Annie

Liverpool Empire Theatre
Performed by Birkenhead Operatic Society Trust
27th - 30th November 2014

Reviewed by Darren Guy

After the show, my 8-year-old daughter, Bobbi, read the programme from back to front and back again, commenting on all the characters. And she woke up the day after the show dancing around the bedroom, singing ‘Hard knock life’, and pre-acting the Annie parts.

At the show, of her own accord, she gave a standing ovation, wolf whistles and all. So I suppose if she loved it other kids would have also.

‘Miss Hannigan was much nastier in this musical than in the film,’ said Bobbi.

Annie (played by Annabel Welsh and Isabelle Cross) is the story of a ginger -haired orphan, living with dozens of other girl orphans, under the control of alcoholic tyrant Miss Hannigan (Pat Davies). Set during the Great Depression, Annie is desperate to find her parents, so hides in a laundry basket in order to get out of the orphanage and look for them.

That’s were the story begins. She encounters, the homeless, living in Hoovervilles, and adopts a dog on the way, before she is returned to the clammy hands of Miss Hangman. The rest I will let you discover.

Annie was performed by Birkenhead Operatic Society Trust (NODA), which is a combination of amateur operatic and dramatic societies. But considering the musical was described, in its own publicity, as an amateur performance, they could have fooled me (and my daughter). I could not fault any of the major performers

The entire performance was great, the songs had the kids singing along, and the sets and the music were spot on.

My daughter's one criticism was the fact that we were given seats near the top of the circle, where my daughter "couldn’t see the faces of the performers."

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