Courtesy of Broadway Palm Dinner Theater
Each year the Broadway Palms Dinner Theater in Fort Myers, Florida puts on the production of Annie. In the past they have always gone to a local shelter and chosen a dog they think looks like Sandy and likes children. They then train the dog to do a few tricks and off to stardom they go. This year they were offered a dog by family of one of the actresses. While a 1 year old Great Pyrenees doesn’t exactly look like a rough and tumble street dog this dog came completely trained in both verbal commands and sign language was used to being around children.
Bella who plays Sandy in the musical has a full time job during the school year at Peace by Piece a school for Autistic Children. At her theatrical debut after two weeks of rehearsal Bella got a little nervous with all the clapping and had to be pushed out onto the stage in order to not miss her moment to shine. Now Bella is used to all the clapping and noise when she appears on stage and she struts her stuff like a true diva. The children in the production love her the two Annie’s even got to spent the night at her house for a sleep over so they could bond with her more before the show began. No matter what she does on stage the audience loves her and with the extra benefit of pieces of hot dog in the actresses pockets she don’t mind sitting and looking pretty while Annie sings to her.
Photo courtesy of http://www.peacebypieceinc.com
Bella is available after every performance to give her Pawtograph to her loving fans. The theater company says it one of her favorites times of the day.
