The company isn't expected to make it to the hurricane-battered, flooded city — but the troupers are still reaching out to the people of The Big Easy. From San Francisco's Golden Gate Theatre, where the tour is in residence for a month, Annie assistant company manager Paul Callas told Playbill.com via e-mail, "With the support of our producers, Scott Nederlander and Carole Shorenstein-Hayes we have begun a Pass the Hat Campaign, and in our very first night we have raised over $3,000. We are going to continue this for our run in San Francisco and then bring our efforts to San Diego and Los Angeles. If the generosity of the theatre patrons of these communities holds true we stand to raise over $100,000."

Set in the Depression, Annie is the smash-hit tale of an little orphan's hope and optimism as she searches for her birth parents — only to find an unlikely father in a billionaire. The show's standout anthem, "Tomorrow," was a tonic when it was first heard in 1977, in the post-Vietnam years.

"We hope that bit by bit we will help aid the victims of hurricane Katrina and give them all reason to hope in such desperate times," Callas said in an e-mail. "We know Broadway Cares and the League have shown their support in this effort but wouldn't it be amazing if every show running in New York and on the road decided to show their support in the same fashion? Our $100,000 would be eclipsed by an awesome show of support from Live Theatre all over the USA."