Annie

Author: Liz Hume-Dawson

Information

Date
19th April 2018
Society
Farnworth Performing Arts Company Ltd
Venue
Albert Halls Bolton
Type of Production
Musical
Director
Robert Margolis
Musical Director
David Wilson
Choreographer
Martin Robinson

Never work with Children and Animals the saying goes. . . Farnworth’s colourful production of Annie had to do just that and they rose to the occasion.

With Stanley the dog playing Sandy and stealing scenes with his cuteness, the title role played by Emilia Parkinson was a delight especially for one so young to lead the show, well done including manoeuvring a spirited dog about the stage!

The orphans backing Annie called for real attitude and guts and they delivered. With the two youngest Florence Conner and Eva Connor pulling out all the stops.

Miss Hannigan played by Irene Smith needed to be strong against the girls: she was a delight and the audience got her straight away with the snarling asides and hip flask - purely for ‘medicinal purposes’!  - working well with her sleazy brother Rooster Hannigan played confidently by Dean Simons.

Beth Eccleshare playing Grace and Clive McCoy playing Warbucks gave notable performances too.

The Ensemble worked well together filling in different roles with many costume changes complementing the scenes. One of the highlights was the White House scene when President Roosevelt played by Colin Dean makes the board sing Cabinet Tomorrow - very entertaining!

David Wilson, Musical Director and Orchestra were splendid and led the cast with an acoustic treat in the Albert Halls

On a technical issue some scenes were rather dim and I felt needed more light or the actor to step into the light and sound quality seemed to vary from scene to scene.

I must congratulate you on a feel good show and one cannot fail to come away singing some of the songs and marvelling at the fact that you really can work with animals and children.

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