Annie

For those of you that know me personally there are few things that I dislike, especially when it comes to performances. One of my all time least favourite musicals is Annie, I've never been able to connect or appreciate the show as much as others for whatever reason. HOWEVER! TMTC's production of Annie has certainly given me an enjoyable and fresh perspective on what I thought was a lost musical for me. From the clever use of projections, slick scene changes and flashy dancing to the very genuine performances, both of human and dog variety. With two teams of very talented children TMTC has certainly created an engaging, fun and family-loving performance for everyone.

 

Huge credit goes to the direction, given this show by Alison Dale. Alison has worked as dedicated as ever to create a genuine and yet quirky show, filled with authentic and fun characters. Combining the use of lighting, set and individual performance to create incredible displays of emotion and togetherness on stage.

 

The musical director for this show was the talented Jason Mitchell, his experience and expertise again allowing the company to harmonise and develop the storytelling through the expressive voices and mix of songs on stage.

 

Choreography was dealt with by the fabulous Nic Jenkins, Nic’s ability to create relatable and suitable choreography for a range of ages and experience levels seems effortless yet again. The engagement of the younger cast, with wonderfully synchronised brushing and sweeping as well as flowing more conventional dance routines was superb.

 

The staging was minimal in terms of set pieces but was enhanced by the use of projections and key pieces of set to use the depth of the stage well. Lighting and sound worked in brilliant partnership with the mood of the scenes perfectly, supporting the world that we were dragged into by these mix of characters.

 

Starting the show with a beautifully moving, genuine and yet fun introduction to this Annie world were the children from “Team Handknock Life”: Molly played by Scarlett Harris, Kate played by Alice Tattersall, Pepper played by Poppy Short, Tessie played by Lola Mulcaster, Duffy played by Holly Turnbull, July played by Amelia Brown supported by Anisia Nestor, Willow Harrison, Holly Wilson, Bohdi Cartwright, Mollie O'Neil and Alfie Holly.

      The orphanage children are always a fundamental part of making the whole world of Annie work. Seeing their emotional and physical representations of struggle in the orphanage to the joy or nerves of their view of the outside world and the hope of one day finding a family was brilliant. Every single one of those performers had focus, skill and brilliant characterisation. All showing different reactions to the story or each other and gave a different perspective whenever you looked on the stage.

One stand out performer from the orphanage children was the talented Scarlett Harris, who performed as Molly. Her engagement, characterisation and comedic quality were incredible to see and hear throughout the performance. She was interacting with the older cast as well as creating some funny and comedic moments with the other orphanage children.

 

Annie was played in the production I saw by Rumer Holly, Rumer brought her interpretation to Annie which was a kind, caring, fiesty and sassy character. This Annie was always looking for the family she had missed but also enjoying every moment of life with the other characters. Rumer's renditions of ‘Maybe’ and ‘Tomorrow’ were beautifully performed and sang with a sound that most older performers would hope to have.

 

Orphanages don't run themselves and this one certainly needed maintaining and it was under the watchful eye of the wonderful Hannah Smith as the challenging Miss.Hannigan. Hannah's portrayal of Miss.Hannigan was one I will not forget. Her mix of genuine emotions with the exaggerated schemes, plots and tricks showed a woman of desperation and longing to climb the social ladder. Her song ‘Little Girls’ was sang beautifully, acted perfectly and was a joy to watch. Not only did Hannah have less time than expected to learn this role but she made it seem as though she had been Miss.Hannigan since the start of the rehearsal process. It looked effortless for Hannah on that stage and was an utter joy to watch!

 

Moving onto another leading lady in Penny Collier who portrayed Grace Farrell. Penny had perfect pitch, a loving attitude while also keeping a stern determination about her. I have seen Penny in many performances and this was another one she had portrayed with genuine care and emotion, working in harmony with the cast around her. The almost mother like care towards Annie was truly heartwarming.

 

Oliver Warbucks, the self make billionaire melted seamlessly through the show. Starting off as a uniform, disciplined and hard faced businessman to gently warm up and become the emotional, caring and hopeful father we all hoped to see Annie have was a true testament to Allan Iveson and his performance ability. Allan sang with heart and performed with a fantastic stage presence, his version of ‘Something was missing’ was truly beautiful.

 

Every Annie performance would not be complete without a fantastic duo of comedic and devious characters. This is, of course, in the form of Rooster and Lily St Regis. Played by Phil Green and Jayne Holley respectively, the two were a fantastic pairing and showed the many levels to their performances. From genuine care and fun to the slippery and treacherous shady dealings of their plan to get to easy street the duo were fantastic throughout. A special mention also goes to Jayne for picking up the part of Lily St Regis and performing it with such confidence and character.

 

There are a lot of additional characters in Annie which each provide a different part of the story. The house staff is one such area: Abigail Beck as Cecile, Amy Robinson as Annette, Katherine Reeve as Mrs Greer, Angela Hare as Mrs Pugh all provided great characters and interactions with each other and the other cast. They each had brilliant personality and unique character which helped to create a realistic stately home. Head of the house was Drake played superbly by Scott Robinson, his suave and sophisticated character worked brilliantly with his, from time to time, sarcastic tone to create a bit of humour in this serious household.

 

Other roles were performed brilliantly by the cast and ALL of them portrayed a unique and fun perspective to the story. Interactions were interesting and constant no matter the positioning or focus on the stage, everywhere you looked there was life and character. 

To the crew, band, tech team, costume and anyone else involved: Thank you for making a version of Annie I really loved!

 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.