse, Greenside Place, Monday 30 September-Saturday 5 October, 7.30pm (matinees 2.30pm), £13-£89.50, www.atgtickets.com/edinburgh or 0844-871 3014