The National Tour of "Annie"
"Annie" has always been a show that I just simply enjoy. It's never been a show that I have absolutely LOVED, but I have always held a high regard for it's catchy tunes and fun story. When I heard that the current national tour of "Annie" would be coming to the Plaza Theatre, I was moderately excited. I knew that unless this tour fell into the wrong direction, it would be a hard show not to enjoy. Seeing as how original "Annie" lyricist, Martin Charnin, was directing this production, it would be very difficult for that to happen. As I expected, it was a charming little show. There really wasn't anything about this production that totally wowed me, it was really just another production of "Annie". But like I said, it was a cute show that I really did enjoy.
I wasn't intending on writing a paragraph about what "Annie" was about since I always thought it was something that just about everybody was familiar with, but since the people in the row in front of us seemed to have no idea what "Annie" was about..."Annie" is the story of a little girl who was put in an orphanage as a baby, with note from her parents promising they would come back for her. The orphanage is run by a mean lady named Miss Hannigan who despises little girls and tries to thwart Annie's plans. One year, an orphan is invited to billionaire, Oliver Warbucks' mansion to spend the Christmas holiday and Annie is the lucky orphan who was chosen. Throughout the show, you see a lovely friendship between Annie and the billionaire blossom.
The cast of this production was quite excellent. There were few real standouts, seeing as nobody really did anything new or "out there" to any of the roles. The leads, Gilgamesh Taggett (Oliver Warbucks), Erin Fish (Miss Hannigan), Tori Bates (Annie), and Casey Prins (Grace Farrell, Secretary to Warbucks) gave the most memorable performances of the evening. Bates' Annie was very heartening and Taggett, Fish, and Prins all gave performances in which their vocals were the real highlight of their performances. Between these three performers, Taggett and Fish seemed to have the greatest understanding of their characters and Taggett showed a beautiful chemistry with Bates as Annie. Prins seemed to be more vocally invested in her role than emotionally, but I can't blame her since I have always thought that Grace Farrell was the most boring role in "Annie."A problem that I had among the supporting orphans of the cast is that they didn't sing the songs, they screamed them. They danced all of their number really well, but their vocal performances would have sounded much nicer, had they not screamed all of the songs. I also did not appreciate that they had the little girls put on such thick New York accents, which only took away from their performances. Other than that, the entire company did absolutely fine jobs in all of their roles. Of course, the dog who I saw play the role of Sandy (Macy or Sunny) was fantastic...Truly a star.
This production did have some unique aspects to it. For example, they set up the song "NYC" in a slightly different context than it would be in in just about almost any production of "Annie". Something that they did in this production that I did not enjoy (and it wasn't just this production, one of the movie versions did it as well) is how they shoehorn in a romance between Warbucks and Grace Farrell. I am not sure why some writers and directors are under the impression that every single show HAS to have a romance, because nothing would have been lost if they didn't allude to a possible relationship between the two characters.
Beowulf Borritt's set was very old fashion and I loved it. It was so refreshing to see another tour where rather than using projections (my arch nemesis) for a "set", they used real backdrops, like they would (and still do) in the olden days of Broadway. Throughout the performance I attended, there were issues with the microphones, in which the microphones would cut in and out or come on a second or two late. It wasn't bad enough to where it started to ruin the show, but it was noticeable.
This was such a delightful production. If you want to see a show that is endearing and entertaining, then go see this show. Like I said, it is your typical production of "Annie" and it is worth seeing if you have yet to see a live production of "Annie" or you are trying to get the 2014 movie version out of your head. This production of "Annie" didn't blow me away, but it was still a really nice show to see. AND IT HAS A DOG!!
