For a musical set around the depression, telling the story of the badly treated orphan ANNIE, this is one production which feels rich and opulent and like a trip back to the golden days of Hollywood.
The show you may know and love, whether it be from previous tours, or more likely the two movie versions. But Annie is still one of those productions which demands to be seen on stage, especially with Strictly star CRAIG REVEL HORWOOD as Miss Hannigan. I could easily use a paragraph full of his favourite, well used TV phrases to describe his performance, but let me just say that Craig is truly spectacular.
Which is exactly what the audience thought at last night’s performance……..
Miss Hannigan is definitely our pick of the adult performances. The girls who inhabit the various roles of the orphans are fantastic too, but Craig has brought something which is dastardly funny but also incredibly complex. This is a part Craig seems to really Revel in (sorry Craig).
His portrayal of Miss Hannigan is about as far removed from a pantomime dame as you can get, although you’d be forgiven for thinking that if you’ve not seen the show before. He really brings Agatha to life in ways we’ve not seen before.
The story, in case you don’t know it is…..
Set in 1930s New York during The Great Depression, brave young Annie is forced to live a life of misery at Miss Hannigan’s orphanage. Her luck soon changes when she’s chosen to spend a fairytale Christmas with famous billionaire, Oliver Warbucks. Meanwhile, spiteful Miss Hannigan has other ideas and hatches a plan to spoil Annie’s search for her true family…
The show opens on the run down orphanage bedroom, in fact when you arrive into the auditorium the curtain is raised and slowly the girls enter the stage and crawl into the beds. We meet the girls, the aforementioned Miss Hannigan, and our rebel with a cause, little orphan Annie.
There are some deliciously evil lines spoken by Craig and within seconds we know exactly what sort of devious, heartless woman Miss Hannigan is.
As well as a first rate adult company, there’s the girls in the orphanage. There’s an entire cast of 44, with 25 girls rotating the various child roles, so who you may see could well be different on the night of our review. There are 4 Annie’s, 3 Molly’s, 4 July’s, 5 Pepper’s, 3 Duffy’s, 3 Kate’s, and 3 Tessie’s. The best thing I can do is direct you to the cast page so you can see them all – HERE.
ZOE AKINYOSADE was our Annie last night and she was about as perfect an Annie as you’ll see.
Having said all that, some of the adult company are kept on their toes, by the Dance Captain as they get to play multiple roles. I’ll say this a few times during this review, I’m sure, but the dancing is off the scale good. The routines are highly polished and incredible fun.
ALEX BOURNE is Daddy Warbucks, AMELIA ADAMS is love interest Grace Farrell, PAUL FRENCH is Rooster, BILLIE -KAY is Lily. Whilst everyone plays their part to the max, I did hear a little extra cheer during the finale for Paul who brings a touch of menacing evil to rooster which is both disturbing and hilarious in equal measures.
The rest of the cast includes – Emily Barnett-Salter, Alistair Beattie, Sergi Ibanez, Matthew Sweet, Rosalind James, Belle Kizzy Green, Ellie May-Wilson, Martin McCarthy, Phoebe Roberts, Lukin Simmonds, David Burrows, Dawn Williams, and Tommy Wade-Smith (Dance Captain).
The set and costume design by COLIN RICHMOND brings to life those wonderful days of good old fashioned musicals, yet has all the grit and squalor you’d expect in a 1930s orphanage.
The way the set changes from orphanage to city streets and into Warbucks mansion is as slick as the most polished dance routine. The cast move across the stage, almost like a distraction as props and scenery make their way into place. The precision of it all is a sight to behold.
Of course, this is a musical and ANNIE has a soundtrack which has more than stood the test of time since it became a movie favourite back in 1977.
Composer CHARLES STROUSE and lyricist MARTIN CHARNIN, had the knack of being able to turn the darkest of situations into a happy tune, and the show is filled with some of the best. I can pretty much guarantee you’ll know them all, from the timeless ‘Tomorrow’ to ever so sleazy ‘Easy Street’ through to the chart-topping ‘It’s The Hard Knock Life’.
I also want to give a special mention to the band who made such an incredible sound. They completely filled the auditorium – brilliant job guys.
Head to the bottom of the page to play the original movie soundtrack.
Throw into the mix some highly polished dance routines from Choreographer NICK WINSTON, and you have two hours of musical magic on the Donald Gordon stage.
Incidentally, if you love a bit of ‘tap‘, which I do, you’ll really enjoy the tap-dancing troupe who morph into ponies clip-clopping their way around Central Park.
Annie is only with us for the rest of the week so I would urge you to grab the kids (of all ages), get yourself a ticket for the show and get along to have a FAB-U-LOUS couple of hours at the theatre. Don’t wait till ‘Tomorrow‘, do it now.
The show will take you on an emotional journey, but little orphan Annie is a lesson to us all in these troubled times we live in. Stay positive, look for the good and like most of the theatre audience last night, you will leave the WMC feeling truly uplifted. Oh yes, you’ll be singing ‘It’s A Hard Knock Life‘ for the rest of the night too – we all were.
Just one other thing to mention, which is a definite hit with the audience and that’s the dog. It is a real life dog on stage, and as you saw in our video, AMBER (Sandy) is as seasoned an Annie performer as any of the regular adult cast members.
ANNIE is at the Wales Millennium Centre through to Saturday 8th July, tickets are on sale now. For more information and tickets, go HERE.
Read our original interview with Craig Revel Horwood – HERE.
