Little Orphan Annie first appeared as a daily comic strip in the New York Daily News in 1924. She begins life in an orphanage, badly mistreated by the matron (called Miss Asthma) and is whisked away by Mrs Warbucks, who is mean-spirited and doesn’t take kindly to her new ward. She’s shamed into keeping her and her husband Oliver, “Daddy” Warbucks, takes a shine to the little girl.
The comic
strip mostly followed the same formula for a long time: Oliver is called away
from the Warbucks mansion, Mrs Warbucks casts her out, and after having
adventures outside, Annie is reunited with “Daddy”. Many of the servants are
recurring characters, including Warbucks’ right-hand men, Punjab and the Asp,
who adhere to stereotypes of India and East Asia.
Creator
Harold Gray was protected from the Stock Market Crash of 1929, living off the
salary from a daily comic, riding out the Depression quite comfortably. He was
politically Conservative, believing Annie to be lucky to be taken in by the
altruistic capitalist, Oliver Warbucks. After Franklin Roosevelt became President,
Gray was outraged by The New Deal and actually killed “Daddy” off for a time,
considering him unable to exist under the Roosevelt Presidency.
Little
Orphan Annie’s stories changed with the times during Gray’s life, often
reflecting his pessimistic view of a changing world. Her rebellion in the
post-war years was looked down upon in the strips and she suffered greater
calamities as the years wore on, including a story where Annie and her dog, Sandy,
were run over by a car and she spent a year with amnesia, forgetting Daddy
Warbucks existed.
Given the
bleak, regressive stories the comic became known for, the characters and their
circumstances underwent a complete overhaul to become the Broadway musical that
first debuted in 1977. As re-conceived by writer Thomas Meehan, lyricist Martin
Chamin and composter Charles Strouse, Oliver Warbucks is a lonely rich old man,
who isn’t really looking for a child, but finds one when his assistant, Grace, brings
her home as part of an annual outreach program to show an orphan kindness over
Christmas.
Annie
remains feisty and clever, and she finds her dog Sandy during the early portion
of the show, but much is made of the conflict she has with matron, Miss
Hannigan, and the bonds she has with the other girls and the orphanage. The
mystery of her parents was never part of the comic strip and in complete
opposition to Gray’s politics, President Roosevelt’s conception of the New Deal
is in part inspired by the orphans’ plight, the destruction of the working
class under Hoover and the song “Tomorrow”, which Annie sings on her visit to
the White House.
Having
grown up watching the 1982 film, starring Aileen Quinn as Annie, Albert Finney
as Warbucks and Carol Burnett as Miss Hannigan, I was completely unaware how
political the stage show is. While Roosevelt appears in the movie (played by
Edward Hermann), it’s a mere cameo – not the spine and the climax of the show
as it has been in the theatre for nearly 50 years.
The 2025
Australian production is a mix of new and old. The scenery and costumes
were designed by Kenneth Foy and Kristian Fredrikson for tours past, but the
projection design by Craig Wilkinson is new, giving us New York streetscapes
and the lights of Times Square and the greenery of Central Park as the characters
move through the always spectacular NYC.
Choreography
by Mitchell Woodcock is lively, most striking during the orphan ensemble
high-kicking through “Fully Dressed”, full-throttle in “It’s a Hard Knock Life”
and totally thrilling during the astonishing three-way strut by Hannigan,
Rooster and Lily St Regis in “Easy Street” and its reprise.
The cast is wonderful. Mackenzie Dunn and Keanu Gonzalez are the perfectly conniving Lily and Rooster, singing and dancing up a storm. Having the two characters seeded throughout act one, appearing on the streets before they turn up at the orphanage is a clever little easter egg. Amanda Lea Lavergne is loads of fun as the eager Grace Farrell. And ex-Wiggle Greg Page is delightful as the President in his first musical.
When you
sit down for Annie, whether it be the original musical movie or the 1999 remake or the
2014 remix or on stage, the performances you’re really watching for are those
of Annie, Daddy Warbucks and Miss Hannigan.
Isabella
Hayden shines as Annie, belting out those numbers like a diva, and being the
right mix of cheeky and charming. She was also a whiz at handling the dog
playing Sandy, who threatened to upstage her during the first rendition of “Tomorrow”
just by standing in front of her.
Debra
Krizak’s Miss Hannigan is the right side of cartoonish alcoholic, the villain
we love to hate, who despises little girls but is happy to have this job in the
Depression. It’s a tricky role to make your own, because how
differently can you pitch wickedly drunk and disorderly, but Krizak dives into
it and we’re laughing with her as much as at her.
And returning
to the role of Oliver Warbucks, after first taking on the part 25 years ago and
making his Broadway debut as “Daddy” in 2012, Anthony Warlow is so perfectly
melded with the role now, it’s difficult to critique. Yes, Albert Finney will
always spring to mind first, but Warlow fits the role so wonderfully, you'd think the part was written for him. He makes the curmudgeon believably melt under the influence of his new charge. It’s
a privilege to see him do it.
Given the
political undertones baked into the characters’ newspaper origins, even if
they are flipped in the musical, Annie isn’t
the mindless escape I expected it to be. Warbucks buys off government
employees in his search for Annie’s parents. The fact this production ignores the fact that most
of us are suspicious of billionaires now stands out. And hearing “Tomorrow” sung in the
Oval Office just hits different in the present climate.
The show is
full of rousing numbers for rich and poor characters alike and there is a good message in
there, even if I’m finding it harder than ever to receive it. But in a vibrant,
constantly playful production like this, with a cast of this skill and stature, Annie has the power to make an audience laugh, cry and hang on ‘til tomorrow.
Come what may.
Annie is playing at the Princess Theatre through October and then goes to Brisbane from December
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