Annie - Opera House, Manchester - Monday 18th September 2023

Tonight I’ve been at the opening night of Annie at the Opera House in Manchester. As a much loved film by all in the Wendy household, I was very excited to see the musical on stage for the first time.

Set at Christmas time in 1933, young Annie and the other orphans are in their dormitory and before long, the drunken Miss Hannigan, the supposed guardian of these children barges in and gets them cleaning at 3am!

After an escape attempt and a wander around New York in the height of the Great Depression, Annie gets the chance to live with billionaire tycoon Mr Warbucks for 2 whole weeks! Their relationship grows and Mr Warbucks wants to adopt Annie, but all Annie wants is to see her real parents who she fully believes are coming back to get her.

A nation-wide search takes place with the help of President Roosevelt and the FBI (I told you this man was a BILLIONAIRE!), hundreds of wannabe parents turn up and get turned away and 1 set of parents (Miss Hannigan’s crooked brother Rooster and his sidekick Lily St Regis) remain with some facts about Annie no-one would know.

All involved sense a feeling of suspicion and after some FBI checks the truth is revealed, all 3 criminals are arrested and Annie is adopted by the now Daddy Warbucks. YAY! What a happy ending, eh?!

The cast of Annie were all sensational, including Sandy the dog! However, I must give a very BIG shoutout to the child stars of the show. Annie was played by Sharangi Gnanavarathan and this is her professional stage debut… would you know that from her performance? Definitely not! She’s got a powerful voice that blew the roof off during the classic song “Tomorrow” but also had the softness and emotional notes needed during “Maybe”. Also, you wouldn’t know she wasn’t American if you didn’t have a programme, the accent was sustained from beginning to end without missing a beat.

There wasn’t a cast board to see who the other children performing were but they really are the stars of tomorrow. The choreography in “It’s a Hard Knock Life” was fast and intense but all the kids performed it like it was nothing to them… WHILE SINGING! I’m not usually too keen on child heavy shows but this was by far an exception to that feeling.

Craig Revel-Horwood took on the role of Miss Hannigan and I’m not going to lie, I had my concerns as I didn’t know if this was gimmick celebrity casting. It certainly wasn’t! An absolutely hilarious portrayal of Miss Hannigan was given throughout with more innuendo-y style jokes than I remember from the film. “Little Girls” was classic Miss Hannigan, with disdain for the children she looks after but a love for the booze and a great vocal performance. If I’m being picky, the over-the-top New York accent and deep delivery made it difficult to understand the dialogue in most scenes involving Miss Hannigan.

Daddy Warbucks was played by Alex Bourne who is a Musical Theatre veteran with credits spanning years. I find this character quite hard to connect with in the film, and I’m sure that’s the point that you warm up to him, but I felt like it was easier to connect and empathise with Alex’s portrayal of the billionaire tycoon. There were some lovely moments between him and Annie and some great songs that Daddy Warbucks sings that aren’t in the film adaptation that were a nice surprise to hear.

Grace Farrell is Daddy Warbucks’ very loyal secretary who helps select Annie as the lucky chosen one to spend Christmas at the mansion. Amelia Adams had this role and MY LORD! What… a…. VOICE! Absolutely sublime sounds coming from her vocal chords throughout the whole show. Looking at her credits you can see why she’s done so much but I can tell you there’s more to come in the future, I’ll bet my bottom dollar on it. Amelia’s rendition of this character felt like a great bridge between the world of the orphanage and the world of Daddy Warbucks, giving a more level headed approach to things than what Daddy would have done.

Rooster and Lily were played by Lukin Simmonds (Understudy) and Billie-Kay. The crooked criminals of the story were slimy, sly and cunning throughout with the song Easy Street being the standout for them. Both gave a really high energy performance with kicks, turns and belting notes in every part of the song with a suspicious and sly take on the dialogue scenes.

The rest of the cast were:

David Burrows

Tommy Wade-Smith

Alistair Beattie

Martin McCarthy

Phoebe Roberts

Dawn Williams

Emily Barnett-Salter

Matthew Seet

Belle Kizzy Green

I very much enjoyed the choreography by Nick Winston throughout the show especially in the big ensemble numbers. It was so slick and interesting to watch with all cast members being SO in sync at every moment. I literally couldn’t fault 1 second of what I watched. I loved the contrast in choreography, also. Especially when looking at the song that took place in a slum in New York City with rough and ready movements compared to the elegant and sophisticated movements in songs that took place in the Warbucks Mansion.

Colin Richmond’s set and costume design was a particular highlight in this show, for me. I said in my previous review of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie that I don’t particularly comment on the set unless it really stands out for me and it really did in this.

I can’t help but wonder if they took inspiration from Matilda the Musical as the wing set pieces of Jigsaw puzzles falling into the top corners of the stages looked very similar to the letter blocks on the Matilda set. I didn’t get quite the need for puzzle pieces but it looked nice!

The set pieces in the orphanage were oversized and overbearing as if to show things from a child’s perspective. When in the Warbucks Mansion, the set pieces are large and extravagant but in a way that feels lavish and refined. It’s a very big contrast which I feel works very well. Also, the lighting in those orphanage and slum scenes was much darker and almost all red compared to the light and bright parts of the mansion.

My only criticism of this production is that the story and energy in Act 2 felt flat and long compared to the hustle and bustle of Act 1. It felt like the dialogue scenes were dragging in between the songs. Although the story doesn’t help with this, it may be something that could be worked on and addressed for the future.

Overall, I loved this production of Annie just as much as I love the film. Although a different story than we know in the film adaptation, it is still just as enjoyable with some lovely songs, amazing choreography and stunning set and costume design.

Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Cast: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Music: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Set: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️