29th April 2025
Hairspray
Huddersfield Light Opera Company, Lawrence Batley Theatre
Annie Jr
Author: Ashley Booker
Information
- Date
- 17th May 2023
- Society
- Maltby Musical Theatre Group
- Venue
- Wesley Centre
- Type of Production
- Musical
- Director
- Joanne Farthing
- Musical Director
- Martin Farthing
- Choreographer
- Emma Emerson
- Production Assistant
- Christopher Badger
The Broadway Jr collection are a great way to get children into performing, as they are slightly rewritten to enable the entire show to be performed by children. This was a great production of Annie Jr by Maltby Minors. The production team, Joanne Farthing, Martin Farthing and Emma Emerson should be very proud of their efforts with this talented group. One piece of direction I particularly liked, was the way that we, the audience, saw Annie’s parents leave her on the step of the orphanage to be found by the cruel and wicked Miss Hannigan.
The orphans were a delight to watch, keeping their character up throughout. I must mention the stage presence of Alexis Berry as Kate, she was completely in the moment every time she was . stage and had some fabulous facial expressions. The orphans routine, were well choreographed and fitted the scene well.
Miss Hannigan (Lillie Richards) was well played and was cruel, but without going over the top. Grace Farrell (Millie Thackeray) had great elegance and super diction. Daddy Warbucks was played by Bailey-Jake Corker who had a fine singing voice and I’m sure, as all men, will be in much demand in the future. Aerun Jeffcock and Olivia Wright played Rooster and Lily respectively. This was a fine pairing, and relished playing the villains. Lilly has a great character actress persona and was wonderfully ditsy, funny, and evil in equal measure. She also treated us to her great singing voice.
The title role of Annie was played by Maisie Ward, who was everything we expect from the worlds most famous orphan. She acted and sang with a maturity above her years and interacted well with everyone in stage.
The smaller roles were played extremely well by members of the company and they coped very well with the transition from Hoovervilleites to the servants in the Warbucks mansion. Costumes were good and the set was perfect for the limited space available.
Thank you to all at Maltby Minors for a great evenings entertainment. The sun certainly came out for you all.
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