Sarah Jessica Parker Reveals She Was a Studio 54 Regular at Just 14 — Thanks to Her Role in Annie

• Sarah Jessica Parker reminisced in a new interview with Vulture about her time in the cast of Annie in the late 1970s
• Parker joined the cast as an orphan and an understudy for Annie before taking on the lead role
• Parker said the cast was so popular they were “regulars” at Studio 54

It wasn’t exactly a hard-knock life when Sarah Jessica Parker starred in Annie.

Parker, 60, opened about her time in the show as a preteen actress in an article highlighting 29 Broadway legends published in Vulture on April 7. Annie was her second Broadway show, and she joined the cast as the orphan July and an understudy of Annie (the role made famous by Andrea McArdle, who also spoke to the outlet). When McArdle, now 61, left the show, Parker was cast as Annie at age 14.

The show was a massive hit, and Parker became a big fan when she saw it. “Andrea McArdle was and remains the queen — not because she behaved like a queen but because she was inarguably the standard-bearer for the role,” Parker told the outlet. “I went to see it soon after it opened with standing-room tickets, and my father told me, because I loved it so much, ‘Oh, you’re not really Annie material.’ Because I didn’t know I could sing.” She ended up playing July for about a year and Annie for another year.