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.

A couple of weeks ago Owen and I went to see the new film-to-stage musical version of GHOST at the Piccadilly Theatre.I can't say I am a big fan of the film which always seemed to me to be a perfectly amiable if unbalanced star-vehicle which somehow seemed to hit a nerve with the public and gave a whole new lease of life to the lugubrious UNCHAINED MELODY by The Righteous Brothers. Unsurprisingly, this is also the only memorable song out of the stage show.

I have just read the chapter on DO I HEAR A WALTZ in Stephen Sondheim's book of collected lyrics "Finishing The Hat" and he writes about the problematic "why" musical. DO I HEAR A WALTZ was a musical he co-wrote with Richard Rodgers based on Arthur Laurents play "The Time of The Cuckoo" (Laurents also wrote the book of the musical). It is Sondheim's contention that the musical failed as it had no real reason to be written as the original play had done all that was needed in that form. If they had an original take on the material it might have been worthwhile but no - they presented a play interrupted by songs. The same problem is inherent in practically all the recent film-to-stage productions - apart from XANADU which had the good sense to lampoon the whole premise.The book by Bruce Joel Rubin (who won an Oscar for his original film script) sticks doggedly to the already meagre plot - there are only five main roles - so if you have seen the film you will know the outcome from the get-go - yep, it's still *him*.

The score by Dave (Eurythmics) Stewart and Glen (Alanis Morissette) Ballard is ever-present but isn't memorable - the nearest song that breaks the generic pop theatre-score sound is the 2nd act belter for Sharon D. Clarke's Oda Mae which sounds like it could have come from the Eurythmics album "The King and Queen of America" with it's faux Big American sound.The male cast members are ok but not inspiring, the show's strength lies in the two female performers. In the role which won Whoopi Goldberg an Academy Award, Sharon D. Clarke is certainly in good voice as the sham spiritualist but she is not an inherently funny performer so the comedy scenes are played with a slightly forced air.

For me, the main reason to see the show is Caissie Levy as Molly, the widow who refuses to stop believing. As she proved in last year's HAIR revival, Caissie has a delightful stage presence and a powerful voice, she sprinkles her effortless quality on all her numbers, in particular her sad ballad "With You".The choreography of Ashley Wallen relies a little too much on the stuttering slow-motion movement so beloved of pop videos and stadium pop choreography but it fills the stage well and the combined visuals of Hugh Vanstone's lighting and Jon Driscoll's video projections always make the show arresting to watch.

So for the most part I sat watching the show, letting it all wash over me like a classy firework show - and then something most peculiar happened. In the last scene of the show it suddenly all came together! Director Matthew Warchus finally pulled off a genuine, emotionally affecting theatrical moment which had the audience snuffling and prompting a huge ovation - and sending the audience out on an emotional high.I guess that in itself will ensure a successful run - it's just a shame the whole show could not have been infused with the genuine magic of that final scene.