‘ANNIE LIVE!’ HAS FOUND ITS ROOSTER – Tituss Burgess Joins NBC’s All-Star Cast

Six-time Emmy Award nominee Tituss Burgess (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”) will be scheming and dancing his way to Easy Street in the scene-stealing role of Rooster in NBC’s all-star production of “Annie Live!” set for Thursday, Dec. 2 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.

“I’ve always wanted to be a villain,” said Burgess, who will play the underhanded brother of the ruthless Miss Hannigan, played by Taraji P. Henson. Together they will hatch a plan to deceive Harry Connick Jr’s Daddy Warbucks and Nicole Scherzinger’s Grace to make a fortune off of little orphan Annie.

“Annie Live!” will be executive produced by Robert Greenblatt, Neil Meron and Alex Rudzinsky, with Lear deBessonet and Alex Rudzinski sharing the directing duties. Choreography will be led by Sergio Trujillo. Jason Sherwood will oversee production design. Stephen Oremus will orchestrate the music direction. Emilio Sosa will lead costume design. The live event is being produced by Chloe Productions.

“Annie” is one of the most beloved and biggest hits in Broadway history and the winner of seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. It has been licensed and performed in 50 countries and translated into eight languages. Based on the Harold Gray comic strip “Little Orphan Annie” that debuted in 1924, the musical premiered on Broadway in 1977 and initially ran for over four years.

Tituss Burgess earned five Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series and two Critics’ Choice TV Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his work in “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” He can currently be seen in the animated musical comedy series “Central Park” and appears as Rev. Dr. James Cleveland in the Aretha Franklin biopic “Respect.”

A veteran of the stage, Burgess made his Broadway debut in 2005 as Eddie in “Good Vibrations” and has held many memorable roles, including Hal Miller in “Jersey Boys,” Sebastian the Crab in “The Little Mermaid” and Nicely-Nicely Johnson in the 2009 revival of “Guys and Dolls.”

He is represented by CAA, Soffer-Namoff, and Peikoff Mahan.