Hard-knock life? Not so much for Foxboro resident Abby Spare, who plays the orphan Tessie in the national touring production of "Annie," in Boston next week.

"It is a lot of fun," Spare, 9, said from her hotel room in Washington, D.C., where the tour stopped earlier this month. "I was nervous at first because this is my first national tour. Now I'm just getting used to doing the best I can every single night."

She's been on the road since last August and will be until May, but next week is coming home, sort of, as the tour stops for six nights - March 25-30 - at the Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theatre.

"Actually, I think a lot of people are going to come see me," Spare said. "I'm so excited to be home again."

Spare won the part of Tessie, whom she calls the orphan gang's "drama queen," last June at auditions in New York City and found out she made the national cast on the train ride home. Since then, she's been living her dream, performing on stage each night and getting to have more than a little fun along the way.

Opening night, after previews, was in Orlando, where the entire cast went on a field trip to Disney's Epcot Center.

Her favorite stop so far has been Athens, Ga.

"I thought it was a really cute town," Spare said. "The way it was set up made it seem very welcoming."

A self-proclaimed history buff, Spare also really enjoyed her stay in the nation's capital and especially the cast's tour of the White House.

"I have been to Washington, D.C. before, but I don't really remember it that well so this is kind of a new thing for me," she said. "I loved (the White House). I really liked seeing all the old pictures and everything that was from the 1800s. It was really cool that I was actually in that room. It was amazing."

Her mom, Maureen Spare, has been traveling with her through a slew of hotel rooms.

Though it's admittedly a bit different than living at home in Foxboro, Abby said it's been exciting to live life on the road. She's really enjoyed becoming good friends with the rest of the cast.

"We're all like sisters now," Spare said. "I'm with everybody because we're all like one big family."

The well-known and successful musical "Annie" is based on the comic strip L'il Orphan Annie. It's Spare's first "big-time" role, and she's a big fan of the musical. "I like how everything blends so well. It almost seems like the whole musical is songs because of the way it blends together," she said. "I like all the numbers, but my favorite song is "We'd like to thank you Herbert Hoover." I think the sarcasm in it is very funny and I love the tempo of it."

A performer since she was just 4 years old, Spare has taken classes at the Orpheum Theater in Boston and in New York City and Rhode Island, and says the stage has become just like her second home.

She's also toured with the Kaleidoscope Theater, a professional children's theater troupe.

She's in love with the theater and though she doesn't have her next job lined up, she's hopeful she can continue down this path.

"I'm going to try to audition for more Broadway shows and tours," she said. "But I'm going to mostly play it by ear."