I’ve always been a sucker for musicals, even as a teenager my heavy metal loving friends found it hilarious that I could sing all the songs from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers!
Annie has to be one of my favourites, I must have seen the film a hundred times.
But, I’d never seen it on stage until last night at Venue Cymru, at Llandudno, and I and my seven-year-old daughter Mia were spellbound from the first note.
With the plot, set in an orphanage, in the period of the Great Depression in New York, it doesn’t sound like it has the makings of a great musical, but Annie’s journey from the orphanage in search of her lost parents and then finally and happily being adopted by billionaire Daddy Warbucks makes for a feel-good ending.
The star of the show is Craig Revel Horwood as the horrible Miss Hannigan, who loathes little orphan Annie with all her might.
Played with great sassiness and conviction, Revel Horwood is wonderful in the role and boy, can he sing. His version of Easy Street was a joy.
Sophie Pettit played the role of Annie on the opening night, and she is also a fantastic singer. Her delivery of big numbers like Tomorrow and Maybe were faultless.
The cast are all outstanding actually, this production has it all.
I also really enjoyed Alex Bourne in the role of Daddy Warbucks, Holly Dale Spencer as Grace Farrell and Callum McCardle as Franklin Roosevelt.
And Labradoodle Amber, playing Sandy, kept everyone amused by his many dashes across the stage.
There was a well deserved standing ovation for all the cast at the end of the show on Monday and I would urge people to go and see this dazzling production, it’s at Venue Cymru until Saturday, June 25.
To sum the evening up, I will use the words of my daughter Mia, she said: “That was AWESOME, Mummy!” And she was right, it was.
