Annie Jr.

This delightful adaptation of “Annie” by Charles Strause and Martin Charnin had a cast of twenty children aged between seven and sixteen. For the younger ones it was quite likely that this was their first stage production in front of an audience and the night I saw it, was the opening night. They all did extremely well and remembered their words and choreography although, as with children of their age, a little perfunctory.

I know that the production package comes with a CD or equivalent for accompaniment but I believe that a musical director in front of a cast can instill some extra confidence for them in starting the songs and also provide them with more musical expression to give the melody, lyrics and mood some variety.

There were some good highlights throughout the show in that “Maybe”, “It’s the Hard-Knock Life”, and “Tomorrow” always go down well with any audience.  For me, also “Fully Dressed”, was a particular pleasure.

Annie (Hattie), Oliver Warbucks (George), Miss Hannigan (Eleanor) and Grace (Jemima) had a lot of dialogue that was well learnt. I thought they did a great job.

The truncated script from the original “Annie” did not run as smoothly as the full version but nevertheless, the story was easy to follow, not for just the audience, but also for the young performers. The technical crew and backstage crew did expertly in their support for the cast.

This was an enjoyable production and an excellent learning experience for those twenty children on stage, some of whom we will no doubt see in future shows for Walberton Players. Thank you, young actors, for your hard work.  

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