Annie

This well loved show has been popular since it arrived on the Broadway Stage at the Alvin Theatre, now the Neil Simon Theatre, in April 1977, and until Hairspray, was the longest running show to be performed there. It is based on the Harold Gray comic strip, ‘Little Orphan Annie’ which ran in a variety of newspapers from 1924 until 2010. In its day the cartoon commented on many political issues, and the one chosen for the show is the ‘New deal’ policy of President Franklin D Roosevelt, to try to improve the lot of the American people after the Great Depression; naturally in this story his inspiration is Annie.  Set in a New York Orphanage in 1933, it tells of the hopes and dreams of Annie, who was left at the Orphanage as a baby, to be reunited with her parents, and the events along the way, resulting in a happy ending. 

During the overture we saw the orphans on stage behind a gauze, playing when they were supposed to be in bed, so we knew that they were a lively bunch. The set for the interior of the Orphanage had bare walls and high windows, reflecting the austere conditions the children lived in. All the sets from Scenic Projects worked very well creating appropriate settings for each location; the opulence of rooms in Oliver Warbuck’s Mansion were a complete contrast to the Orphanage. The stage crew worked swiftly and efficiently to change the scenes so that the action was not slowed down. All scenes were well lit helping to create the contrasts between indoors and out, grandeur and poverty. The microphones were well balanced and well cued, so that we heard almost everything that was happening, although there were slight problems in some of the underscoring, but this may have been due to where I was sitting; sound effects were appropriate and well cued.  The wardrobe team had organised a suitable set of costumes for the production, with orphans obviously wearing ‘hand me downs’, although the people in Hooverville appeared to be cleaner than I would have expected.

Whenever anyone speaks of the Musical Annie, the one song that immediately comes to mind is ‘Tomorrow’, but there are many more numbers, which were all well executed.  The first song in the show is ‘Maybe’ which was sensitively sung with excellent diction, this then went into the more raucous ‘Hard Knock Life’, which the orphans sang with gusto. The Band and singers under the direction of Musical Director Mark Aitchison played and sang confidently. As soon as the overture started we knew we were in for a musical treat.

Choreographer Sophie Constantine had devised some very clever routines, which were full of energy and brought an element of a Hollywood Movie to the stage. Everyone looked like a dancer, moving with confidence and obvious enjoyment, it was a delight to watch. I really liked the ostrich feather fan movement with Newspapers which circled ‘Star to be’ in NYC.

This show requires a large cast and the adult ensemble lived up to the standard set by the orphans, with ensemble numbers having a great deal of energy, good diction and being well-harmonised  Several of the adult ensemble doubled up on some of the named roles. Charlotte Myerson sang beautifully as Star to be. Jason Blackburn as President Roosevelt, commanded his cabinet and could have been intimidating to young Annie, but he showed her respect. Chris Hannant as Bert Healey, compèred his radio show and was oblivious to Oliver Warbucks displeasure when he realises he has endorsed a product. Hannah Bennett and Anthony King as Lily St. Regis and Rooster Hannigan, the couple with evil intent towards Annie, complemented each other, showed a good change of character from outward going gangsters to self-effacing pig farmers, and along with Miss Hannigan, sang and danced their way through ‘Easy Street’ with energy and enthusiasm. Amber Smith was an efficient Grace Farrell, secretary to Oliver Warbucks, elegant and in control, obviously able to gently manipulate her boss when necessary, as she managed to change his mind about having a girl orphan to stay and persuading him to take Annie to the Movies. The role of Oliver Warbuck’s is a difficult one, as he starts off as quite a ruthless businessman and over the course of the show he needs to show how Annie is melting his heart, without being gushingly sentimental, also it is not easy having two Annies to work with. Will Browne gave a convincing performance creating a good rapport with young Annie, as was evident in ‘I Don’t Need Anything But You’. He had matured into the role since the last time I saw him perform it several years ago. Miss Hannigan is another difficult role, with her dipsomaniacal tendencies it is easy to go completely over the top, but she needs to have a semblance of sobriety, after all she is still holding down a job.  Carol Bowman as Miss Hannigan thought she was in charge but the orphans ran rings round her.  In her rendition of ‘Little Girls’ she showed how much she disliked her job. The Team of Orphans and Young Ensemble I saw were Team Empire State and they were excellent. They had been well rehearsed, were well disciplined and moved confidently around this large stage. The orphans had all developed individual characters and showed that although their station was low they had not lost their spirit, and although they had developed a tough exterior to cope with their harsh conditions, they were still children. Their opening scene was well sung and had so much energy; they set the bar for the rest of the show. The bit in ‘Hard Knock Life’ where Molly was imitating Miss Hannigan was lovely. Of course I must make special mention of Holly Jameson as Annie, she portrayed the little girl with the dream of being reunited with her parents, which set her slightly apart from the rest of the girls, with feistiness and sensitivity, her excellent diction meant we heard all her words and enjoyed her dancing, also she was not phased when she had ‘Sandy’ to cope with.   Last but not least the lovely ‘Sandy’, who was obviously a reluctant performer, as much to the audience’s amusement sat resolutely with her back to them, and wanted to make her escape at the first opportunity but she behaved herself very well and was lovely.

Director Ginny Burge had had some lovely ideas for this production from putting movement into the Overture and the Entr’acte to catch the attention of the audience from the start to having Lily, Rooster and Miss Hannigan trying to escape at the end.

The scene in the Radio Station, which is, I think, very funny, needs to show the audience how a radio show works, with applause cue cards and sound effects. Here it worked very well and the ‘ventriloquist’s dummy being a small child added to the humour. The scene in the Cabinet Room at The White House used a minimal set, which made for a quick scene change, and the members of the cabinet showed great reluctance at first to sing Tomorrow and you could really feel their embarrassment. She had helped her cast to understand the show and create well-rounded characters. The ‘feel good’ factor of this show had obviously worked its magic once again and had delighted the audience. My congratulations to the whole team.

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