You can still see Annie tomorrow...
THE forecast might not be looking too good for the rest of the week but you can be sure the sun will come out tomorrow at Newcastle’s Tyne Theatre.
After having everyone dancing in the aisles to the fabulous Priscilla Queen of the Desert in February, Astravaganza Entertainment is taking things more traditional with its latest production about a certain plucky orphan.
Annie is one of those musicals that is something of a rite of passage for youngsters across the world. Very much in the same vein as Oliver, it’s a classic that you can’t help fall in love with, whether it be because of its characters or songs like It’s A HardKnock Life, Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile and, of course, Tomorrow.
And while Astravaganza is staying true to the original, producer Liam Glendinning revealed that there’s one major difference... their Annie, or should there be Annies, are not ginger!
“Our director wanted to do things a bit differently,” he told The Chronicle.
“The latest film version changed a lot of things and while we won’t be shaking things up quite as much, neither of our Annies – Kady Martin and Abigail Miller – have ginger hair.
“We are very much sticking to the traditional theme of the show and we even have a dog!” With two Annies, two sets of orphans and adult cast members, making a cast of 90, Liam and the rest of Annie’s production team have had their hands full at rehearsals but now it’s time for curtain-up with two performances a day until tomorrow.
But after being in Dubai with Grease, Liam is excited to be back on home turf.
“While it’s a completely different show from Priscilla, I am feeling the pressure a bit because of how well that went down,” he admitted.
“But while it doesn’t have all the fabulous costumes of Priscilla it does have some really lovely ones and the set is beautiful too.
“I know people always just think of Tomorrow when it comes to the songs from Annie.
“But there are some other really good ones like Maybe, Easy Street and Little Girls and we’ve got a wonderful Miss Hannigan to sing that. The role was made for Katie Howes.”
Annie is at the Tyne Theatre & Opera House until tomorrow with performances at 3pm and 7pm daily. ■■Tickets are still available from the box office, over the phone on 0844 2491 000 and online from www. tynetheatreandoperahouse.uk.