Annie Jr.

I was delighted to be able to come to see and to report on your recent production of “Annie Jr.’ and to visit a group outside my normal District.   As the junior version of the full-length show, this production would give the young people some good and interesting characters to play, while following a clear but shortened story line.  However, with the story being shorter, it would be very important to still convey the mood changes and action steps clearly.  This was very successfully done by this well disciplined and very talented young group!

The set was ingenious, with much of the orphanage action taking place on the floor, then later moving to the stage for Mr Warbucks’ house and the New York city street scene.  The planning of the scenes was very obvious, although occasionally items were not quite in the right places in the opening. I really liked the creativity of using pillow cases for these scenes, which was plain in colour and looked suitably impoverished. In stark contrast, Mr Warbucks house was palatial, with pink walls and very impressive stage dressing.  Miss Hannigan’s office was very nicely suggested with suitable furniture and dressing.   The set changes were very well organised, and mostly done by the cast, particularly at the beginning. 

The music and sound effects were very well cued and controlled, although at times the music seemed to be a little late. The lighting operation was superb! Costumes were good and changed as required, with good changes of character as the cast took on various roles, although I have to say that I found one or two of the wigs rather distracting.  

There were a lot of very good details in the staging that really enhanced the sense of reality onstage, such as the actions of the staff in Mr Warbucks house, and their attitudes to Grace and Mr Warbucks, making a nice contrast to their warmth towards Annie. I was very impressed by the discipline of the cast in timing their movements so well together, and in helping one another as it was needed.  Indeed, this was a very good production from such a wide age range of cast members: from 4 – 18 years!  However, it was the leading roles that created much of the important story line, as discussed below.

Leading roles:

Annie: This was a big part that was very well played.  The singing was good, expressive and clear, the acting made very good use of body language, and movement and timing was excellent.  Congratulations!

Miss Hannigan: I loved the way this part was played, from the walk to the costume! The whole character was wonderfully nasty, and your good looks only increased the nastiness! You really got inside this character and understood her.  Well done!

Grace:  This was played as a warm-hearted woman who really took to Annie on first meeting. This was a very mature performance that captured the essence of the ‘assistant’ character extremely well. 

Mr Warbucks:  He was played with very good understanding of this complex character with the nature of the ‘boss man’ sitting uneasily alongside the more humane caring side of the character.  Both were very well handled and totally believable. Well done!

Rooster:  Here was a lovely part to play, with teasing, goading and sarcasm aimed at his sister while also being totally underhand.  I didn’t quite get the connection to Miss Hannigan in the beginning, but at Mr Warbucks home, the character became clearer and more certain.

Lily St Regis:  This is a key small part that acts to show up Rooster as a scoundrel! This was very nicely played, with the winsome smiles, and angst with Miss Hannigan. A lovely cameo that was well done.

Sandy the dog:  This was a lovely character that was played so well as a puppet. The movements and appeal were very realistic that one forgot that there was a puppeteer.  Well done!

President Roosevelt: There was such a power and authority in this character’s delivery of the script that it was hard to recall that this was played by a young person.  This was very well done indeed!

Other cast:  Everyone in the cast played their parts very well, from the youngest upwards.  I was so impressed that some of the smallest people had important parts to play and that all was done with excellent timing, good discipline and great development of character. How lovely to see a cast working so well together as a team!

Altogether, this was a remarkable production with such a large cast of such a wide age range. The story was clearly told, the characters were highly believable and the whole performance was backed up with very good technical support and staging.  Congratulations to you all on a very good production!

Dee Way

N.B. Please note that these comments solely reflect the view of the Representative and can only relate to the performance seen.

 

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