NEW YORK — Sometimes it's hard to keep an orphan down.
Almost four years ago, Joanna Pacitti became a theatrical cause celebre when she was summarily fired from the Broadway-bound revival of "Annie" and replaced by her understudy just four weeks before her planned debut.
Pacitti, then 12, went on national television to tell her story, often breaking into tears — and song — in front of the likes of Rosie O'Donnell and Sally Jessy Raphael.
Pacitti also did what any other heartbroken pre-teen-ager might do: She sued. Now, after a long series of legal developments, including one critical reversal, the case is heading to trial with one interesting twist: the main defendant is W.H. Macy's.
Yes, Macy's. The crux of Pacitti's case is that the department store, which sponsored a national talent search for an adorable little red-haired actress, failed to deliver on its promise to put the winner of the competition (namely, Pacitti) on Broadway.
Her lawyers cited several major advertisements by Macy's that promised a "starring role in this 20th-anniversary Broadway production." They also cite the final auditions for the role, the so-called Annie-Off, that were held at the store's Herald Square flagship store in August 1996.
The producers, Rodger Hess and Timothy Childs, were not sued because they had acted in accordance with the standard Equity contract when they dismissed Pacitti, saying her acting was not up to par.
Alfred W. Putnam Jr., one of Pacitti's lawyers, likened the situation to a department store's promising to deliver a diamond ring as a raffle prize and then reneging after the drawing. "We believe that it's very clear that when you make an offer of a promotional prize, you have to deliver that prize to the winner," Putnam said.
The case, filed in a Pennsylvania state court five days before the revival opened on Broadway, was originally dismissed. (Pacitti came from Philadelphia, hence the Pennsylvania court.) But in late 1999, a three-member panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that dismissal, clearing the way for a trial, which is to begin in early June.
For its part, Macy's said in a prepared statement, "We believed from the onset that Pacitti's claims were frivolous and that we will be vindicated after the trial."
The revival, which opened on March 26, 1997, did not fare well with critics and closed after 238 performances.
Pacitti's life, meanwhile, has apparently progressed just fine. Her Web site www.joannapacittionline.com says she she is negotiating for a record deal. Her life, it says, "has all the makings of a fairy tale." (Except Cinderella, of course, never got a pink slip.)
While Hess and Childs were omitted from the original case, they have since become third-party defendants. All of which, said Hess, brings back terrible memories of the moment when he felt he had to fire an "orphan."
"I know it sounds silly, but I couldn't discuss this for six to nine months after without crying," said a considerably happier-sounding Hess. "It just dumbfounds me that it's gone this far."