Annie has been everywhere – Broadway, TV, comics.
I know Annie. I know Daddy Warbucks. I even know Sandy, the dog. But, I’ve never seen the show before.
I’ve seen Rent several times (including when it played at La Mama). I’ve seen Avenue Q (which you would think, with the puppets, is a kid’s show, but, it is not). I’ve seen A Chorus Line multiple times. Annie, which also has a New York City-based storyline, did not play in NYC during the 90s and 00s, the “Sex And the City” era, when I lived in Manhattan. Sarah Jessica Parker played Annie in 1979 when she was fourteen.
New Yorkers, and New York City-based musicals, like Rent, Avenue Q, and A Chorus Line, are not known for their happy-go-lucky optimism.
Annie is a reminder. No matter how bad you think the country, and world, is right now, at some point(s), it was much worse.
Annie, and her friends – neglected, abused, forced-into-child-labor orphans – remain optimistic in their dire times. The country is in a depression and Germany is gearing towards war.
Daddy Warbucks’ factories are stalled, but yet this generous, Republican billionaire takes in an orphan for the holidays. Warbucks wants to help put the country back on the right track, but how? The business of America is business! He invites the president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, over for dinner on his way up to Hyde Park. Together, they will come up with a plan – or maybe even, a deal.
“What do Democrats eat?”
-Daddy Warbucks
The music and the play are pure optimism. FDR and Daddy Warbucks are symbols of America government and business, Democrats and Republicans, working together to bring the country out of its Great Depression. Yes, we can do it!
Annie’s rags to riches story so popular, so ingrained into our American zeitgeist, that even though I have never sat through an entire production, I felt I already knew it.
Am I reading too much into Annie? My takeaway from Annie may be slightly different than the seven-year-old girl who sat next to me. But, maybe not. Maybe she too understands the need for optimism in a world plagued with wealth and income disparity.
Or, maybe she, like many in the audience, were there for the great music, songs, costumes, and dancing.
Wild Handel can belt out a song! Her voice carries through the play and you are convinced, the sun WILL come out!
We are so fortunate to have Monica M. Wemitt in upstate New York. Her portrayal of Miss Hannigan was so perfect, I do not know how we are going to keep her here after DisneyWorld opens its new Villainsland. Her personality is part Cinderella wicked stepsister and part Cruella Deville, with a dash of Irish lassie.
George Dvorsky’s performance as Daddy Warbucks gives this family-friendly musical a zdaddy vibe and swagger that makes one wonder, is this just for kids?
When you thought things were going well, evil plots a plan. But, who could be mad at these two? No one rocks a floral dress and garter like Kristen Clark Bielefeldt. And you can’t not love Jonah Hale, even when he talks like a Canadian, eh?
Thank you John Saunders for bringing Annie, and optimism, to Chatham.
Annie is family-friendly, and you can bring the kiddos, but there’s more than enough to keep adults entertained.
For ticket information, please visit Mac-Haydn’s website, here.
Book by Thomas Meehan
Music by Charles Strouse
Lyrics by Martin Charnin
Based on Little Orphan Annie by permission of The Media Tribune Services, Inc.
Leapin’ Lizards! The irrepressible comic strip heroine takes center stage in one of the world’s best-loved musicals.
With equal measures of pluck and positivity, little orphan Annie charms everyone’s hearts despite a next-to-nothing start in 1930s New York City. She is determined to find the parents who abandoned her years ago on the doorstep of the orphanage that is run by the cruel, embittered Miss Hannigan. With the help of the other girls in the orphanage, Annie escapes to the wondrous world of NYC. In adventure after fun-filled adventure, Annie foils Miss Hannigan and even befriends President Franklin Delano Roosevelt! She finds a new home and family in billionaire Oliver Warbucks, his personal secretary, Grace Farrell, and a lovable mutt named Sandy.
Week 1
Thursday, August 7 – 2:00 & 8:00PM
Friday, August 8 – 8:00PM
Saturday, August 9 – 4:00 & 8:00PM
Sunday, August 10 – 2:00 & 7:00PM
Week 2
Wednesday, August 13 – 2:00PM
Thursday, August 14 – 2:00 & 8:00PM
Friday, August 15 – 8:00PM
Saturday, August 16 – 4:00 & 8:00PM
Sunday, August 17 – 2:00 & 7:00PM