The original production, inspired by Harold Gray's Little Orphan Annie" comic strip (which premiered on August 5, 1924 in the New York Daily News), began at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut, before moving to the Kennedy Center in Washington and opening on Broadway to immense success. Produced by illustrious film director Mike Nichols (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Graduate), the Broadway production ran for an astonishing 2,377 performances, making it the third-longest running musical of the '70s. It spawned four separate national companies (one traveled for three and a half years) and dozens for international productions. Audience demand for Annie created two regional sequels before the authors perfected their final version, Annie Warbucks, and brought it to New York City in 1993. Stars associated with Annie at one time or another include Dorothy Loudon, Carol Burnett, Alice Ghostly, Betty Hutton, June Havoc (Miss Hannigan), Bernadette Peters, Rita Rudner (Lily), Ann Reinking, Mary Bracken Phillips (Grace), Reid Shelton, Harve Presnell, Albert Finney (Daddy Warbucks), Danielle Brisebois (Molly), Molly Ringwald (Kate), Sarah Jessica Parker, Alyssa Milano, Allison Smith and Andrea McArdle (Annie). The 1997 Broadway Revival directed by Martin Charnin starred Conrad John Schuck (Warbucks) and Nell Carter (Miss Hannigan)."