After playing tennis for two hours all I wanted was a nap, but my wife wanted to see the musical Annie at the Palace Theater so off we went. I must admit I was in a foul mood. Annie is a show for kids, not adults, I was thinking. Then, when I opened my program I saw that the regular Annie, Lilla Crawford, was being replaced by understudy Taylor Richardson. Now I was also feeling a little queasy. A child understudy, how good could she be? Or more realistically, how bad might she be?
Hanging from clotheslines suspended above the stage were hundreds of white sheets and clothes. The reason for the lack of color became obvious when the orchestra started to play. Lights played upon the screen depending upon the mood of the music of the overture. Then a newsreel showed us it was 1933, at the height of the depression and near the start of Roosevelt’s four terms in office. The drying laundry lifted to show us some exteriors of brownstones and a partial interior of the orphanage where Annie lives.
About two minutes in Taylor Richardson sings her first song “Maybe”. She was stunning. No hesitation and a million dollar voice. Little Taylor made it look easy. The show and the star were a hit. Not quite standing ovation level but very, very good.
I didn’t see the original 1977 version, but I don’t see how anyone can do a better Miss Hannigan than Carol Burnett did in the movie. Nevertheless, Katie Finneran did a more than serviceable job as a sweeter version of Ms. Burnett, who was simply driven crazy by little girls but would have been better if she had only found a man. Clarke Thorell as Hannigan’s brother Rooster is smarmily villainous, with a touch of humor. His girlfriend Lily, played by J. Elaine Marcos, is much less forceful fading into the background until the final scene where, with a red-haired wig, she seemed to gain power. Anthony Warlow as Oliver Warbucks, the neighborhood billionaire, has a wide singing range, which is used to good effect. Warbuck’s assistant, Grace Farrell, played efficiently by Brynn O’Malley, never quite gets her man.
After seeing Annie, I can confidently say that you don’t have to be a little girl to enjoy the musical. Even this skeptical and, I hope, sophisticated adult can heartily recommend it. But if you still can’t picture yourself going alone, just borrow a kid and go.
Julie Taymor, director of theater, movies and opera, held court in New York City recently. Looking about a decade older than her glam publicity handout, but still a decade younger than she actually is (60), she wowed the audience and her fellow panel members, who although they had good information, seemed to be puppets too boring for Taymor to have invented.