Miranda’s lovely, but she sings like a coyote

ANYONE in Central London on Monday night may have heard a low moaning. Was it a camel in labour? No, it was Miranda hart trying to sing in Annie.

Miranda: much-loved TV comedian, English pudding, a favourite of my teenage daughters. But not, please God, ever again a singer.

She plays Miss hannigan, supposedly nasty superintendent of an orphanage in 1933 Manhattan. When billionaire Mr Warbucks offers to take in an orphan for two weeks over Christmas, troublesome Annie, aged 11, is chosen.

This cheesy musical is best known for the song Tomorrow, which basically says your troubles will ease if you smile.

Rival West End shows Matilda and School Of Rock have created a vogue for shows with precocious children.

The cast of girls here are certainly full of beans — tiny Nicole Subebe, missing half her teeth, is adorable — but director Nikolai Foster and his sound engineer have over-amplified them. Their nasal squawking is impossible to understand. As for the storyline about a rich businessman falling for an 11-year-old, you couldn’t get away with that these days.

The company dances well. Ruby Stokes, playing Annie on press night, has a powerful voice — she must have been heard at the far end of Shaftesbury Avenue. The sets wobble.

Many will buy tickets simply to see Miranda, in the show until September. She does her usual routine: big-boned goofiness with lots of eye bulging. her singing is really remarkably bad: a coyote yowl. And yet it is impossible to dislike her. A VERSION of this review appeared in earlier editions.