Review by Paul Towers, 28/2/2023
Annie, by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin
Directed by Nikolai Foster, choreographed by Nick Winston
Produced by Michael Harrison and David Ian
At Curve til Saturday 4th March 2023
“Annie is a huge, warm musical”
Way back in 1924 a comic strip called Little Orphan Annie ran in American newspapers. This detailed the adventures of Annie, an orphan in a children’s home in New York. In 1972 Thomas Meehan was approached and asked to write the book of a musical about Annie. So, taking the main characters of Annie, Daddy Warbucks and Sandy the dog he created a whole new story. Set in 1933 New York in the heart of the Great depression, Annie escapes from the orphanage to try and find her parents. Caught by the cruel Miss Hannigan Annie is put to work with the rest of the inmates to scrub and clean.
This current tour which kicks off at Curve stars Craig Revel Horwood as the harridan Miss Hannigan with three rotating teams of young girls as the orphans. There are also three Annies taking it in turns. Press Night saw the extraordinary Zoe Akinyosade lead the company in the title role. This young talent has star potential written in spades. She holds the stage with ease and has a clear strong voice which belies her years. The role of Annie is supposed to be 11 years old but I suspect Zoe is even younger. She will go far.
The orphans on Press Night, Team Chrysler, were spot on, very tightly choreographed. The adult ensemble, tasked with very many roles changed costumes at an alarming rate to populate the story.
Now we come to the main adult roles. Craig Revel-Horwood as Miss Hannigan has a whale of a time drunkenly swishing across the stage in-between snarling insults at all and sundry. He also shows he can kick up his heels with the best of them. As the central, calming, authoritarian figure of the story, Alex Bourne’s Daddy Warbucks has the gravitas and deep warm voice that the role needs.
Not a single member of the cast puts a foot wrong, and that includes Sandy the dog. There are four Sandys so I am not sure which one was on last night. Whichever it was they were perfectly behaved.
Annie is a huge, warm musical with loads of laughs, wall to wall musical numbers and a great story. It is on at Curve until Saturday 4th March and then continues its tour
https://anniethemusicaltour.uk/
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