Edinburgh Playhouse – until 5 October 2019
Reviewed by Siobhan Wilson
4****
“It’s a Hard Knock Life” for Annie (Ava Smith), the title character in this story. Annie is a child who lives in an orphanage. Her attempts to run away are foiled and she is forced to stay in the orphanage with the other girls and the alcoholic care giver Miss Hannigan (Lesley Joseph). She is then taken in by Oliver Warbucks (Alex Bourne) for 2 weeks over Christmas. He attempts to give her experiences “In N.Y.C.” that she has not had the chance to enjoy. He then tries to help her find her birth parents whose “One regret was giving up me [Annie]”. The greed of the New Yorkers comes to light when Oliver and Annie make an appeal on the Radio during Burt Healey’s (Susannah Van Den Ber) show, with a reward for information. Miss Hannigan’s shifty brother Rooster (Richard Meek) attempts to get the reward for being Annie’s Father as a short cut to get to “Easy Street”.
From the moment I sat down, “I Know I’m Going to Like it Here”. The stage is set up for the opening scene in the orphanage. “Some Women are dripping with Diamonds” but the Theatre is “Dripping with little Girls” and some not so little girls keen to see this classic (and my personal favourite) stage show. From the moment the Orphan Girls – Molly (Honey-Rose Quinn), Duffy (Tilly Appiah), Tessie (Lois Dennison), Pepper (Charlotte Pourret Wythe), July (Amber Sawyer) and Kate (Olivia Rose Haywood) alongside Annie – step on to the stage your attention is grasped. The dance skills and booming voices that come out of these “little girls” is incredible. It’s not just the youngsters that amaze with their pop and locking but the incredulous Lesley Joseph in her 70s still commanding the stage be it hoping on and off the table so lightly to spinning and strutting up and down the stage – she hasn’t lost anything that she learned in the well-known TV Dance show. What makes it even more astounding is that she is in the same age bracket as my grandmother who struggles to stand up off the sofa!
No matter how many times I see Annie on stage it never fails to impress – they say never work with children or animals in showbiz but this show has both and appeared to go off without a hitch. “It’s what you wear from ear to ear, and not from head to toe that matters” and not one person left the show without a “S.M.I.L.E. Smile” on their face. “And I think I’m the luckiest kid” getting the privilege to see this great show again and you would be a fool to not get along and check out this astounding performance.