LEAPIN' LIZARDS ‘Annie’ touring company stops at Civic Center Kate Lohnes | klohnes@limanews.com - 10.19.2007 “Annie” WHEN: 7 p.m. Sunday WHERE: Lima Memorial Civic Center, 7 Town Square, Lima COST: $51 or $46 FOR MORE INFO: Call 419-224-1552, or visit www.limaciviccenter.com LIMA — When it comes to the musical “Annie,” you could call actress Amanda Balon an expert. Balon, who is 10 years old, has portrayed three roles (in as many seasons) in the touring Broadway cast, she said in a recent telephone interview. One of her earliest acting memories, coincidentally, is also “Annie”-oriented: she first auditioned for the production in Cocoa Beach, Fla., when she was just 3 years old. “It was my first audition ever,” said Balon, speaking from her hotel in Brampton, Ontario. “(The director) said I was too short and too young, but he said he wanted to see me again. He told me to come back when I was a little older and that he’d put me in the show.” Seven years later, Balon said she has finally reached her dream: playing the musical’s title role. There are a lot of qualities about the role that Balon enjoys, she said, and if Annie were a real person, she would make a great friend. “I would love to be friends with her,” she said. “I would love to be her. She has a really optimistic character, and she doesn’t care about money, she cares about the people. She’s kind and she’s hopeful, and she’s very nice to everybody. I really like that character a lot.” Balon said she’s also enjoying life on the road (the tour kicked off in Orlando Sept. 18). When she’s not performing, she and the other “orphans” have a normal life, she said. They have a tutor who keeps them up-to-date in school and gives them homework, and the girls have slumber parties and go bowling together, she said. “We have sleepovers or we go out to eat together,” she said. “We all feel like normal kids.” The chance to be part of “Annie” has been nothing short of wonderful for Amanda, said her father Timothy Balon. He and his wife Angelique take turns touring with their daughter, while the other parent stays home in Florida with Amanda’s older sister and twin brother. “It’s been a great opportunity for her to meet a lot of famous people and work with professionals,” he said. “All the traveling gives her the chance to meet a lot of people she wouldn’t meet otherwise and see things she wouldn’t see otherwise.” It also gives Amanda the chance to inspire other kids her age, she said, which continually amazes her. “I’ve heard that quite a few times, actually, and I love it when people say that,” she said. “I’m just a normal kid like them, and when they say (I’m a role model), it makes me feel really, really great. I get so surprised and shocked. I really love it.”