Review: Annie

Annie
John Frost, Power Arts, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Two Left Feet
1 June 2012
Regent Theatre
to 12 August
anniethemusical.com.au

Annie was the first big show I saw. It was the original Australian production (yes, the summer of 78/79) at the Festival Centre in Adelaide and it was the most incredible thing I'd ever seen. It was better than The Aristocats film and even better than Disney on Ice!  And it had kids in it. It was aspirational and my cousins and I sang every bit we could remember from it. (Thanks Gran for taking us.) I so wanted to be an orphan, but I really wanted to be Annie*. It's Annie's fault that I'm here today.

Annie was THE show of 1978 in Australia. The songs were played on the radio, there were stories in every newspaper about the casting and finding the dogs at the pound. We knew the names of the local Annies and orphans. It was bigger than The Voice.

Being a teenager, I didn't see the film (naff), missed the 2000 revival (naff!) and so nearly didn't see the 2012 production because I was scared that my inner-10-year-old would have her memories of such a perfect experience shattered.

Annie is naff. Its a schmaltzy, feel-good story about an perky orphan showing a billionaire the importance of being perky and convincing the new US-depression-time President that the sun will come out tomorrow.  It's more twee than Lolcats,  has the worst wig in the history of all theatre (even in the 70s the curly red perm looked ridiculous) and if it were written today, there'd be an extra scene to help the Act 2 resolution where she runs away, is attacked on the streets and saved by Sandy the dog.

So the only way to tell this story and make it more than laughable ironic nostalgia is to make it as perfect as possible and to tell the story with love. And this is what director Karen Johnson Mortimer has done.

It starts with an exquisite design (Kenneth Foy) that incorporates projections of 1930s New York to bring us into its world. We begin in the grey and white film world of orphanage poverty and colour is added until we're dancing in the lavish world of hope, love and wealth.

The first cast on stage are the seven little Australian orphans and Annie (Hattie Hook, we adored you) singing "Maybe" and "Hard Knock Life". This is make or break it time and this young cast make it. Bring in the Nancye Hayes as nasty Miss Hanniagn (who was the original Lily and company director of the 2000 revival) and there's no doubt that this is an Annie as good as any of us remember.

The cast can't be faulted.  Julie Goodwin (not the Masterchef winner) as Grace, Todd McKenney as Rooster, Chloe Dallimore as Lily, Anthony Warlow returning from 2000 as Daddy Warbucks and one of the best ensembles I've seen tell this story like it's their own. It's not just talent and experience (although if you can't dance like Todd, you don't deserve to be on a musical theatre stage); it's being totally with your character (no matter how small) for every moment you're on the stage. We're not in the audience to see performers show off; we're there to see a story and have to believe in the characters on the stage.

If you've never seen Annie, you may not like it as a grown up. I sat next to a confused 20-something couple on a date: the only way this is a date show is if your hoping to get knocked up that night. But there were lots of children. Children who didn't utter a word during the show (anyone been to a movie where kids shut up?), children who sat there as entranced as I've ever seen anyone in a theatre. A little girl near me was crying in Act 2 when it seems like Annie may have to go away with her fake parents.

This is going to be as defining theatre/story moment for many of these children, so please don't hesitate to introduce any pre-teens you know to theatre with Annie. As a commercial show it is expensive (and even I was nearly tempted by an Annie key ring at the merchandise stand), which leaves so many people unable to see it. I'm not going to debate the cost of putting on these shows, but producers, you're very smart people, so there must be a way to open up seats to kids and families who would otherwise never have a chance to see Annie. Daddy Warbucks would find a way.

We've seen some seriously dull musical revivals in recent years. These shows have ruined memories of great shows and made first timers wonder what the fuss was about. Revivals have to be as great as this Annie. They have to be better than what came before. Cutting cost corners on development and rehearsal or talent and spectacle only leads to empty seats and reviewers writing things that make you upset.

Annie is as perfect as a production of Annie can be. Filled with heart and talent, it reminded me why I fell in love with musical theatre all those years ago.

I never got to be THAT Annie, despite my Grandpa never calling me anything else, but I showed off on many stages in my teens, have adopted pets from the street and had red curly hair for many years. But I haven't sat on a billionaire's lap and called him Daddy...yet.

* until I wanted to be Sandy (from Grease, not the dog), then Janet from Rocky Horror.

This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com

The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera
Really Useful Group
28 July 2007
Princess Theatre

The Phantom of the Opera has returned to the Princess Theatre in Melbourne. It is as lavish and spectacular as it was in the 1990s and Anthony Warlow’s return as the Phantom is phabulous, but the production is already feeling like a franchised McPhantom.
 
