Annie

Based on the comic strip “Little Orphan Annie” by Harold Gray, “Annie” first opened as a musical in 1977 and quickly became a worldwide success, winning seven Tony awards. It is a heart-warming tale of a little orphan girl and her unwavering optimism in the face of overwhelming challenges as she searches for the parents who abandoned her at the New York City orphanage.

On the Thursday I attended, we were privileged to see the Pink team of girls - and what a privilege it was! They quickly gained our sympathy in the opening dormitory scene, sleeping three to a bed, having to scrub the floors and change the sheets, while suffering the insults and threats of the dreadful Miss Hannigan. From the start Lottie Hall, as Annie, showed us what a really good singing voice she has – sometimes strident, when required, at other times soft and gentle – and she really inhabited her character: sparky and mischievous with great determination. The other girls all had well developed individual characters and their dancing and singing was excellent. Stand-out performance, for me, was Verity Gregg as the cheeky Molly. The audience obviously fell for Barney, who played Sandy, the dog that Annie picks up on her travels. He performed perfectly and had them wrapped around his little paw!

Kim Seagrove gave us a rumbustious Miss Hannigan, bellowing and roaring at the children and ordering them around with her whistle. Even her attempts to woo the men were deliciously unsubtle. Stuart Frank and Sarah Tappenden were perfectly matched as Rooster and Lily – a real Bonnie and Clyde pair of con artists, while Graeme Clements portrayed a kindly Oliver Warbucks, whose stern business heart is melted by Annie. Shaving his head for the part showed real dedication to his art!

Director Ben Lister and choreographer Matthew Swann have obviously worked hard marshalling this large cast of adults and two sets of orphans, and the results were most impressive, especially during the large chorus numbers, with Hooverville my favourite for its style.

Costumes were all very much of the period and the children’s outfits all looked suitably scruffy. Set and props were excellent too, but I couldn’t help wondering whether some (the door truck that served as the entrance to the dormitory, for example) could have been dropped to simplify the scene changes, Not only would this have made the hard-working stage crew’s life a little easier, but it would have speeded the entrances and exits and allowed the overall pace of the show to have been picked up a little.

The orchestra, under the ever reliable baton of Valerie Tucker, produced a fine sound and never overwhelmed the singers. Despite some microphone problems, the sound was crystal clear.

This is a real feel-good show, where good triumphs over evil and all ends happily ever after. Combine that with the double “aah” factor of involving both children and animals, plus a talented cast and direction team and you have a sure fire success. W.C. Fields’ famous saying “Never work with animals or children” came to mind as I was watching this production. If you do, they will outshine you and act you off the stage!

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