‘Annie’ star sang tribute to family friend Walter Mondale at memorial

On Sunday, Lillian Hochman sang “Tomorrow” one particular last time for the late Vice President Walter Mondale, the friend she and her loved ones usually had weekend breakfasts with.

Hochman, 14, and Mondale fulfilled when she was in preschool with the statesman’s granddaughter. He adopted Hochman’s budding stage career, which bundled the Kid’s Theatre Company’s “How the Grinch Stole Xmas” and title roles in “Matilda” at CTC and “Annie” at the Ordway Centre for the Accomplishing Arts.

Whilst Mondale was out of city through performances of “Annie” in 2017, he informed Hochman the present was a favored — which is why she sang “Tomorrow” for him when Mondale threw himself a 92nd birthday party in 2020 and why Mondale’s son, Invoice, questioned Hochman to reprise it at his father’s memorial.

Accompanied by pianist Philip Brunelle, Hochman gave a rousing and passionate rendition of the iconic song towards the finish of the provider.

Days in advance of the service, Hochman explained, “Tomorrow” has experienced several meanings for her. She has sung it hundreds of moments, but she predicted some nerves just before the memorial: “I’ve performed on big stages, but this is unique. It’s likely to be on Television set. The president is heading to be there.”

Hochman, whose moms and dads are Michael and Liz Hochman of Hopkins, is really certain she is aware why Mondale loved “Tomorrow.” In “Annie,” the title character sings the optimistic anthem to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, promising that, inspite of the Great Melancholy, “the sun’ll come out tomorrow.”

“I think the tune is significant,” claimed Hochman, who’s presently doing in Minnetonka Significant School’s “Mamma Mia.” “It’s genuinely about bringing hope to a country, and to the president, which I believe is a person explanation it really is his favored track and clearly show.”

It truly is also a excellent reason to include its hopeful concept in a memorial service for the man Hochman remembers as “a definitely very good storyteller.”

So, as Hochman sang “Tomorrow” on Sunday for an viewers (at the Northrop auditorium and on Tv) that incorporated presidents, senators and other dignitaries, she was considering about its context in “Annie.” But, primarily, she was thinking about the gentleman she understood as “Grandpa Walter.”