STRATFORD — The musical “Annie” has acquired a bit of a bad rap these days. And that’s not entirely unjustified.
Most people’s first experience with the 1977 Broadway show is likely through an amateur production at their local school or community theatre, featuring a gaggle of histrionic and annoying children (probably their own) screaming through the musical’s sickly sweet songs, by Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin. (I’m guilty of being one of those kids, way back when, so I’m allowed to say this.)
That’s enough to turn many audiences away from the material for life. (An abominable 2014 film remake, starring Jamie Foxx, also didn’t help its cause. Neither did NBC’s 2021 live television special.)
So for those of you who’ve previously condemned “Annie” to be a perpetual orphan of the American theatre, I get it. But may I suggest that you give the musical one more chance at the Stratford Festival, where Donna Feore’s delightful revival opened Tuesday night at the Festival Theatre? Not only will this heartfelt production leave any cynic fully dressed with a smile, but it also proves that the bones of this musical are as strong as ever.
As the show’s title orphan, who manages to escape her hellhole orphanage with her sunny disposition still intact, Harper Rae Asch is sensational and carries this production on her small shoulders. She has an impressive voice, belting her way through the numbers “Maybe” and “Tomorrow” with panache.
But there are many other facets to her Annie, too — confident, curious and cheeky, yet also tender, sensitive and somewhat melancholic.
Asch is a triple-threat performer and an expert dog wrangler to boot. (Sandy, the stray dog whom Annie befriends, was played on opening night by Clue, a foxhound-poodle cross with a propensity for sticking his tongue out at the audience. Though he looked dead set on stealing his leading girl’s spotlight, Asch persuasively ensured that she was never upstaged by this goofy furball.)
The other eight actors playing Annie’s fellow orphans are also terrifyingly talented (especially Harmony Holder as the sassy Molly), earning a midshow standing ovation for the number “Hard Knock Life,” which features them tumbling and cartwheeling around the stage.
Feore, who gives them some of this production’s most challenging choreography, is wise not to make these orphans out as cute little tots. Instead, they’re portrayed here as thoroughly tough and battle-scarred children.
One of the best parts of this “Annie” are its dizzying dance numbers. This production features additional dance music arrangements and orchestrations (by David Dabbon), giving Feore more room to flex her choreographic muscles.
In “Easy Street” — featuring the deliciously wicked trio of Miss Hannigan (Laura Condlln), the orphanage matron, along with her con brother Rooster (Mark Uhre, with a powerhouse voice) and his girlfriend Lily St. Regis (Amanda Lundgren) — Feore tips her hat to Peter Gennaro’s original, Tony-winning choreography, with pelvic gyrations and jazz hands. The rest of her dance numbers are scrappy and acrobatic, capturing the mood of Depression-era New York City.
If anything, there are perhaps sections of Feore’s staging that feel over-choreographed. Some scene transitions feature unnecessary comic routines among members of the ensemble, which only pile on to Thomas Meehan’s sentimental story.
Another aspect of this production that disappoints: Michael Gianfrancesco’s set looks uncharacteristically cheap and flimsy for a Stratford mainstage musical. Sean Nieuwenhuis’s projections on the back wall of the stage — depicting everything from the municipal orphanage to the mansion of billionaire Oliver Warbucks (Dan Chameroy), who hosts Annie for two weeks over Christmas — also feels hastily cobbled together.
But those are minor quibbles in a revival led by a top-drawer cast. Condlln eats it up as the villainous Miss Hannigan, stumbling around the stage with a bottle of alcohol in hand. If she’s not slurring her vowels, then she’s spitting out her consonants at those “rotten orphans.”
Chameroy is fantastic as Warbucks (not bald in this production), transforming from a guarded businessman into a big, ol’ softie after Annie enters his life. As his assistant Grace Farrell, Jennifer Rider-Shaw captures her character’s gentle warmth.
In the smaller role of radio host Bert Healy, Henry Firmston delivers a splendid rendition of “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile.” And in the dazzling ensemble number “N.Y.C.,” soloist Jamie Murray more than lives up to the name of her role, as the “Star-to-Be.”
For some audiences, “Annie” will be too schmaltzy. It’s a musical that wears its heart on its sleeve, relentlessly pushing its message of optimism. But in this deeply cynical moment we’re living in we could all use a bit of that right now. And maybe by the end of this production, like me, you’ll find yourself singing along to little orphan Annie’s tune of hopes for a better tomorrow.
