Sheffield Lyceum – until Saturday 8 June 2019
Reviewed by Lottie Davis-Browne
5*****
Every musical theatre fan has one – and for me it’s Annie. I’m talking about the musical that sparked the obsession with all things musical. Growing up as a child in the early 1980s, I have fond memories of choosing a video from the village rental store one rainy weekend, along with my older sister and having a mini meltdown because she chose the 1982 movie Annie – because it wasn’t a cartoon! Flash forward to the present day, Annie still has a special place in my heart but it wasn’t until this evening I got to experience it live on stage for the first time.
You’ll laugh when I tell you how nervous I was beforehand – it almost felt like watching your grownup daughter walk down the aisle for the first time – I wanted everything to be perfect and not taint my childhood memories of the musical.
The title role is shared by three young actresses, this evening being lead by Taziva-Faye Katsande (along with Team Chrysler forming the rest of this hard-faced, no nonsense orphans), whom despite the Hard Knock Life mantra the grimacing scowls from the young orphans faces soon to to huge grins along with foot stomping mop moving flawless choreography – it almost gives one the impression that it’s not such a hard knock life after all….well that is until we meet the cold hearted drunken Miss Hannigan (Craig Revel Horwood) who runs Hudson Street Orphanage.
Whilst not someone I’d have thought to be in the role of Miss Hannigan, anyone who has ever seen Horwood on Strictly Come Dancing – often perceived as the cold hearted judge, it sort of makes sense why he was cast. Being the “baddy” is something that comes naturally to Horwood (I mean that in the nicest way possible) so I was of course particularly excited about seeing him in this role. Whilst he certainly added a comical feel to the role, proving himself as a dancer in Easy Street (which for me was one of the highlights of this production) I actually didn’t find him scary or unlikeable enough – I remember fearing Carol Burnett in the 1982 movie – she was fierce, cruel and had me reaching for a cushion to hide behind. The orphans feared her, however these orphans seemed far too tough and independent to fear the likes of Hannigan drunken shenanigans.
Katsande (in the title role) along with the six orphans gave flawless infectious performances – at times I felt the urge to get up and dance along with their hard-as-nails attitudes – the seven young girls with their perfectly in sync high energy dance routines and sickly sweet vocals – almost feel like an up and coming girl band. I look forward to seeing their careers in theatre develop with Katsande and Orla McDonagh as cute and lovable Molly – the youngest orphan – being names I particularly look forward to seeing more of on stage in future.
There’s fine efforts across the entire cast – Richard Meek as Rooster and Jenny Gayner as Lily – the fraudsters and gold-digging duo desperate to get their mitts on the reward money – Rooster, Lily and Hannigan come together to hatch the perfect plan to fool Annie and Warbucks and claim the reward. The trio’s rendition of Easy Street was my favourite part of the performance. After waiting a few years since first seeing Carolyn Maitland in Miss Saigon, I was finally able to see her in a leading role as the lovable Grace Farrell, Secretary (and love interest) to Billionaire Oliver Warbucks and certainly wasn’t disappointed, it’s fair to say she gave a show stealing performance.
I was always curious as to how it would transfer to stage from the movie (forgetting it was actually a Broadway musical prior to being adapted for screen), I won’t spoil it by saying how they’d got round certain scenes, plus several songs missing from the film replaced with “new” ones (gutted Let’s Go To The Movies was one of the missing ones), however the magic of the musical is still there and for a couple of hours I was whisked back to my childhood and my first introduction to musicals – it’s true what they say – you never forget your first!
You can bet your bottom dollar that the cast of Annie will leave you feeling well and truly fully dressed with a smile. The ultimate feel good musical for the entire family.