Review: Annie the Musical – Edinburgh Playhouse

Strip away the red wig and the dog, and Annie is a story about economic survival. When Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse, and Martin Charnin brought the show to Broadway in 1977, they reversed the politics of Harold Gray’s right-wing comic strip. Instead of an anti-welfare sermon, the musical anchored itself in the Great Depression, framed by breadlines, shantytowns, and Roosevelt’s New Deal. In a Britain battered by inflation and food banks, that clash between destitution and extreme private wealth makes Annie perhaps the most fitting vintage musical for our cost-of-living era.

Presumably, director Nikolai Foster understood that tension when staging this revival at Curve, Leicester, in 2015. Following a 2017 West End run, the production settled into life as a commercial touring workhorse: anchor the show with West End stalwart Alex Bourne’s steady Oliver Warbucks, draft recognisable media names into the orphanage, and let a drilled juvenile cast provide the firepower.

The setup remains classic melodrama. Annie endures a grim municipal orphanage under Miss Hannigan (Claire Sweeney), waiting on parents who will never return. Sweeney’s turn could be much more gin-soaked, but if she’s more desperate 1970’s sitcom housewife than unstable New York louche, she still brings undeniably energetic presence to the part.

Annie’s salvation arrives via Grace Farrell—arriving with regal poise and a crystalline soprano thanks to Tanisha-Mae Brown—who selects Annie to spend Christmas with billionaire Oliver Warbucks. Once introduced, Bourne commands the stage as this bald, bold titan of industry and confidant of Presidents, though his part is rather neutered by a script determined to underscore his likeability as swiftly as possible.

“Sweeney’s turn could be much more gin-soaked, but if she’s more desperate 1970’s sitcom housewife than unstable New York louche, she still brings undeniably energetic presence to the part.”

Puzzles, brass, and a frozen classic

As with the personal drama, so with a production blessed with potential that is only partially realised. Colin Richmond’s jigsaw set design remains effective a decade since its inception, but it takes until a big-brassy mid first-act ode to the Big Apple, ‘N.Y.C.’, for matters, and Nick Winston’s choreography, to catch fire. Back in the orphanage dorms, the young cast works hard, but Richard Brooker’s sound design swallows lyrics in bigger numbers such as the iconic ‘Hard Knock Life’. Overall, there’s a sense of a cast and crew going all out, but not being made the most of.

And what of Annie? Well, on press night, June Young invested abundant pep into the red-haired orphan, but little vulnerability. Yes, the book doesn’t help (so change it), but she could be coaxed to a more nuanced performance than simply, ‘sing now’, or ‘shout this bit a little louder’.

Elsewhere, some amongst the supporting cast continually elevate the musical beyond the limitations of the book. Dizzy the Cockapoo steals the scene every time they prance on stage as Annie’s adopted canine, Sandy, with Christian Cooper impressing as low-down swindler Rooster, while Carl Sanderson brings big lungs and charm to an aphorism-prone FDR.

Yet there’s no getting away from that original book and score, which makes Annie and Warbuck’s mutual adoption inevitable, and which ties up an easily foiled plan to abduct her without anyone breaking a sweat.

“Elsewhere, some amongst the supporting cast continually elevate the musical beyond the limitations of the book.”

Not content with such low-stakes drama, it then enforces the forgettable ‘New Deal for Christmas’ for a finale. John Huston’s 1982 movie adaptation may not be perfect, but at least he understood the need for genuine stakes, and the value of ending the story on one of the show’s bangers, not a milquetoast political anthem.

In the end, this is a lovely, heartfelt recreation of a musical made in 1977, and showing its age. Almost 50 years later it seems we’re still waiting for the edit that will realise its full potential. Whilst we wait, however, there’s nothing wrong with Foster’s loving ode to musical theatre’s most famous orphan.

Featured Image: Images supplied by ATG