In May 2005 the Potato Room Players presented Annie
For a young girl living a 'hard-knock life' in a children's orphanage, things may seem pretty bad, especially at Christmas.
But feisty Annie carries a song in her heart and hope in her locket - the only thing she has from her parents. One day, fed up with the dastardly Miss Hannigan, Annie escapes the run-down orphanage determined to find her mum and dad.
Her adventure takes her from the cold, mean streets of New York to the warm, comforting arms of big-hearted billionaire Oliver Warbucks, with plenty of mischief and music in between.
REVIEW
There is the old saying in theatrical circles, “Never work with Children and Animals”. It is good, therefore, that Stuart Woolf chose to ignore this advice because without doubt it is the children and “Sandy” the dog who steal the show in the Potato Room Players current production of “Annie”.
And I encountered a future Star at the opening night of “Annie” in the form of Mary Hodgkinson, a thirteen-year-old pupil at Prince Henry’s Grammar School in Otley. Mary never put a foot wrong and was word perfect in her role. Her renditions of “Maybe”, “Hard Knock Life” and in particular “Tomorrow” were excellent. She has a powerful voice for a girl of such tender years, and is also an excellent dancer, probably due to the fact that she has been treading the boards for 9 years as a pupil with the Scala Performing Arts group in Leeds.
The other eight youngsters, who are Annie’s fellow orphans at the New York City Orphanage under the direction of the tyrannical Miss Hannigan, are also very talented youngsters and certainly bring the show to life in the opening scenes.
Annie is a 10-year-old orphan who is suddenly chosen by Grace Farrell, the secretary to multi billionaire Oliver Warbucks, to spend two weeks over Christmas with Mr Warbucks and his household. Though cold at first, Warbucks comes to like the girl and eventually decides he wants to adopt her. But Annie believes her parents are still alive. Warbucks offers a large cash reward to her real parents if they will come and prove their existence. This prompts Miss Hannigan, her scheming brother Rooster and his girlfriend Lily St Regis to hatch up a plot for Rooster and Lily to imitate her parents. Will they succeed in fooling Oliver Warbucks and Grace Farrell? That is the question everyone wants to know, and which I am not going to reveal here!
Alan Smith, who plays Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks, is a veteran performer with societies throughout Yorkshire and his class really shows in his performance. Likewise Christine Castle, as Grace Farrell. I thought Chris Nuttall and Ruth Taylor (who were the two lead roles in Annie Get Your Gun last autumn with the society), as Rooster and Lily were also outstanding, as was Mollie Williams as the drunken nasty Miss Hannigan.
Stuart Woolf’s direction throughout was superb as always, and the choreography by Jacqui Drake was outstanding. Add to this the brilliant musical direction by Jim Lunt and you have a truly terrific show. I enthused about Annie Get Your Gun” in November last year and asked how Stuart Woolf could top that in 2005. Well, he has with this production of “Annie” which is sold out for the rest of the week. Can “Gigi” in November top this – I for one will be there to find out!
John Burland
Dine Direct Theatre Reviewer