November 15, 2012 - WestchesterGuardian.com

THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN THURSDAY, november 15, 2012Page 17EYE ON THEATREWelcome Back, AnnieBy JOHN SIMONThe newly revived2,377-performancemusical, “Annie,” is, 35years later, still exceptionalin two distinctiveways.First of all, rare is the musical inwhich every song is equally effectiveintrinsically, and not just because itfurthers the plot. The number of suchshows is calculable on the fingers ofyour hands, without need of enlistingyour toes. So often at a musical youcan’t wait for the next presumablybetter song; not so with “Annie;” hereeach one is good enough to linger on.Then there’s the matter of diversity.Katie Finneran as Miss Hannigan.In far too many musicals all numberssound more or less alike, which makesfor monotony and boredom. Now, itis true that every number in CharlesStrouse’s music, with pleasurable lyricsby Martin Charnin, has a close kinshipwith the rest, but the wonder of it isthat you wouldn’t wish it otherwise.Why is that?Some of it is because of Strouse’sexcellent training—he even studied inParis with the great Nadia Boulanger,teacher of world-famous classicalcomposers and very fussy aboutwhom she would take on. He is alsothe composer of such celebrated,diverse musicals as “Bye Bye Birdie,”“Applause,” “Golden Boy,” and “Rags,”among others, and such range counts.But the homogeneity in “Annie”really works because there is somesort of ur-musical in Strouse’s mindor inner ear, a kind of ideal, archetypalcomposition that lends itself to exquisitevariations of which we simplycannot get too much. You may readilyrecall such numbers as “Maybe,”“Tomorrow,” and “Easy Street,” havinglain dormant in your memory, butthere are eleven others of equal appeal,with not even the reprises elicitinganything like a no-not-that-againresponse. You might more easily claimthat Mozart repeats himself.And then there is the book, veryloosely based on the “Little OrphanAnnie” cartoon, aptly devised byThomas Meehan, one of Broadway’spremier librettists. And who wouldn’tthrill to the story of Annie, a lovable,feisty eleven-year-old orphan; MissHannigan, the drunken, draconianmatron of the orphanage; Oliver“Daddy” Warbucks, the rampantbillionaire with the repressed heartof gold, who delivers Annie; and halfa dozen assortedly adorable furtherorphans?Georgi James as Pepper, Lilla Crawford as Annie,Emily Rosenfeld as Molly, Junah Jang as Tessie,Taylor Richardson as Duffy, Madi Rae DiPietroas July, and Tyrah Skye Odoms as Kate.Not to mention such othersas Grace Farrell, Warbucks’ valiant,unflappable secretary; Miss Hannigan’srascally brother, Rooster, and his slatternlygirlfriend, Lily, who criminallytry to impersonate Annie’s deceasedparents for the reward money; heartyPresident F.D.R. and his starchycabinet; and last but not least, Sandy,the lovable stray dog with the soundAnthony Warlow as Oliver Warbucks and Lilla Crawford.Lilla Crawford as Annie and Sunny as Sandy.judgment of letting Annie adopt him(or her, in this cast a female ).Let me praise the cast. It featuresthe highly appropriate Annie of LillaCrawford, age eleven, adult for heryears and able to belt out a song withthe best of them. It further boasts afabulous Warbucks in the Australianactor Anthony Warlow, who even tome, having seen several Warbuckses onstage, screen and TV, comes across asJeremy Davis as Hull, Anthony Warlow asOliver Warbucks, Lilla Crawford as Annie,Dennis Stowe as Morganthau, Jane Blass asPerkins, Gavin Lodge as Ickes, Merwin Foardas F.D.R. and Kevin Quillon as Howe.the most varied, incisive, and winning.You will also like most of theothers, including the canine Sunny,and her briefly glimpsed understudy,Casey; Brynn O’Malley, as a ratheridiosyncratic Grace; and others, apossible problem only with MissHannigan, played by Katie Finneran,a critics’ darling whose darlingness hasalways escaped me.She has never struck me asKatie Finneran as Miss Hannigan, Clarke Thorell asRooster, and J. Elaine Marcos as Lily St. Regis.appropriate for the slightly weirdbut ultimately likable roles she hasplayed, and does not quite make it forme even in a fundamentally unlovablepart, for which she should beeminently suitable. But then, thoughmany have tried, no one has beenquite able to match the late DorothyLoudon, the original and incomparableMiss Hannigan.“Annie” is even a discreetcomment on the Depression erain which it is situated, and we aregiven F.D.R. and his sundry ministerslightly caricatured, as well as ariveting scene in an under-the-bridgeHooverville. The sets, encompassinglocations from the poorest to therichest, are expertly conjured by DavidKorins, and revolve beautifully. SusanHilferty’s costumes cope cannily witha similarly wide range, although theytake some embellishing liberties withAnnie’s outfit; and Donald Holder’slighting, like the dogs savvily pickedfrom pounds and trained by WilliamBerloni, doesn’t miss a trick.It may help if you do not recall thefine original choreography by PeterGennaro, which may have proddedAndy Blankenbuehler’s current one,trying to compete, toward somerather less persuasive maneuvers. Thesame goes for James Lapine’s staging,which strives too hard to differ fromMartin Charnin’s original one, andeven Shirley Templifies Annie’s hairstyle.But these are relatively minormatters, scarcely troublesome fornew or less memorious audiences.Cavils be damned: “Annie” still provesirrepressible.“Annie” is playing on Broadway,at the Palace Theatre, 1564 Broadway,between 46 th and 47 th Streets, NewYork, NY 10036.Photos of “Annie” by and courtesy of JoanMusic.John Simon has written for over 50years on theatre, film, literature, musicand fine arts for the Hudson Review,New Leader, New Criterion, NationalReview, New York Magazine, OperaNews, Weekly Standard, Broadway.com and Bloomberg News. Mr.Simon holds a PhD from HarvardUniversity in ComparativeLiterature and has taught at MIT,Harvard University, Bard Collegeand Marymount Manhattan College.To learn more, visit the JohnSimon-Uncensored.com