ANNIE

As I listened to the Overture under the expert leadership of Wilson Shields at the keyboards,  I remarked to James “This show has really great music, hasn’t it!”. With score by Charles Strouse, the MD’s seven piece band brought the show straight to life and continued to lead those on stage expertly – only occasionally (masking) some dialogue but completely covering all scene changes (one of my bugbears is when the band leaves some portions of scene change in silence!)

Originally opening on Broadway in 1977 “Annie”, with lyrics by Martin Charmin and book by Thomas Meehan, has seldom not been on stage somewhere in revival or tour – from the US to UK, from Madrid to Mexico, from Australia to Buenos Aires! Wilfie and Oprah directed and choreographed a very pacey show in the style of the original – if it is a successful formula, why try to update it? They gathered a first class principal line up and the ‘orphans’ and adult ensemble were superbly engaged in the action and choral singing was excellent.

A tap dancing Timmy Bell impressed as Bert Healy, with a bevy of eight beautiful but spiteful girls as the Boylan sisters! Andrew Scott (senior!) aged well as Roosevelt and gave a convincing portrayal of the wheel-chaired President. Andrew Scott junior (no relation of ‘senior’) was an efficient and slightly camp Drake, while parts such as Bundles, Lt.Ward, Mrs Pugh, Mrs Greer, Cecille, Annette, Harold Ickes and Louis Brandels were all well covered. Duffy (Rosie Bell), Pepper (Grace Conroy), July (Lucy Nettleship), Tessie (Aoife Watson), Kate (Mateya McClean) and Molly (Olivia Pyper) all acted their socks off with six year old Olivia occasionally stealing the show! Together with another 14 ‘orphans’ they were all very well rehearsed in their singing and their dance routines, to the delight of the capacity audience.

Rooster (Sean Harkin) and his sidekick Lily St.Regis (Ashleigh Gault) fulfilled the expectations of their roles, both in ‘Easy Street’ dance number and then posing as Mr and Mrs Mudge to claim the $50,000 reward as Annie’s birth parents. Gillian McQuade was brilliantly cast as Miss Hannigan, extracting every ounce of comedy from the role. As alcoholic, little girl hating Orphanage Matron, she acted a drunk just within the bounds of reality and had us laughing uncontrollably at her every appearance – the best Miss H. I have seen (including professionals) Billionaire Oliver Warbucks’ faithful secretary, Grace Farrell, was played by Claire Cranston with poise and sensitivity. She had a lovely relationship with Annie who she took to her heart from the start. In turn, Annie was delightfully played by Charlotte Houston. Totally natural, she was nevertheless a true professional when coping with Sandy (Honey!) the extremely hungry dog who attempted to upstage her as she sang “Tomorrow”! Charlotte was absolutely believable as the spunky orphan who ends up winning the heart of Warbucks. It was good to see Billy Rea back on stage as Warbucks – a role which suited him well. His change from intimidating business tycoon to loving father figure was well handled and his rapport with Annie was appealing and credible.

The Set was two right-angled bookends with one side red brick and windows, centred for orphanage and outdoor scenes and reversed in marble and placed stage left and right with marbled backing for Warbucks’ mansion. These were effective but would have benefited from props on the mansion trucks (maybe the chaise-longue which appeared later) and larger flower arrangements for such a mansion. Christmas decorations would have been a good addition for the last couple of scenes with the lovely Christmas tree off stage left. Sound and Lighting were effective – the latter nicely atmospheric for “Hooverville”. Costumes by Utopia were mostly authentic and make-up, wigs and hair appropriate.

This was a dazzling show, which ticked all entertainment boxes. Choreography was eye-catching and action was all precise and well rehearsed. My thanks to every Lisnagarvey member involved in any way. I enjoyed my evening with you very much.

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