Daddy Warbucks' whirlwind search for a fitting bride uncovers not only a plot by Doyle and her daughter Sheila Kelly to strip him of his fortune, but also his true feelings for his long-time assistant, Grace Farrell.

The first, entitled Annie 2: Miss Hannigan's Revenge, opened on December 22, 1989, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., to universally dismal reviews.

The musical played several out-of-town tryouts, starting at the Marriott Lincolnshire, Chicago in February through April 1992[2] and then the Drury Lane in Oak Brook, Illinois, followed by a five city United States tour, including San Diego in October 1992.

[7] Annie Warbucks received a strongly positive review from The New York Times, with David Richards writing, "Kathryn Zaremba, can deliver a punch line and tug a heartstring with the best of them.

Charles Strouse's score—full of peppy melodies and bright banjo rhythms—is one of the composer's best....There are plenty of laughs in the book by Thomas Meehan and the lyrics by Martin Charnin, who also functions as the remarkably clear-eyed director.... Bravely blinking back tears, Ms. (Donna) McKechnie explains that life deals you a lousy hand, "But You Go On," and proceeds to build the first-act torch song to a blaze.