ANNIE at the Piccadilly Theatre: Nostalgia isn't what it used to be...

Well it took a while but finally, 40 years after it's original London opening, I have seen ANNIE on stage!  I must admit that I wasn't particularly bothered about seeing this production when it opened starring Miranda Hart or after Craig Revel Horwood took over, but when it was announced that Meera Syal was taking over the iconic role of Miss Hannigan... well it had to happen!

I remember managing about ten minutes of John Huston's film version as it was so ghastly and since then I have kept the musical at arm's length but know of the show's more successful songs thanks to Grace Jones, cabaret star Jason Graae - and yes, Jay-Z.

So there I was, finally watching Thomas Meehan's odd tale of orphan Annie who escapes from the drab misery of Miss Hannigan's orphanage to live in Oliver Warbucks' mansion on a whim of his to give an under-privileged child a nice time for Christmas. Slowly he is won over by her optimistic outlook and decides to bankroll a search for her parents.  Meanwhile back at the orphanage, Miss Hannigan's crooked brother Rooster and his tarty girlfriend Lily St.Regis decide to scam Warbucks by claiming to be Annie's parents.  Ultimately the Big Daddy, President Roosevelt turns up to sort things out!

Meehan's book has a refreshingly direct trajectory but for all it's shiny-faced optimism, it does occasionally sound disquieting notes, usually around the odd figure of 'Daddy' Warbucks and the idea that money can ultimately buy you anything.

Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin's score certainly has it's high-points - TOMORROW, MAYBE, EASY STREET, YOU'RE NEVER FULLY DRESSED WITHOUT A SMILE and HARD-KNOCK LIFE are all rightly standards - but the rest of the score is a bit forgettable with one too many songs featuring characters and the ensemble standing around saying how lovely Annie is but then it's not like they would call her a shady bitch  It's surprising but maybe not that neither Strouse or Charnin have had as big a success since.

Director Nikolai Foster writes at length in the programme about how he was struck by the underlying sadness and seriousness of a lonely orphan trying to find a home in the deprived world of the the 1930s Depression and cites the show's relevance in the era of Trump, Brexit and Syrian refugees.  Nice try Nikolai... but his production is anonymously slick with all the depth of a postage stamp, it also felt like all the big numbers were like guest slots on the Royal Variety Performance.

Foster also claims that Colin Richmond's standing set and proscenium design of jigsaw pieces references Annie trying to join up with her long-lost parents.  Ah, so that's what it is... and there was me thinking it was a *cough* homage to MATILDA.  Ben Cracknell lights it well however and Nick Winston's choreography is energetic if ultimately not quite integrated.

As I said, we went to see Meera Syal and she delivered a very funny and sly Miss Hannigan while also suggesting, where she could, hints of a lower depth than her lines and business allows.  As Alex Bourne's well-sung Daddy Warbucks or the ever-shrill Grace of Holly Dale Spencer started up yet another song about how gosh-darned lucky they were to have Annie in their lives, it made you realize just how little Miss Hannigan is in the show but Meera made you miss her character and charisma.

We had the Team Madison troupe of kids on and Isobel Khan was delightful as Annie with a nice voice and a confident performance; sadly as soon as the other children started singing their screeching fingers-down-a-blackboard pitch rendered the lyrics totally incomprehensible.  The supporting performances were fairly anonymous, but Russell Willcox stood out as Franklin Roosevelt, he also scooted across the stage in his wheelchair admirably.  Jonny Fines as the nasty Rooster chewed the jigsaw pieces off the set while Kate Somerset How as Lily merely stood by and watched.

Of course the most notable supporting performance was from Amber as the plucky, lovable pooch Sandy but apart from lighting up a scene in the first act, she had to settle for running across the stage during scene-changes and wandering on to join Annie's new-found family at the end.  Amber... you're a star but you need a new agent.

On reflection, it all made for a nice evening - and as you can figure from the above, I always love seeing Meera Syal onstage - but I think ANNIE is now a musical I can chalk up to having seen with no further investigation needed.