Just mention the name Annie and there cannot be many people
who wouldn't instantly bring to mind a feisty little
eleven-year-old red-haired girl with matching dress and scruffy pooch
sidekick.
Mention that same name to any of the 132+ musical
societies in and around London and you’re more likely to be
presented with a myriad of production archives - so popular has the
show been with amateur companies over the last thirty-three years.
Together with Oliver! and Joseph and His Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat, Annie has been bread and butter
for musical societies and especially children’s theatre schools
up and down the country since it stormed Broadway and the West End in
the 70s. Indeed, before Matthew Chandler’s ‘Songtime
Theatre Arts’ (Sardines, Spring 2008) discovered the magic of High School Musical, you
could have almost guaranteed that at any one time, a production of Annie would have been
in rehearsal in at least one of its schools.
However, I just wonder how many societies would be
as familiar with either of the sequels to come from the creative team
behind the show: 1989’s Annie 2:
Miss Hannigan's Revenge and 1993’s Annie Warbucks? Both were
unsuccessful attempts (more so the former) to continue Little Orphan
Annie’s adventures via the bright lights of the stage.
I guess, when shows such as Annie or Oliver! become such cinematic and
theatrical landmarks, the dollar & pound signs must truly engild
the temptation to follow them up. Today, of course, even before a first
word, note or lyric is ever written, the mandatory sequel is already
given its own shelf space. But history does have a faithful habit of
telling us that just sometimes, things are best left well alone - so
perhaps, the fact that West Wickham Operatic Society’s production
of Annie Warbucks was the first time a London audience had been witness to this
particular sequel - some fifteen years after it opened (and closed)
off-Broadway - might suggest somebody has been very eager to apply
their theatrical duster.
Having said that, I would not, for a moment, want
to take anything away from WWOS who presented their extremely
well-produced offering as a true sequel - in every sense of the word -
by immediately preceding the London première with the
original version last November, even duplicating the cast.
The storyline of Annie
Warbucks continues immediately where Annie ends. Miss Hannigan, her brother,
Rooster, and
his girlfriend, Lily St. Regis have all been carted off to jail. Annie has discovered
her real parents have sadly passed away leaving Oliver ('Daddy') Warbucks
agreeing to adopt her (together with afore-mentioned pooch, Sandy) …Hooray!
However, our new family’s, Christmas
celebrations are short-lived with the arrival of a new
‘baddie’, in the form of Commisioner
Doyle, nicely-played by Pat Adams. A
well-cast role delivered with pace and originality. Warbucks is told
that, as a single man, he cannot adopt Annie who will sadly have to return to the orphanage,
that is, unless he successfully marries within sixty days!
This is where, as a sequel, the predictability of
the plot fell down; even at that early stage, we just knew the saintly
heroine Grace Farrell (Amanda Farrant), Warbuck's assistant, would end up in the
arms of her billionaire employer. And of course, if you don’t
somehow get Annie back into the orphanage, you won’t get to see the
orphans again, and Annie just isn’t Annie without those ‘hard-knocked’ orphans,
bless ‘em.
WWOS’ six-show run meant two teams of
orphans were used and Thursday’s openers were truly wonderful, in
image and performance. The children added some welcome energy and,
aided by entertaining and clever choreography from Charlotte and
Danielle Simpson, went a long way to filling the wide Churchill stage -
speaking of which, it was noticeable through several smaller-scale
scenes that the vast expanse of floor space presented an almost
impossible challenge for the Company to overcome at times.
Thomas Meehan, writer of the original Annie as well as its
sequel(s), must have realised audiences would be second-guessing a
romantic outcome from such an early stage and sensibly broached the
subject early on through Annie, who urges Miss Farrell to admit her love to ‘Daddy’
Warbucks. Enlisting the help of the entire
Warbucks’ staff (and there were lots!) we were given one of the
musical and visual highlights of the evening with That's the Kind of Woman You Need.
A short observation about the ‘entire staff’ scenes: Wonderfully
dressed (by Lucy Hatch and Laura Whelan) and visually superb …but
it was just a little odd how the entire staff tended to appear and then
swiftly vanish after ensemble numbers, leaving the huge
‘mansion’ seemingly unstaffed for other scenes.
As Annie, Shannon Bowden shone (this part was divided over the
six dates with Gabriella Bishop) and had no trouble in confidently
displaying Annie’s strong will and pluck - as well as a fine singing voice. She
was a joy to watch, as was another new ‘sequel’ character, Mrs. Kelly, brilliantly
played by experienced WWOS member Jacqui Morris.
continued...
Through her role (as Commisioner
Doyle’s ‘dogsbody’) the
production approached the interval with an unexpected but very welcome
twist: Warbucks, while visiting Doyle’s office as part of his search for a wife, falls in love
with the perfect Mrs. Kelly (so perfect, she even originates from the poverty of
‘Hell’s Kitchen’ - as did Warbucks). However, after
he leaves we discover Kelly is really the Commissioner’s daughter and together they are planning to marry into
the Warbucks’ fortune and bleed it dry - a dastardly plot that
has all the familiar hallmarks of …yes, you’ve guessed it -
Annie!
Well our little orphan proceeds to run away, upset
at the way things are turning out, and ends up in a bizarre scene on a
Tennessee farm! She learns a little of the politics of the 1930s’
Depression and offers to let the Paterson family bring her home in order for them to claim the
much-needed reward money and, at the same time, convince President Franklin D. Roosevelt (who else!) to solve the problems in the South - all in a
day’s work for your average eleven-year-old!
The big musical number of the night came from the
ensemble (orphans and all) as Annie returns home with the number, All Dolled Up, a well-taken
chance to really show off the tap-dancing skills and choreography of
this talented society.
Putting any show on is no mean feat, and high
praise has to go to regular WWOS Director (and former West End star)
Kevin Gauntlett in mounting such a large-scale production as this. Especially
as he also played Warbucks’ double-crossing (and brains behind Commissioner Doyle’s
plot) attorney, Simon Whitehead.
So, in conclusion, WWOS did a very good job in
premièring a very average sequel. It is no reflection on this
fine society that the songs were never in the same class as Annie and the new plot -
set away from the central location of the orphanage - was never going
to be as strong or appealing, with a group of wrong-doers that
couldn’t quite sink to the same level of evil or generate as much
fear (in the orphans) as Miss Hannigan did.
I can’t wait to see how WWOS presents its
next two productions which, in comparison, promise to contain stronger
material …Les Miserables - school
edition, followed by Me and My Girl, which will again
be at the Churchill in November.
I take my hat off to any society that is bold
enough to hire a professional venue (the Churchill is part of the
Ambassadors Group) to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the
‘big-money’ productions; even reviewing a large-scale
affair, such as this, becomes a challenging task as I automatically
find myself treating the evening’s entertainment as if it had
been professionally produced. Whereas If WWOS had performed Annie Warbucks over a Thu,
Fri & Sat in the local church hall, I’m quite sure my
expectation level may have unconsciously (and unjustly!) shifted down a
gear or two.
Amazingly, it’s still going to be inevitable
- despite the huge £50k production budget - that the expensive
technical wizardry of ‘today’s’ West End productions
is not going to be on show as much as we have come to expect and indeed
take for granted these days, and the use of painted back-drops
(although this production’s scenery was truly outstanding) is
more frequently called upon than full-size stand-alone sets, but (and
this is without patronising) it is a testament to WWOS’
professionalism that it is continually able to draw the public to a
venue such as this and provide a consistently high-level of
entertainment.
