Walking up to The Gaiety Theatre I could feel the anticipation growing.. for the lots of kids that were outside. Growing up Annie was always just a movie I wasn’t that into on the telly at Christmas. This however, made me go Wow! on a few occasions.
Starting off is Miss Hannigan’s ophanage, we are introduced to the kids and their ‘Hard Knock Life’. What was surprising for me was my familiarity with some of the songs from the stage show.
The cast are great. Su Pollard is a treat as Miss Hannigan, always funny, we’ll forgive the kids for their dodgy New York accents at the start. The rest of the cast are great singers and actors and everybody loves Audrey Lebourne. Easily the winner of everybody’s heart was Annie’s dog Sandy, the quietest, cutest most obedient dog ever.
As this was a West End production, you’d expect it to be top notch and it was. What blew me away by this production though, were the seemless segues between scenes. Black screens dropped and raised revealing new locations within a matter of minutes, or less. The set design was great and even though the Gaiety may have a slightly smaller stage than some of it’s West End counterparts, this didn’t inhibit the cast or the stage dressing as all.
I wonder if everyone’s brain works the same, as the musical continued I was contemplating how the production comapny would actually move all these pieces around. I should have saved that thought for later as the most elaborate staircase appeared in Daddy Warbucks house. Amazingly brilliant and actually the cast were able to properly use it. Genius!
Overall it was a great show and it was lovely to see the kids beside us dancing and clapping along. Great production, great family night out.
Annie runs at The Gaiety Theatre until Saturday 24th September.
Thanks to The Gaiety for giving me tickets.