The musical Annie is good fun. It may not be among the very greatest American musicals, but if it is of the second rank, it is at the very top of that second rank. Inspired by a comic strip that ran for decades in the US newspapers and dealt quite vigorously at times with contemporary issues during the Depression and second World War, the book of the musical may be a somewhat diluted version of the comic strip Little Orphan Annie but it certainly pays tribute to the political and sociological concerns of the strip and incorporates not a few of the characters and tropes, including Annie’s dog Sandy. This new production is utterly faithful to the original musical and a winner.
The fanciful sets and accurate period costumes by Colin Richmond are colourful and evocative of the period in which the tale is set and the choreography by Nick Winston, especially for the children, is captivating, energetic and always good to watch. Anita Dobson is well cast in the part of Miss Hannigan, except that she rather tends to overdo and overegg the mugging. If she would calm down a bit she would be more effective and also rather more touching. Indeed, all the casting is spot on in this production. Alex Bourne is especially strong and convincing as Daddy Warbucks (who was bald in the comic strip too!) and has the voice and acting skills that are needed, and Carolyn Maitland is winning and very watchable as Grace and she has a lovely voice. I wish that the director, Nikolai Foster had brought out a little more clearly through stage action the attraction she feels all along to Daddy Warbucks (who earned his bucks during World War I) but all in all Foster does a completely splendid job.
All the children are simply terrific, very talented and very well drilled in their routines. I saw Taziva-Faye Katsande as Annie the night I went and liked her a lot. I just wish, once again, that the X-Factor style of forced-voice nasal singing were not so prominent. The show is miked. You don’t have to force or shout to be heard. Indeed, one of the real joys of Alex Bourne’s Daddy Warbucks was that he sang his songs with variety of tone and dynamics and only forced his voice once all evening.
Richard Meek was a memorable Rooster, Gary Davis deserves praise for his three roles, but especially for his Franklin Roosevelt, and George Rae was delightful as both Bert Healy and Ickes. Every member of the cast and crew deserves praise.
What you get here is a revival of the actual original show in terms of text and songs, so I was delighted that it includes the Hooverville sequence and the NYC number in particular and both excellently stage. Alex Bourne did a particularly touching job with the song Something was Missing and there was a real uplift with the I Don’t Need Anything but You number. The excellent score by Charles Strouse and the catchy lyrics by Martin Charnin were well served and I was reminded how really memorable the songs of this show are.
This is an old fashioned Broadway musical but it is by no means negligible. And this is a really strong rendering of the material in a production that is definitely worth a visit.