The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Annie cast are joy in hard times musical
This new production of Annie was like seeing an old friend who has had a complete makeover. Taking all the joy of the original show and adding a whole lot of Broadway glitz, dancers tap their way through the song NYC in a scene reminiscent of Gene Kelly’s On The Town.
The hard-working cast are hardly offstage, taking on roles from policeman to dog warden, the laundry man at the orphanage to butler and maids at the mansion, all while dancing and singing the show’s classic songs.
Elaine C Smith has taken on the role of Miss Hannigan as a gift to her granddaughter, who at 10 is the perfect age to enjoy Annie but her portrayal is a gift to us all.
Alex Bourne brings real warmth as Daddy Warbucks at His Majesty’s Theatre, quickly taking orphan Annie to his heart and embracing all the joy that emanates from his younger co-star.
Amelia Adams, meanwhile, plays his private secretary Grace Farrell, beautiful and pristine, leading the chorus numbers with style.
In the central role, Poppy Cunningham steals the show, a bundle of energy, childish exuberance and a whole lot of talent, winning over the audience and all onstage
– including president Franklin D Roosevelt – with her showstopping performances of Tomorrow and I Don’t Need Anything But You.
She is equally matched by a line-up of orphans who are all touring with the company and are obviously having the time of their lives. They were onstage from before the show started and were still dancing long after the adult cast had left at the curtain call.
Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile and, of course, the classic Hard Knock Life were particular standouts.
Annie is set in the middle of the Great Depression of the 1930s, when the orphan runaway brings an injection of positivity to the residents of Hooverville and, along with Mr Warbucks, to the president’s men when she joins them in the West Wing in the search for her parents.
The baddies of the piece are, of course, Miss Hannigan, along with her brother Rooster and his girlfriend Lily St Regis, whose rendition of Easy Street quite rightly earned applause and boos in equal measure.
Annie is the perfect cost-ofliving crisis musical – set in dark times but guaranteed to bring joy to the hearts of all.
The curtain rises at 7.30pm tonight and tomorrow which also has a matinee at 2.30pm.