Annie

A traditional interpretation of this well-known musical provided an enjoyable evening of entertainment.

The Young Performers were, very much, the highlight of this production, especially the very cute Molly (Holly Kitchen), who stole the attention several times during the show! Maisie Dury in the title role, showed exceptional stage presence and delivery – both spoken and sung. Miss Hannigan (Jackie Beatson) maintained a flawless well-planned character as the rather worse-for-wear, grumpy and tyrannical principal of the orphanage. Hannigan was ably assisted by Rooster (Craig Spence) - taking over the part at extremely short notice - and his floozy girlfriend Lily (Brogan Orkney), in their plan to claim to be Annie’s long-lost parents and, therefore, get the reward put up by Oliver Warbucks. This latter character has to demonstrate a wide range of emotions from a blustering business tycoon to a soft-hearted father figure to Annie, and, I must say, this was most effectively done tonight by Glen McGill. Grace Farrell (Julie Stirling) provided good characterisation as the person who could keep Oliver Warbucks in hand.

Minor principals were all well cast and made the most of each individual character. Finally, the chorus: within Markinch Musical Society, enthusiasm is the name of the game, and tonight was no exception – be it in acting, singing or choreography.

All of the above is due, in no small measure, to the excellent Production Team. The experience of this team has obviously rubbed off well and been accepted by the entire cast!

Technically - simple sets worked well and allowed the production to flow from one scene to another with minimum down time between.

Costumes looked good and fitted the period of the show. Lighting and sound both worked well!

Thank you MMS for inviting me to your 2019 show, for presenting a fine evening’s entertainment and for the warm Markinch welcome received. It also gave me much pleasure to co-present Long Service Awards, along with Honorary President Bob Grant – especially a diamond bar awarded to Ian Thomson.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.