Though it’s 40 years old, “Annie the Musical” shows no signs of age or decline in popularity.

David DaCosta, founder of Thoroughly Modern Productions and director of “Annie,” TMP’s first show of its 2017 season — which opens Friday at the Tower Theatre in Bend — believes that’s because of its theme, which speaks to everyone.

“As cliche as it sounds … it’s an unfaltering message of the promise of tomorrow,” DaCosta said of the famed musical, which spawned such classic tunes as “It’s the Hard Knock Life” and “Tomorrow” and seems to be a perpetually popular show.

“No matter what side of the fence you’re on, in any respect, we’re all looking for hope and a better tomorrow,” he said.

That unyielding hope for a better day resonates throughout “Annie,” named, of course, after the protagonist of the 1976 musical, which was based on the popular early 20th century comic strip “Little Orphan Annie.”

According to anniethemusical.com, the musical began its long trip to Broadway in 1970, when lyricist and director Martin Charnin bought the coffee table collection “The Life and Hard Times of Little Orphan Annie.”

As the website tells it, Charnin bought the book as a Christmas gift for a friend, but the clerk at the bookshop was too busy to wrap it. Charnin took the book home, cracked it open and began reading — “The friend never got the book.”

Instead, a smitten Charnin approached Tony-winning composer Charles Strouse and The New Yorker’s Thomas Meehan, and in 1971 the trio began a six-year process to create “Annie.” In all, 23 producers turned down the show, which once it reached Broadway in 1977, ran for 2,377 performances and won seven Tony awards.

The Bend production stars adults in the appropriate roles: Rachel Deegan as Miss Hannigan, the cruel keeper of the orphanage. Ken McClintock is Annie’s wealthy rescuer, Daddy Warbucks. Erin Felder is his assistant, Grace. Jason Jones and Mallory DaCosta (DaCosta’s wife) play Rooster Hannigan and Lily St. Regis, respectively, the nefarious pair who plot, with the help of Miss Hannigan, to earn the reward Daddy Warbucks offers to the couple who can prove they’re Annie’s parents — who dropped her off at the orphanage when she was a baby.

Two alternating youth casts, each with 20 kids, portray the children in the show. Having two separate groups of children makes the rehearsals and performances a little less taxing on the kids, director DaCosta explained.

“It really is the correct way to go,” he said. “The kids seem to enjoy the split cast and the opportunity to see their friends in the show. And not be so taxed to try to do the full six shows, (with) some of the ages we have. My daughter, for instance, is 6 years old. Three shows a weekend over two weeks, and then you include tech week — it’s taxing on adults, let alone on children.”

Two casts means two different actresses portraying Annie: Katey James, age 9, and Abby Busch, 11.

“Both of these girls have been with us for every show,” DaCosta said, calling them “two incredible young ladies. They really have grown as performers. They’ve earned these roles, no question.”

The cast also includes a well-trained dog named Copie as Sandy, Annie’s pet in the show — and the real life pet of Katey James.

“She’s doing really well, comes to rehearsal every night, settles in,” DaCosta said. “The animals are usually pretty great when you can get one that’s trained.”

Now if only DaCosta can train the humans in the show to let Copie be.

“It’s really managing the people as opposed to the animal,” he said. “It’s keeping the adults and the children away from the animal. As soon as the animal goes off stage, everybody wants to pet them and play with them.”

Moving forward, TMP, which had previously used Summit High School’s auditorium for some of its shows, will stage its productions at the Tower, DaCosta said. The TMP season also includes “Guys and Dolls,” “High School Musical” and “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” In the fall, they’ll tackle “Rock of Ages” as part of the Tower Theatre Live Series, formerly knowns as the Marquee Series.

“We have a full year for sure,” DaCosta said.

When TMP presented its first Tower show one year ago, DaCosta had wanted it to be “Annie.” Because there was a touring production on the road, the rights weren’t available, and they went with “Shrek” instead.

“I always wanted this to be our first show in the Tower. With the history of the Tower, all the way down to its architecture, I just felt that it was always a show that needed to be presented there,” he said.

And given the amount of manpower — make that kid and canine power — behind TMP’s presentation, “Annie” looks ready for primetime.

In fact, adults in the cast may want to note one other thing, DaCosta said:

“You know what they say, ‘Never do shows with animals or kids.’ Because you’ll always be one-upped by them, no matter what. And our kids are gonna deliver.”

What: “Annie the Musical”

When: Opens 7:30 Friday night; additional performances 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 3, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Feb. 4

Where: Tower Theatre, 835 NW Wall St., Bend

Cost: $33-$38 plus fees

Contact: towertheatre.org or 541-317-0700