Melissa Blease reviews Annie, on at Theatre Royal Bath until Saturday 5 November
Happy birthday Bath Light Operatic Group: one of the most seasoned amateur theatre companies in the UK, and celebrating 60 years (60 years!) of spectacular performances at the Theatre Royal Bath with this magnificent production of one of the best-loved family musicals of all time.
If you’re not familiar with the tale of the feisty, eternally optimistic little orphan with the flame-coloured locks, prepare to get irresistibly and joyously weepy. Unlike most of her friends at heinous Miss Hannigan’s orphanage, Annie firmly believes that her parents will one day reclaim her as their own – she even makes regular break-outs to go and search for them on the treacherous streets of New York City after dark, but her foolhardy forays always prove to be fruitless.
However, Annie’s unwavering belief that there must be a better day waiting at the end of every dark night she endures is eventually rewarded when billionaire tycoon Oliver Warbucks’ secretary Grace Farrell chooses her to spend Christmas in Warbucks’ palatial Fifth Avenue mansion… until, that is, Miss Hannigan’s devious, brother Rooster and his moll appear on the scene, impersonating Annie’s parents in an attempt to claim a $50,000 reward offered by Warbucks, who’s torn between adopting Annie himself and reuniting her with her real family.
Annie’s almost overwhelmingly charming tale – set in America in the early 1930s – was originally based on political cartoonist Harold Grey’s Great Depression-era comic strips, and takes us back to an era when US politics were a distinctly more civilised affair than they are today; in Annie’s world, a self-made Republican business tycoon and a Democratic President (in this instance Franklin ‘FDR’ Roosevelt), architect of the New Deal aimed at reviving the economy, get along famously.
References are made to former President Herbert Hoover’s legacy: at one point Annie finds herself in a Hooverville, one of the shanty towns that sprang up across America following the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and its occupants burst into an incongruously uplifting anthem telling their story. But hey, we’re most definitely not on Les Miserables territory here – far from it; Annie’s tale is nothing if not cheerful to the max, and BLOG could not have done a better job of telling it.
Taking the leading role on the opening night, 12-year-old Clementine Gallen is simply extraordinary as our buoyant, bubbly heroine: energetic, confident and expressive throughout, even when her new ‘homeless’ chum Sandy the dog, played at the first performance by a slightly reluctant Sam, proved to be not quite as comfortable in the spotlight as the rest of his cast members were. (The role of Annie is shared by Nelly Batt and Clementine Gallen who play the title role on alternate performances.)
Sam still managed, however, to be almost as adorable as Annie’s orphanage friends: six little girls with a collective age that can’t have amounted to much more than the age of BLOG itself, who pretty much stole the show from the off with their individual personalities, vivacity and wit.
Rebecca Henderson is deliciously despicable as negligent floozy Miss Hannigan; Zoe Manifold is an utterly graceful Grace Farrell; George Miles and Hannah Watson (Miss Hannigan’s brother Rooster and his coarse cohort Lily) are villainously entertaining as a couple bound together by wholly ignoble motives; Barry Stevens as FDR is at once authoritative, altruistic and humane (oh, if only Barry was standing for President in real life, right now!).
Meanwhile, Geoff White as the benevolent Oliver ‘Daddy’ Warbucks is just magnificent: commanding yet congenial, strong yet sensitive – and oh, what a voice! Talking of which…
Tomorrow, Maybe, It’s a Hard-Knock Life, Easy Street, You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile… the hits keep on coming, the impeccable orchestra never miss a beat, and an incredibly close-knit ensemble class serve to bind every ingredient in this well-balanced production seamlessly and with formidable aplomb. Annie, we love ya!
Main image: Geoff White (Daddy Warbucks), Nelly Batt (Annie), Zoe Manifold (Grace)
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