"Annie" is currently on tour across the country. For more information, visit http://anniethemusical.com/
The cast of the national tour of "Annie consists of:
Oliver Warbucks- GILGAMESH TAGGETT
Miss Hannigan- ERIN FISH
Annie- TORI BATES
Grace Farrell- CASEY PRINS
Rooster Hannigan- MICHAEL SANTORA
Lily St. Regis- MALLORY KING
FDR- JEFFERY B. DUNCAN
Molly- BUNNY BALDWIN
July- JACUQELINE GAVANO
Kate- AVA SLATER
Pepper- AMANDA SWICKLE
Tessie- AMANDA WYLIE
Duffy- KATIE WYLIE
Sandy- MACY
Sandy- SUNNY
I wasn't intending on writing a paragraph about what "Annie" was about since I always thought it was something that just about everybody was familiar with, but since the people in the row in front of us seemed to have no idea what "Annie" was about..."Annie" is the story of a little girl who was put in an orphanage as a baby, with note from her parents promising they would come back for her. The orphanage is run by a mean lady named Miss Hannigan who despises little girls and tries to thwart Annie's plans. One year, an orphan is invited to billionaire, Oliver Warbucks' mansion to spend the Christmas holiday and Annie is the lucky orphan who was chosen. Throughout the show, you see a lovely friendship between Annie and the billionaire blossom.
The cast of this production was quite excellent. There were few real standouts, seeing as nobody really did anything new or "out there" to any of the roles. The leads, Gilgamesh Taggett (Oliver Warbucks), Erin Fish (Miss Hannigan), Tori Bates (Annie), and Casey Prins (Grace Farrell, Secretary to Warbucks) gave the most memorable performances of the evening. Bates' Annie was very heartening and Taggett, Fish, and Prins all gave performances in which their vocals were the real highlight of their performances. Between these three performers, Taggett and Fish seemed to have the greatest understanding of their characters and Taggett showed a beautiful chemistry with Bates as Annie. Prins seemed to be more vocally invested in her role than emotionally, but I can't blame her since I have always thought that Grace Farrell was the most boring role in "Annie."A problem that I had among the supporting orphans of the cast is that they didn't sing the songs, they screamed them. They danced all of their number really well, but their vocal performances would have sounded much nicer, had they not screamed all of the songs. I also did not appreciate that they had the little girls put on such thick New York accents, which only took away from their performances. Other than that, the entire company did absolutely fine jobs in all of their roles. Of course, the dog who I saw play the role of Sandy (Macy or Sunny) was fantastic...Truly a star.
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| Macy as Sandy and Tori Bates as Annie |
This production did have some unique aspects to it. For example, they set up the song "NYC" in a slightly different context than it would be in in just about almost any production of "Annie". Something that they did in this production that I did not enjoy (and it wasn't just this production, one of the movie versions did it as well) is how they shoehorn in a romance between Warbucks and Grace Farrell. I am not sure why some writers and directors are under the impression that every single show HAS to have a romance, because nothing would have been lost if they didn't allude to a possible relationship between the two characters.
Beowulf Borritt's set was very old fashion and I loved it. It was so refreshing to see another tour where rather than using projections (my arch nemesis) for a "set", they used real backdrops, like they would (and still do) in the olden days of Broadway. Throughout the performance I attended, there were issues with the microphones, in which the microphones would cut in and out or come on a second or two late. It wasn't bad enough to where it started to ruin the show, but it was noticeable.
This was such a delightful production. If you want to see a show that is endearing and entertaining, then go see this show. Like I said, it is your typical production of "Annie" and it is worth seeing if you have yet to see a live production of "Annie" or you are trying to get the 2014 movie version out of your head. This production of "Annie" didn't blow me away, but it was still a really nice show to see. AND IT HAS A DOG!!
 |
 |
"Annie" is currently on tour across the country. For more information, visit http://anniethemusical.com/
The cast of the national tour of "Annie consists of:
Oliver Warbucks- GILGAMESH TAGGETT
Miss Hannigan- ERIN FISH
Annie- TORI BATES
Grace Farrell- CASEY PRINS
Rooster Hannigan- MICHAEL SANTORA
Lily St. Regis- MALLORY KING
FDR- JEFFERY B. DUNCAN
Molly- BUNNY BALDWIN
July- JACUQELINE GAVANO
Kate- AVA SLATER
Pepper- AMANDA SWICKLE
Tessie- AMANDA WYLIE
Duffy- KATIE WYLIE
Sandy- MACY
Sandy- SUNNY
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