Courtesy of The Croswell Opera Home
It’s a tough knock life at The Croswell Opera Home, the place the corporate has assembled a heat, vibrant, family-friendly theatrical expertise with their present manufacturing of the Tony Award-winning traditional “Annie.”
I’ll admit it: “Annie” isn’t a present I normally exit of my strategy to see. The truth is, it has one way or the other evaded me through the years, together with 14 years in the past when The Croswell final staged it. However even with musicals that may not be my private go-to, I’m all the time hopeful {that a} manufacturing can discover recent, partaking methods to win me over. This one did simply that. Throughout the first ten minutes, this unbelievable ensemble of younger performers, a military of expertise, concord, and charisma, had me utterly on board. These youngsters, or moderately these orphans, are the true deal and a testomony to how The Croswell nurtures younger expertise in our surrounding communities. I used to be genuinely blown away.
Take “Laborious Knock Life,” one of many rating’s most definitive numbers by Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin. Right here, Dom Glover’s sensational choreography offers this group of younger actors an opportunity to take full command of the stage: backflips, splits, sharp precision, and vocals that appear to return from a spot far past their years. The camaraderie and spirit of this orphan brigade are important to “Annie’s” success, and director Kirsten Hinshaw has made positive they’ve the moxie, grit, and attraction to make the viewers imagine each second.
In fact, “Annie” is a type of musicals that almost everybody is aware of, whether or not from faculty productions, the assorted movie diversifications, or just by osmosis from listening to “Tomorrow” someplace in public. That familiarity makes it straightforward for a staging to really feel stale, however it additionally makes the problem clear: the present has to make what’s previous really feel new once more. Beneath the musical and vocal course of Wynne Marsh and Raymond Novak, this “Annie” does precisely that, at the same time as Thomas Meehan’s guide nonetheless carries the marks of the period by which it was written.
On the coronary heart of all of it is the exceptional Caroline Hubbard because the red-headed orphan herself. Annie spends her days beneath the strict watch of the vile Miss Hannigan (a really humorous Elizabeth Mitchell), caring for the youthful orphans and holding onto the dream that her mother and father, who left her on the orphanage, will sometime return. Hubbard shoulders the function’s heavy workload with ease, delivering a efficiency that feels pure and warranted. Her renditions of “Possibly” and “Tomorrow” are heartfelt and clear, with the latter that includes the present’s furriest co-star, Sandy, performed by Blueberry Arnall-Rhoades, who practically steals the scene.
Ward Ensign brings a reserved attraction to Warbucks (who, in a enjoyable and unconventional twist, shouldn’t be bald this time), the self-made billionaire attempting to maintain his factories working throughout the Nice Despair. His rising bond with Annie, who he fosters for 2 weeks at Christmas, feels honest and candy. Emma Skaggs shines as Grace, Warbucks’ devoted assistant, taking part in her with heat and a grounded sense of care. In the meantime, Steven Kiss and Cassidy Giddens are deliciously over-the-top as Rooster and Lily St. Regis, the scheming con artists plotting to get their arms on Annie.
And talking of scene-stealers, Chris Stack, seemingly The Croswell’s resident character chameleon, turns in memorable work in a number of roles, together with a gruff New York cop, the sly radio host Bert Healy, and none apart from FDR. Each time he seems, you discover. As the youngsters say, he understood the project.
The ensemble as an entire is a humiliation of riches, filling out everybody from Warbucks’ family workers to FDR’s cupboard to the down-and-out residents of Hooverville. Hinshaw’s staging finds methods to showcase every performer’s strengths with out slowing the momentum. Barley H. Bauer’s scenic design is sensible but filled with attraction, Love Ruddell’s wigs add period-perfect element, and Pam Krage’s costumes are pitch-perfect.
A part of what makes “Annie” endure is its optimism. Born within the depths of the Nice Despair, the story reminds us that even within the darkest instances, hope may be as easy,and as highly effective, as a track about “Tomorrow.” It’s about resilience, kindness, and the assumption that household may be present in sudden locations. That message, maybe greater than ever, nonetheless resonates.
This “Annie” is the true deal: energetic, heartfelt, and properly definitely worth the worth of admission. It’s the right bookend to the summer time theater season and can depart you marveling on the sheer expertise on show. Take the entire household. You gained’t remorse it.
ANNIE at The Croswell continues by August seventeenth. You should purchase ticket right here.