Annie

You can usually determine if a show is going to be good as soon as you hear the band strike up, well from this one it told me this is not going to be a good show, it was going to be a great show.

With a great set depicting the various themes of New York life this may have proved a struggle as some pieces were quite large to say the least, however this did not faze the crew and the scene changes were carried out with relative ease.

There is an old saying in theatre land, “Never work with children or animals” and here we have not only some great kids but also the most lovable animal in the form of Cookie who played Sandy, the stray dog Annie picks up. I am sure he (she) stole the hearts of the whole audience as well as those on stage from the first appearance.

Casting a show like this is not easy and even more so when it is a youth group and youngsters are playing all the parts, there are no “adults” for them to learn their craft from. Steps Productions and Ash White need have no worries with this one. Eden Phillips who played Annie on the night I was there was brilliant and I am sure she could teach some “adult” actors a thing or two.

Of course the show does not rely entirely on a good Annie, although if you don’t have a good actor in this part you are snookered from the word go. You also have to have a good reliable troupe of kids to play the other orphans and this set (Pears) were no exceptions, they worked extremely well together and got everything they possibly could from this show as I am sure the Apples set did on the other nights.

We all know the gin-swigging, child-hating Miss Hannigan, who we do wonder why she ever went into a job like this, certainly not for an easy ride! It is all too easy to go over the top with this part and in fact I remember one production where you could not understand a thing the lady playing this part said and who continually rolled around the stage to give the appearance of someone drunk. Here, however, we had class; Sam Shirtcliffe was able to play the “lush” but still maintain the ability to be understood both in her songs and spoken word.

Also playing good foils to Miss Hannigan were Aaron Wild as Rooster and Ellie Simmons as Lily St. Regis, I really enjoyed their performance of Easy Street as I am sure did the rest of the audience.

When Annie is given a holiday for the Christmas period it is Grace Farrell who takes her from the orphanage, Natalie Haigh was perfect in this part, able to play the upper class PA to Oliver Warbucks with ease and I particularly enjoyed he song with the staff, “I think I’m Going to Like it Here”.

When we think of Daddy Warbucks we think of Telly Sevalas who played this part in the film, he was a large, bald headed gentleman who was very demanding and domineering. Adam Wigglesworth may not be a large gentleman and he certainly is not bald headed, however the use of a bald wig did go some way to creating this character but he need not have worried, what Adam lacked in stature he definitely made up for in his acting abilities. Adam was excellent and managed to capture every ounce of character from this part.

As Daddy Warbucks Adam was given two songs to sing, “Lullaby” in the first half and “Something was Missing” in the second half, in both these numbers Adam excelled himself and I am sure there some shivers down many a spine in the theatre when he delivered them.

I mentioned at the beginning of my review the set, I must also mention the very imaginative lighting which accompanied it, together providing a most excellent effect, I especially liked the effect in both Daddy Warbucks’ numbers when he ended in silhouette.

There are far too many characters in this show to name everyone but I must mention all the characters in the radio station, they all proved their worth to give a most enjoyable scene. One extra touch which I really enjoyed was the introduction of Annie’s birth parents who appeared as a cameo in dance played by Nathan Walker and Sophie Haworth.

Due to the fact this is a youth production Steps used two sets of youngsters, I saw the Pears team but one of my colleagues, Jo Sykes who is the Noda NE Youth Advisor saw the Apples, Jo sent a message to be included here:

We really enjoyed the show and felt that the performers really gave us a fabulous night’s entertainment. The standing ovation was very much deserved and we only heard very appreciative comments from the audience.

Thanks for a very enjoyable evening - we are already looking forward to Hairspray."

There had clearly been a huge amount of work put into the production and we would like to congratulate you all and thank you for giving your young members such a positive opportunity.

We saw the Apples Team, but I am confident that the Pears will also have been superb.

The Saturday evening performance also received a well deserved standing ovation.

Massive congratulations to everyone involved in this show.

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