The Liverpool Empire audience was on their feet for a well-deserved standing ovation for the cast of Annie.
The ultimate comfort musical is currently touring the UK and this week, it is the city’s turn to indulge in the all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza. It is a hard knock life but Nikolai Foster’s Annie certainly makes it better.
At this stage, I think it’s fair to say everyone is familiar with the story of Annie. But yet, this revival had a modern twist which still had me hooked and falling in love with each and every character - even, surprisingly, Craig Revel Horwood’s alcohol-loving, child-hating Miss Hannigan.
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For those who aren’t familiar with the plot: Set in 1930s New York during The Great Depression, the story follows brave young 11-year-old Annie, played by Zoe Akinyosade, who is forced to live a life of misery at Miss Hannigan’s orphanage. Her luck soon changes when she's chosen to spend a fairytale Christmas with famous billionaire, Oliver Warbucks (Alex Bourne) and his secretary, Grace Farrell (Dawn Williams).
Warbucks eventually decides to adopt the orphan - but spiteful Miss Hannigan has other ideas and hatches a plan to spoil Annie’s search for her true family.
I went along tonight, Monday, June 5, to watch the triumphant show and it did not disappoint. A stand out-performance was delivered by Strictly Come Dancing judge, Craig Revel Horwood.
The 58-year-old shared the role of the orphanage boss with Birkenhead’s own Paul O’Grady before he died in March this year. With this in mind, it seemed only right for Craig to dedicate the “show and every show this week” to the much-loved TV presenter.
Craig, like Paul O’Grady, a former drag queen himself, had the audience enticed from the moment he walked on stage and delivered his first line with a distinctive nasal accent.
Miss Hannigan’s best scenes, for me anyway, came when she was plotting alongside her sleazy jailbird brother, Rooster, who was flawlessly depicted by Paul French. A well-earned roar and clap happened each time the two finished breaking out in song and dance.
Having said that, without a doubt, the stars of the show are Annie and the orphans. The talented girls all had great stage presence, owning the stage just as well as their adult counterparts.
At times it was easy to forget their real ages as each of them oozed confidence and professionalism. They handled the classic songs of Hard Knock Life and Tomorrow with elegance and made light work of the energetic and infectious choreography. A conversation I overheard from the family behind me during the interval summed it up perfectly: “If that was my kid up there doing all that dancing and singing, I would be proud as punch”.
In other versions of the same Annie, a real-life dog played the part of Sandy but unfortunately, this wasn’t the case for tonight’s audience, which I can only assume is down to the weather being a danger for the dog.
At the time of writing, tickets are available for shows throughout the rest of the week, however low availability remains so get one while you can.
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