The Lyric Performing Arts Company closed its 10 show run of “Annie” on Sunday afternoon with record attendance.

Lyric Managing Director Eric Evans said that over 600 people attended the final show of “Annie” on Sunday afternoon leaving them with a shortage of programs.   Not only was this the biggest attendance for “Annie”, but the largest audience of any Lyric production to date.

“By far, this was the most we’ve ever had attend a show,” Evans said. “The first weekend averaged about 250 people per show (for “Annie”).  We averaged 400 to 500 this second weekend.”

Evans said that Lyric productions traditionally have averaged close to 250 audience members per performance.  He also noted that the second week of performances brought approximately 400 people from out of the area to watch the musical.

Evans said that he contributes some of the attendance boost to last Tuesday’s “Light the Lyric” celebration where hundreds of people were in attendance and saw a preview of “Annie” in Downtown Brownwood.

“I think Tuesday night really helped,” Evans said. “We also used Facebook and encouraged the cast to post updates to help promote the show.”

Evans said that the cast and crew helped by posting frequent updates on their personal Facebook accounts to help reach a broader audience by connecting to friends of those involved.   He said that this helped create a ripple effect connecting to friends of friends and helped reach 1000’s of new people.

The show’s director, Nancy Jo Humfeld, noted the large crowd in her opening remarks before the show started.

“This shows that the performing arts are alive and well in Brownwood,” she said.

Photo: Daddy Warbucks (Forrest Blanton) sings with Annie (Brooklyn Britton)

Click our photo slideshow below for photos from “Annie”

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