The term regional theatre is incredibly patronising especially when the West Yorkshire Playhouse produces a joyous show like this wiping the floor with the West End.
Annie is one of luvvie land’s most beloved musicals and a top drawer cast more than do it justice, creating an upbeat but rarely mawkish show that in this age of austerity leaves the audience smiling.
Even if you’ve never been to the theatre you know the story. Feisty Annie leads a bunch of ragtag orphans living under the tyranny of drunken Miss Hanigann.
By a strange quirk of musical theatre she ends up living with grumpy billionaire Oliver Warbucks and despite some double dealing there is a happy ending for this poster girl for positive thinking. It’s a daft story that in the wrong hands could end up as sentimental drivel.
Not here because on every level this show works. The production values are top drawer from the versatile set that makes the most of the Quarry stage, an outstanding cast with no weaknesses, and even American accents that seldom waver.
It’s a tough ask for a young girl to carry a musical on her own but Phoebe Roberts overcomes early sound problems to win our hearts. Annie can be an irritating know all, but Phoebe portrays her as a smart girl haunted by the loss of her parents who is determined to keep smiling.
She is especially good in the scene where she meets FDR and her sheer positivity helps him create the New Deal that saves America. If only Annie could meet Call Me Dave then all our current woes would be solved.
The local kids that play Annie’s gang are the other stars of this show with their energy and high octane talent. A show stopping version of the classic ‘It’s The Hard Knock Life’ was all that is great about musical theatre.
As Daddy Warbucks veteran Duncan Preston takes the Richard Harris route when singing, but his stagecraft is the perfect foil to Annie’s saccharine. Fellow Emmerdale alumni Verity Rushworth is in good voice as Annie’s ally Grace Farrell, and Darren Bennett is a splendidly saucy Rooster Hannigan.
A star is born in Sarah Ingram, hilarious as the drunken Miss Hannigan always teetering on the edge of parody, but in ‘Little Girls’ capturing the heartless desperation of a crook looking at life through the bottom of a glass.
Like Annie we live in desperate times but this wonderfully upbeat two hours of joy might even melt the heart of Gideon Osborne, which makes it a must see as we all go to hell in a handcart.
- Tickets for Annie can be reserved by calling West Yorkshire Playhouse Box Office on 0113 213 7700 or by visiting www.wyp.org.uk