|
|
||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|||
Review by Paul Nelson
Indestructible Annie at Wimbledon Theatre once again had the
audience lapping up every joyous joke and tearful moment as the story of Little
Orphan Annie, originally an American strip cartoon, ripped the place apart.
It is easy to see with hindsight why this show was such a smash hit with New
York audiences. It is unabashedly sentimental, the crooks are defeated, Good
triumphs in the end, Love and Magic in the form of the successful Cinderella
story is the order of the day and there is The Dog.
Never have so many loving sacrifices and selfless acts been brought together
in one show. The numbers are all memorable and there is no need to name them
here. Suffice it to say they are excellently put across the footlights.
The evening is presented by Songtime Theatre Arts, a company with a number
of theatre training establishments for people who want to go into musicals
and as everyone who joins the outfit is promised the chance to appear on a
professional stage whenever there in a production, the cast is enormous, reminiscent
perhaps of those 1920s extravaganzas that could never be staged nowadays.
Or maybe even Ralph Reader's Gang Shows.
Whichever angle you take the stage is swamped with a massive cast, all drilled
in the fashion of Busby Berkley, and the sheer numbers of this troupe takes
your breath away.
There are two casts because of our ridiculous and outdated laws regarding
child performers on stage, which in a way must seem a blessing to the principal
of the theatre school. He gets to fulfil his promise. Each cast boasts one
hundred and six performers. There were times I thought the stage would give
way under the weight.
Older pupils and past graduates form the backbone of the cast as far as the
grown-ups are concerned, but especially with this musical, all others can
be incorporated as servants in the vast house of billionaire Oliver Warbucks
as well as inhabitants of the New York Municipal Orphanage (Girls' Annexe).
The result is spectacular.
Shining out from this throng, first and foremost, is Lizzie France as Miss
Hannigan the tyrant of the orphanage. Against the horde of orphans she manages
to hold her own space on the stage and the result is screamingly funny. As
she sings of how she hates little girls, the tiniest ones march through her
legs, the others showing what defiance they dare. It is a superbly comic performance.
In the comparatively dull part of Grace, Oliver Warbucks' amanuensis, Joanna
Kirkland from the many times I have seen this show, gives the definitive reading.
Rooster, Lily St Regis, Oliver Warbucks and FDR are all played with surety,
and Sandy the Dog naturally is an audience winner.
Never play with animals or children? You can't get away with that in this
show.
In spite of the dog and all the formidable opposition the Annie of this team,
Rebecca Leaves, a little belter with the charm and guile of a siren, not only
holds her own on the stage but owns the stage.
You will gather I liked this production, almost against my will when I discovered
the cast were mostly theatre students, but director Matthew Chandler with
massive ingenuity, created something that could never have been afforded by
a professional company.
Annie, a musical. Book by Thomas Meehan, Music by Charles Strouse, Lyrics
by Martin Charnin. Directed by Matthew Chandler; Associate Directors Sarah
Ingram, Julia Ann Dixon, Lizzie France; Musical Director Nic Le Breuilly;
Scenic Design Stagesets of London; Costume Design Marion Northway; Lighting
Design David Buffham & Andy Vere; Sound Design Richard Elliot. WITH Rebecca
Leaves (Annie), Lizzie France (Miss Hannigan), James Ffinch Mitchell (Bundles),
Claire Roberts (Apple Seller), Guy Crosswell (Dog Catcher #1), Matthew Stone
(Dog catcher #2), Victoria Atkin (Sophie), Jody Brock (Fred), Sophia Butt
(Mary), Hannah Moulsdale (Peggy), Nicky Kill (Jane), Emma Murray (Ira), Andrew
Gyford (Artie), Joanna Kirkland (Grace Farrell), Lorna Watkins (Mrs Pugh),
Jonathan Raynham (Drake), Lordine Appiah (Mrs Greer), Claire Lucas (Cecille),
Amy Mc Vicar (Annette), Jonathan Bullock (Oliver Warbucks), Jessica Decourcey
(Star-to-Be), Mark Fallon (Rooster Hannigan), Kerry Tanner (Lily St Regis),
James Ives (Bert Healey), Andrew Gyford (Fred McCracken/Louis Howe), Jake
Herbert (Sound Operator), Christopher Johnson (Jimmy Johnson), Maria Pierides
(Bonnie Boylan), Rosanna Wollenberg (Connie Boylan), Rebecca Scott (Lonnie
Boylan), Hayley Hills (Nonnie Boylan), Rebecca Lee (Jonny Boylan), Nicola
Raft (Ronnie Boylan), Patrick Molyneux (FDR/Lt. Ward), Robert Wells (Cordell
Hull), Claire Roberts (Frances Perkins), Christopher Orrin (Morganthau), James
Ives (Harold Ickes). Georgia Davies-Legge/ Christine Tucker/Lucy Delaiche/
Sarah Atkin/ Elizabeth Rees/Madeline Lidster/Nadia Abdulla/Jessica Walker/Ilona
Reese/Katrina Maranon/Stacey Greenhead/Sian Reece/Sascha Healey/Rachel Charman/Sian
Gearing/Nicole Kent (Orphans) and Finn Skeaping (Sandy the Dog).
Presented by Songtime Theatre Arts at Wimbledon Theatre, The Broadway, Wimbledon.
020 8540 0362.
