Rescue dogs take center stage in ‘Annie’ role

It was 2017 when a mixed-breed terrier by the name of Addison found herself sitting at the Harnett County Animal Shelter in North Carolina, waiting for a hero to rescue her from an unthinkable fate.

The dog’s hero was over 500 miles away.

“[Rescue advocates Chris and Bruce Leone] reached out to me and told me they had found a dog that looked like a ‘Sandy,’ ” remembers legendary animal trainer William Berloni, who throughout his career has rescued over 100 dogs that would go on to play the role of Sandy in the Broadway musical “Annie.”

“They met her and she gave them kisses and they got her transferred to a no-kill shelter in South Carolina,” Berloni recalled during a recent chat.

Approximately a week later, Addison traveled with a bevy of devoted volunteers to the Humane Society of New York, where the lovable mutt ultimately met Berloni for the first time.

“She was a little firecracker,” said Berloni, a Tony Award honoree. “She was outgoing and gregarious, and she loved cookies.”

It’s this outgoing and gregarious cookie lover who will take the stage as Sandy in the all-new touring production of “Annie,” which will play at the Cadillac Palace Theatre March 7-19. (While in town, the production will be donating show tickets to PAWS Chicago volunteers.)

“Chicago is going to absolutely love her,” gushes Berloni of the now 7-year-old dog who will take its place alongside 12-year-old actress Ellie Pulsifer, making her tour debut in Chicago as the show’s title character.

Berloni has helped facilitate many a love affair between the fictional characters of “Annie” and “Sandy” during a long career that began when he was just a teen.

Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade

“The day I found Sandy, the adoption fee was $7, and I only had $4 with me,” remembers Berloni, who was just 19 years old when he discovered the original rescue dog who would ultimately take the Broadway stage in 1977. “The dog was going to be put to sleep the next morning.”

Luckily, on that day, Berloni’s roommate gave him the $3 he needed to save the dog But make no mistake — not every dog is destined to be a Sandy.

“When you go into a shelter, there’s three types of dogs,” says Berloni, an only child who grew up in central Connecticut alongside dogs, cats and rabbits.

“There are the ones who are cowering in the back, the ones who are at the front of the cage barking, and then the dogs laying down, just hanging out. ... Those are the ones dealing with the stress of that situation,” continues Berloni, who has rescued dogs that went on to star in shows such as “Legally Blonde” and “The Wizard of Oz.”

And those are the best candidates for the role of Sandy.

“First we heal their physical and emotional wounds, and then we start training them and socializing them and working them up to the moment they are ready to take the biggest stage,” Berloni says of the training process, which can take anywhere from one to two years. “If they’re having a good time and if they enjoy it, they become a performing dog. And if they don’t, we will retire them. They will be a great pet for somebody.”

For now, Addison has earned her day in the Windy City spotlight, along with her understudy Georgie, who was adopted last spring by Beroni and who, too, was eerily close to his demise when he was discovered at a kill shelter in central Pennsylvania.

“I’ve often asked myself why Sandy, who is in ‘Annie’ for all of nine minutes, is so very popular,” says Berloni, who will hand over Addison and Georgie to animal handler Mel Rocco while in Chicago.

“But when an animal walks on stage, it brings us into a different place. It becomes very real. It’s that simple of a thing. It charms people.”