Whether the Annie of your childhood is Andrea McArdle or Aileen Quinn, for many, like me, the story of little orphan Annie is a staple in our childhood nostalgia.
If you were to dig up old VHS tapes from my when I was a kid, undoubtably you would find that “Annie” is one of the few that is WORN. OUT. I knew every word to every song, and would try to learn the choreography too.
While not every musical can be translated well from stage to the movies or vice versa- Annie, has had huge success as both. So, when it was announced that Annie The Musical was back and on Broadway, I HAD to see it!
We made it a girls night- just me, my daughter, my sister and my mother of course- because who better to see Annie with than the woman who had to listen to years of my belting out – “The sun with come ouuuut tooo-morrowww” ?
No matter which came first, whenever you grow to love a story whether it be a book, play, or movie- you have certain expectations when you go to see another version. Annie The Musical definitely does not disappoint its movie fans.
We had a fantastic time.
Here are a few things every movie fan should know about Annie The Musical:
- The Venue. There simply is not a bad seat in The Palace Theater. We were in row S and had a perfect view.
- The Gorgeous Sets. The play’s sets un-folded and moved around like pages from a pop-up book, as the story progressed. It really helped make the story come to life on the stage and was the first thing both me and my sister talked about when we left the theater.
- The Cast.
While I must confess, many of the orphan’s “New York” accents sounded a little more- English (?) to me than New York, the kids in the show did an amazing job- and the adorable Molly- is still ridiculously adorable.
– Lilla Crawford, the incredibly talented little girl who undoubtably had big shoes to fill in her role as Annie, sang the classic songs, “Tomorrow” and “Maybe”, flawlessly.
– Kate Finneran’s portrayal of the tipsy and bitter orphanage director, Miss Hanagen, was one of my favorite characters in the play. She was hilariously, perfect.
– Anthony Warlow was spot-on and totally lovable in his role of Oliver Warbucks the millionaire billionaire.
– Lilly St. James was a bit too cartoon-like for me, but since the role is downsized on the stage- it definitely doesn’t make or break the show.
- The differences between the movie and the stage. I felt the story was actually paced much better on stage than it is in the movie. There are a few minor differences in storyline itself, most notably the political overtone and Sandy’s role -which is understandably much smaller on the stage.
- The Music. The music and choreography was phenomenal. I especially loved the tap dancing numbers. We did for a slight second miss the “Sandy” song, but enjoyed new (to us) musical numbers, like “We’d Like To Thank You Herbert Hoover”, in its absence.
Annie The Musical is the perfect play to to see as a family. My four year old loved all of the songs (just as I did at her age) and has been toting around her plush Sandy doll ever since.
Tickets can be purchased through TicketMaster.
Disclosure: I was provided media tickets to see Annie The Musical, however I was not compensated for this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
