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The
children from the Betty Fox Stage School enjoy every minute of the
show and are a sparkling group and are very popular.
The music is lively, well orchestrated filling the entire theatre
with all the much-loved numbers much to the pleasure of the capacity
audience.
Director Chris Colby gets from his cast a wonderful team effort
with the bonus of excellent central performances. His production
is never too sentimental.
The choreography by David Kort is 'spot on' making the production
numbers big and the individual performances tight.
The
staging itself is bright, well decorated and captures nicely the
opulence of New York society and the squalor and poverty of the
orphanage.
Both the lighting and sound create at times an almost magical picture,
which left the audience ecstatic and unable to stop applauding.
It is a long time since I have heard such great applause but it
is well deserved.
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| Orphan
Annie |
A
talented orphan
At last night's performance talented Lucy Barker played the orphaned
Annie with considerable stage presence and she has a strong singing
voice too, which made her performance of 'Tomorrow' memorable.
The
ever-popular Su Pollard plays the dreadful Miss Hannigan with great
flare and her drunken behaviour is most amusing as are the frightening
scenes, which are handled in just the right way to get the maximum
reaction from the children in the audience.
Su's hairstyle and costumes are somewhat zany bringing individuality
to the role. She is excellent in the production number 'Easy Street'
after which you know a sticky end is sure to happen!
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| Miss
Hannigan |
Mark
Wynter is impressive as Daddy Warbucks giving a powerful and also
at times sensitive performance. He was excellent in 'NYC', 'Something
was Missing' and 'I Don't Need Anything But You' using his strong
singing voice to great affect and confirming once more that he is
one of our finest of stage musical performers.
The
role of Grace Farrell, Daddy Warbucks secretary is played with both
charm and sophistication by Louise English. Her costumes and particularly
that for the ballroom sequence were beautiful.
Matthew Hewitt as Rooster Hannigan and Amanda Sims as Lily St Regis
are both well cast as the villains of the show and their performance
of 'Easy Street' with Su Pollard was the highlight of Act 1.
Christopher Marlowe is impressive in the character part of F.D.R.
Both of the dogs in the show get plenty of reaction from the audience
with a high 'aah' factor.
Overall this is a top class production of 'Annie' and it is not
surprising that it has broken box office records during its 2003
tour.
Clive
Fuller.
You
can see Annie at the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham until Saturday
15th November 2003.
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