Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham – until 6 September 2026
Reviewed by Lauren Fordham
5*****
‘Annie’ is a story from 1924 about an endearing red-headed orphan in New York whose cruel, impoverished life is transformed when she becomes the beneficiary of the billionaire businessman ‘Daddy’ Warbucks. Warming to her when she is invited to spend the Christmas period at his house, Warbucks vows to help her find her birth parents, who left a locket and a letter saying that they always intended to come back for her. Unfortunately, Annie (played by June Young) almost falls victim to a scam by her former foster mother Miss Hannigan (Claire Sweeney) and her brother Rooster (Elliot David Parkes) and his girlfriend Lily (Amber Kennedy) where the latter pretend to be her parents for a substantial cash reward. The story was made into a musical in 1977. This production is directed by Nikolai Foster.
Colin Richmond’s set design is simple but simultaneously rich in metaphor – lots of jigsaw puzzle pieces are hanging on the stage, perhaps symbolising Annie’s search for the missing piece of her life’s puzzle, her parents. The pieces also look a bit like snowflakes when they are lit in the song ‘A New Deal for Christmas.’
The stage is also made up of a map of New York which Annie and Daddy Warbucks are whisked around through the power of cinema. This lack of unwieldy distracting set pieces encourages the audience to focus on and admire Nick Winston’s choreography, Richmond’s costumes, and the ensemble’s slick moves as yellow-clad cabbies and sailors dance Rockette-style in the number ‘NYC.’
Ben Cracknell adeptly crafts his lighting design to be symbolic and meaningful, from the dreary lighting in the shanty echoing the sardonic song of the homeless people ‘We’d Like to Thank You Herbert Hoover’ to the bright,welcoming lights of NYC and Daddy Warbucks’ home.
Alex Bourne deftly demonstrates Warbucks’ transition from grumpy, narrow-minded, misogynistic loner, believing ‘orphans are boys’ to warm, compassionate father figure, a far cry from the last time I saw him in the West End in 2011, as as ‘We Will Rock You’s dastardly Captain Khashoggi.
Bourne has a great rapport with June Young, who plays Annie, particularly as they dance prior to her adoption, singing ‘Something Was Missing.’ Thematically and lyrically this recalls ‘The King and I’s’ ‘Shall We Dance?’ and the Siamese king is definitely a role that would suit Bourne, should he desire it in the future.
I also want to pay tribute to Tanisha-Mae Brown who plays Grace Farrell, as her operatic vocals evoked Audra McDonald. She could also make easy work of the vocals required of Tuptim in The King and I.
Claire Sweeney makes an endearing villain of Miss Hannigan, and she showed great movement and rapport with Christian Cooper and Amber Kennedy, particularly in the high-kicking ‘Easy Street.’
Last and certainly not least, June Young is a captivating Annie and clearly has a very sunny future on the stage, as do all the child actors.
As a deaf reviewer, I would have appreciated the cast’s diction being clearer and volume louder to reach the back of the stalls where the wheelchair spaces are but hopefully that will improve since last night’s preview. Furthermore, I would like to see more real life wheelchair using-actors in wheelchair-user roles like President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I was also a little disappointed that the gorgeous Amber, who played Annie’s dog Sandy at this performance, didn’t get a curtain call alongside her.
On the whole, this was a fantastic production which definitely cleared away the autumn cobwebs from my brain. Don’t hang on till tomorrow, take the easy street to grab yourself a ticket now, and you will be smiling from ear to ear, and humming with happiness from head to toe!