Review: Annie the Musical wows with young talent and feel-good hits

Last night I found myself queuing up twice to buy Annie merchandise. In the interval, we simply needed the mug. And after the musical finished I felt I couldn’t leave New Wimbledon Theatre without a CD with the songs that we now can’t get out of our heads.

We had been invited to review Michael Harrison and David Ian’s production of Annie at New Wimbledon Theatre, and it didn’t take more than minutes after the show started before I found myself whispering “wow” to my plus one.

Based on the comic strip Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray, Annie is a comedy-drama musical by Charles Strouse, Thomas Meehan and Martin Charnin, transporting audiences back to the 1930s New York and the Great Depression. The show tells the story about eleven-year-old orphan Annie who lives in a New York orphanage run by the cruel Miss Hannigan. The orphanage is a tough place to live for the girls, who are working long hours sewing dresses and cleaning.

While Annie’s friends have lost their parents, Annie was left outside the orphanage as a baby together with half of a silver locket and a note from her parents, saying they would one day come back for her with the other half of the necklace. In the hope of finding her parents, the optimistic Annie runs away from the orphanage and finds a stray dog she names Sandy, played by the likeable labradoodle Amber. Together the duo seeks shelter in a Shantytown before Annie is caught by police and returned to the orphanage.

On that day, the private secretary of billionaire Oliver Warbucks visits the orphanage to invite one girl to spend Christmas in his mansion. Annie makes sure she’s the chosen one and embarks on a new journey with the powerful and good-hearted Mr Warbucks.

In the first act of the musical, we were taken aback by the children in the cast (one of three teams of young performers playing the orphans), who are aged between 9 and 13. After a stellar, uptempo performance of It’s a Hard-Knock Life, I didn’t think it could get much better, but only minutes later I was once again mesmerised as Annie, played by Ava Smith on the night, softly belted out Tomorrow. In fact, I think this was the most memorable singing performance I’ve seen from a child actor, and like a top scorer in a football match, Ava became the one we were eager to watch have another big moment.

In the second act, highlights include feel-good hit You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile, and the fun choreography sees children even performing cartwheels. After this hit, the music numbers see more of the adult cast together with Annie, and we smiled through both tapping arrangements and Annie’s Tomorrow with cabinet ministers in the White House. There were also plenty of shining moments with Miss Hannigan, played by Lesley Joseph, and Oliver Warbucks, played by Alex Bourne.

When talking about Annie to friends today, the conversations have still quickly moved to the young performers in the musical. The show really hits the spot, bringing inspiring escapism to both young and old.

Annie is playing at New Wimbledon Theatre until Saturday 16 November.

Tags: Annie, Children's theatre, New Wimbledon Theatre, Review, What's on stage