Annie is one of the classic pieces of musical theatre and despite first hitting the stage more than fifty years ago it remains as vibrant and fresh as it has ever been. So, the audience was eager to see its latest re-incarnation as it stopped off at The Regent Theatre as part of its latest UK tour.
For the few who are unaware of the storyline, this is a true feelgood tale of orphan Annie (Zoe Akinyosade) who was abandoned as a young child and taken into the dubious care of the orphanage run by Miss Hannigan (Jodie Prenger). Hannigan is totally unsuited to her position in the orphanage – she dislikes children and takes solace in the bottle – and is unsympathetic to Annie’s dream of being re-united with her parents.
Annie and her fellow residents are given a horrible life in the orphanage and are used as little more than child labour but there is a glimmer of hope for the young girl with the arrival of Grace Farrell (Amelia Adams). She is PA to Daddy Warbucks (Alex Bourne) and is looking for an orphan to spend Christmas at the billionaire’s mansion.
Warbucks immediately warms to the orphan and it seems that her miserable life is heading for a remarkable future. However, Hannigan teams up with her sleazy brother Rooster (Paul French) and his girlfriend Lily (Billie Kay) to set up a scam that will see them earning a fortune and return Annie to her former “guardian’s” clutches.
In many ways Annie is the perfect musical. It has a simple but well-known score (Maybe, It’s The Hard Knock Life, Tomorrow), opportunities for great choreography – We’d Like To Thank You, Mr Hoover and N.Y.C are particular favourites, villainous characters to boo and lovable characters to admire and invest your hopes in.
So, with a great storyline and material to work with, it is down to the cast to deliver the goods and this they do with aplomb. From the lively opening scene which introduces us to a delightful group of children the audience member just knows that this is going to be a treat, The ensemble is energetic and talented and the dog Sandy (Lily in real life) steals the show whenever making an appearance.
French and Kay are delightfully sleazy and can certainly sing and dance with the best, David Burrows is the President everyone would love to have in charge of their country while Adams puts in a beautiful performance as Annie’s champion who hopefully will get her man.
As for the three principal characters, Bourne is very impressive as a man who has risen from rags to immense riches with a good singing voice and clearly enjoyed working with his young co-star. That little hug and smile to her at the final curtain said it all.
Akinyosade is one of three young actors sharing the title role. Watch out for her name – she has everything within her ability to become a superstar with fabulous vocal and choreographic skills and she plays the part with just the necessary touch of feistiness.
As for Jodie Prenger, there was some disappointment in social media that she was replacing a possibly more well-known artist. However, with Andrew Lloyd Webber as a fan, she has to have something special in her abilities. She stamped her personality on the role of Miss Hannigan and made it her own. Any doubters were made to eat their words and, in the words of the man she replaced “Darling. You were FAB-U-LOUS”
Once again it was a delight to see this musical theatre that proves that a diamond can be made from the dirt of depression. Never mind Maybe or Tomorrow. Decide to go and see Annie today.
Annie has a running time of approximately 2 hours 20 minutes including interval and continues until May 13th. Contact atgtickets.com/stoke for details.
