Almost a century ago, Little Orphan Annie was one of the first empowered little-girl cartoon characters. Launched in 1924, Harold Gray’s popular comic strip portrayed a plucky kid who was well ahead of her time. Not some cutie pie waiting for someone to save her, she blazed her own trail and stood up for herself.

The beloved redhead with the empty, lidless eyes went on to be a radio and film star in the 1930s; decades later, in 1977, she spawned her own Broadway musical, Annie (with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and book by Thomas Meehan). And she’s still the stuff of inspiration for girls today. Just ask Camryn Macdonald, who will don the curly scarlet wig to play her in Align Entertainment’s latest musical production.

“When I was young, I looked up to Annie because she was spunky and tough and always an optimist,” the suitably energized and self-possessed 13-year-old tells the Straight over the phone, after the final bell’s rung at South Delta Secondary School. “I hope that we portray her that way—that I can inspire other girls to be tough and strong.”

In the story, Annie longs to find the parents who left her as a baby on the steps of a New York City orphanage. Stuck in that institution with the cruel matron Miss Hannigan, she escapes to the big city, befriending the stray mutt Sandy. She’s eventually hauled back to the orphanage, but a chance to spend Christmas with local billionaire Daddy Warbucks alters not only her own fate, but those of all the down-and-out, discarded kids in the city.

It’s a part that carries high expectations and pummelling singing and dancing. “It’s a crazy-demanding role, both physically and vocally,” says Macdonald. “I’m dancing and singing really hard the whole time. The whole weight of the show is on my shoulders!”

She’s had to learn to juggle those demands with those of her first year in high school, which she’ll be regularly attending while performing nights on the Michael J. Fox Theatre stage with the company that’s produced such critical hits as The Addams Family and Shrek: The Musical. “It’s hard, but I’m pretty good at catching up at school,” she says. “I’m a very organized person and I’m pretty good at time management.”

Macdonald has been dancing since age five, taking ballet, tap, and jazz dancing, adding Delta Youth Theatre and vocal training to the mix, and spending summers in programs at the Gateway Theatre, the Arts Club, and Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance!.

“I love being the centre of attention,” she says with a laugh. “I guess I’ve always loved dancing on-stage and being in the spotlight. And I always sang when I was little around the house.”

The natural brunette says taking on her big role with Align becomes full-on when she dons the red wig. “It’s kind of a surreal feeling when I put it on, like ‘This is really happening, I am Annie,’ and I go out on-stage,” says Macdonald, whose favourite songs are “Tomorrow” and “Hooverville”.

Perhaps best of all, she reveals, the show evokes the old look of Gray’s original comic strip, from the nostalgic 1930s-style sets to the funny-pages costuming of the characters.

“It’s all there: the red wig with tight little ringlets and her iconic red dress. It looks like the cartoon,” she says. Then, referring to those blank, oval eyes that Gray used to draw, she adds: “But not quite as creepy.”

Align Entertainment presents Annie: The Musical at the Michael J. Fox Theatre from Friday (February 1) to February 16.