I think just about everyone will be familiar with the tale of Little Orphan Annie and the rags to riches story which covered the life of this young girl and her friends from the orphanage where she was brought up. The word that often comes to mind when thinking about this musical is “cute”, but this production moved beyond that. There were times when you didn’t realise that you were watching a cast of mostly pre-teens as the maturity and professionalism of these young girls was amazing.
I must start by praising the star of the show, the young girl who played the title role of the production. I have seen a number of versions of this show over the years and the performance of Zara Bateson as Annie was up there with the best of them. You knew that this was going to be something out of the ordinary from the opening lines of the first song (Maybe) which was well delivered as a solo by Annie herself. The cast soon got into gear with their version of “Hard knock life” during which some excellent choreography elevated this from a routine number to something special indeed. The self-confidence of the junior cast members was there in abundance for all to see.
But then came the introduction of the shows secret weapon – a live dog! Perhaps I have missed something over the years, but I can never recall a live dog being used as a cast member in any production of Annie I have ever seen. I don’t know who had trained the animal, but it was so well behaved and followed the stage directions implicitly. I think it enjoyed all the applause it was getting too, as well as all the “Ohhs and Ahhs.
The adult characters managed to introduce a large amount of comic acting into the show. There was a lot of humour contained within the interplay with the senior members of the cast. It was more a reflection on the age of the audience that, being of a certain age myself, I think I was the only person who got the Harpo Marx gag (to paraphrase; “Harpo Marx was on the phone.” “What did he want?” “Don’t know, he didn’t say!”. Well, I thought it was amusing anyway.
It is impossible to name all the excellent performances during the show, but Sarah Thewlis as Miss Hannigan, Paul Allison as Warbucks and the superb Sarah Clarke as Grace deserve a special mention, as does little Sofia Elbahrawy who gave a brilliant performance throughout for one so young. I can only apologise to those cast members who I have not had room to name individually. There was not a weak performance throughout the whole show, no mistakes at all.
Sometimes there are occasions when all the stars align, and this was one of them. The combination of the lead members of the production team ensured that this is a production that will live long in the memory.
The show has now finished its final performance, so if you have missed it, hard luck, you’ll have to wait for the next Drama Department production!
Reviewer: David S Clarke
Reviewed: 21st September 2024
North West End UK Rating: