Reviewed by Sarah Hansel /
Sacramento
Stage & Theatre
Mark
Zimmerman as Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks and Kelsey Smith as Annie in the
2007 Music Circus production of “Annie” at the Wells Fargo Pavilion. Photo by Charr Crail.
As
I walked into the Music Circus to see ANNIE, I was fully prepared for
the fact that a great deal of the audience would consist of children.
However, I was not prepared for the fact that by the end of the show, I
would be one of them. As a person who doesn’t usually enjoy
performances by children (no offense to the children—I just prefer
adults), my expectations for ANNIE were fairly low. I enjoyed the movie
as a child, but I now fancied myself too old to appreciate the sugary
sweet optimism that characterizes the show.
It turns out I was wrong. From the first note that
was sung from the
mouth of Annie (Kelsey Smith), I was enthralled. She had a spectacular
voice, especially for someone so young. Looking back on the program,
she’s had some very impressive acting experience—one of the more
notable things being the lead in the Care Bears Live tour.
The children
that accompanied Smith were also extremely talented. Instead of being
overly energetic and irritating, they were adorable and entertaining. I
especially enjoyed their rendition of “It’s the Hard Knock Life”, which
was filled with the appropriate anger and bitterness of orphans.
Although there were several parts of ANNIE that were
childish and
perhaps overly good-natured, they were well balanced with portions of
humor and wit.
Miss Hannigan (Adinah Alexander), for example,
was
hilariously sarcastic. Her brother Rooster (Jim Walton) and his
girlfriend Lily St. Regis (Annie V. Ramsey) were just as funny, in a
delightfully evil way. Parts of ANNIE were even a kind of political
commentary—topics such as the Depression and President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt’s “New Deal” were brought up, and FDR himself was acted
perfectly by Ron Wisniski.
Even though these aspects of ANNIE’s plot were
greatly appreciated, the
innocently sweet and charming parts are certainly worth noting. Annie,
as a character, is impossible not to adore, and the relationship
between she and “Daddy Warbucks” would warm the heart of any
skeptic—including me.
All in all, there is something for all ages to enjoy
in ANNIE. I walked
into the Wells Fargo Pavilion as a cynic, determined to sneer at
ANNIE’s cheerfulness, but I walked out as one of the children in the
audience, wide-eyed, innocent and optimistic.
ANNIE continues at Music Circus through Aug.
12. Tickets for ANNIE and all other Music Circus
shows are currently on sale
at the Wells
Fargo Pavilion Box Office at 1419 H Street, Sacramento, by phone at
(916) 557-1999.Tickets are also available on line
at www.SacramentoMusicCircus.com.
The 2007 Music Circus season will continue
with HELLO, DOLLY! (August 14 – 19), JEKYLL & HYDE (August 21 – 26)
and 1776 (August 29 – September 2.