The Phantom of the Opera has been phenomenally successful since it opened in London in 1986. The official web site estimates that more than 80 million people have seen it in hundreds of cities in more than 20 countries. It has created some of the most magical moments in contemporary musical theatre and some of the most copied and ultimately clichéd moments. We are still seeing the same production (direction, choreography, design) that has thrilled for over 20 years. Which is where the problem may lie. It wasn’t lazy performances or a bad cast, but this production felt tired and almost lacklustre.

The design is still stunning, the costumes amazing and the overture chandelier moment is one of the greatest musical theatre openings (perhaps only surpassed by The Lion King). Yet this Phantom is already beginning to feel like its own cliché. The dry ice, great make up and magic disappearances are so expected now that they have very little impact.

The book and score are full of mystery, deaths, disappearances and constant threat, but there was very little tension on the stage. We were never really scared for Christine and her fate. The climax of the show is the unmasking of the Phantom (I think this well enough known that it’s not a spoiler), but was so expected that it was almost an anti-climax.

The 1986 production and direction aren’t translating to 2007. This Phantom needs new energy to re-connect with its audience and re-create the atmosphere and tension that have made it such a success.

What does make this production shine is the phantastic Warlow. His Phantom is complex and haunting and human. He was struggling vocally with a lurgy on opening night, but few would have noticed if the director hadn’t announced it before opening. The show is totally his, vocally and emotionally.

This shouldn’t be the case. Every one on that stage should (and could) be as good as Warlow. I may not have been so disappointed if it wasn’t for the most recent Miss Saigon, where every member of the cast has the same energy, commitment and range as the principals. Just because it’s a franchised production, doesn’t mean it can’t be amazing and engaging.

Ana Marina’s sings Christine beautifully and brings an interesting vocal interpretation to one of the hardest music theatre roles to sing. However, Christine has two men thoroughly obsessed with her, two women secretly protecting her and an entire opera company fearing for their lives because she is in their midst. This Christine is sweet and innocent and lovely, but not yet achieving the performance than makes us believe that men would kill for her. Her stage connection with Raoul (John Bowles) and to the Phantom is also lacking. This is a show about huge emotions. We have to believe those kisses.

I have loved Phantom since I bought the double album with Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman. Even through my computer speakers this recording has more tension and life than the current Australian production.

Our latest Phantom is an expensive ticket. If this is a concern, listen to the original recording and rent the DVD of the film (which is actually pretty good).

This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.

The Pirates of Penzance

The Pirates of Penzance
Opera Australia
17 May 2007
The State Theatre, The Arts Centre

There were cat calls, hollers and whoops of joy from the audience.  Most knew every lyric, were humming in the foyer and just itching to sing along. It wasn’t a midnight performance of Rocky Horror – this was Australian Opera presenting The Pirates of Penzance.

A Gilbert and Sullivan opera is as English as a white bread sandwich or egg and chips. By no means sophisticated or original, but an enjoyable favourite, that many like to orphan indulge in.

The plot resolution is shocking, the characters lack substance and there are no surprises. Nonetheless, the paradox is that 75, 000 people have seen this production since it opened last year.

Opera Australia’s new production of Pirates is simply perfect for their audience. It’s not an especially creative re-interpretation of a classic work. I’m sure it could be an intelligent musing about rejection and the impermanence of beauty, or even a sensible exploration of sense of duty. However, it wouldn’t be filling the State Theatre. G&S fans know what they like and this production serves it up in great big splendid bucketfuls.

It is all a bit of joke, but it really doesn’t matter, because the audience are not only complicit in the joke, but would be horrified if anyone really took it too seriously.

As expected from a company of this calibre, the casting in excellent. Reg Livermore was born to be a G&S comic and his Modern Major General is the very model. Suzanne Johnston’s Ruth is a balance between crone and emancipated, hot 40 something and Taryn Fiebig brings a subtle, and appreciated, depth to Mabel. The chorus is cast with some of the best young singers, who I’m sure we will see as principals in years to come.

It is, it is a glorious thing to be Johnny Depp. Tradition asks directors to follow Gilbert’s lead and have characters as parodies of prominent public figures. So, I suppose the Pirate King being based on Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean is fair. But it isn’t really a parody, as much as an impersonation. Anthony Warlow does it rather wonderfully, yet it is also a glorious thing to be Anthony Warlow, and I would have liked to see a touch more originality.

Richard Roberts design is simple, iconic and delightfully ironic. With a rake, a proscenium of light globes and cartoon ships that wheel on and off the billowy waters, this design shows how to have a lot of fun with tradition and still create something of beauty in its own right.

If you like G& S, this is unmissable. If you’re hesitant about opera, but like a good musical, you’ll probably love Pirates and want to see more and more. Sullivan’s melodies are memorable and Gilbert’s eloquent diction creates a delightful fiction. The best thing about having surtitles was being able to read the wit and wordplay (and look out for the surtitle joke in ACT 2).

At the end of the night, everyone had a lot of fun. Pirates is G&S designed, directed and performed very, very well and the audience loved it. Hurrah for Opera Australia.

This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.