Annie will always be oddly comforting for me as an enduring source of nostalgia. Having last seen the musical over ten years ago, much of what I remembered is still there. From the fantastic soundtrack to the titular character’s iconic red hair and dress, Annie is a musical that has grown up with me, and remains as culturally relevant as ever. Yet, watching Nikolai Foster’s production as an adult, the world surrounding Annie becomes the main attraction.
The play follows Annie, an eleven-year-old girl living in an orphanage in New York as she navigates her identity and tries to find her parents who left her as a baby. Under the painstaking care of Miss Hannigan (modern social services’ drunkard worst nightmare) Annie must find her freedom. When given the opportunity to stay with Oliver Warbucks — Wall Street tycoon and renowned New York billionaire — over Christmas, both characters learn the real value of money and family, and the lengths people will go to secure either.
Having seen Annie a number of times as a child, Foster’s production beautifully encompasses all of the magic I remember of the musical, from the opening number of ‘It’s the Hard Knock Life,’ to Miss Hannigan’s iconic ‘Little Girls.’ But one thing that struck me much more forcefully this time around is just how much Annie is a musical about the Great Depression. Foster’s production aptly brings that context to the foreground, rather than allowing the period setting to become mere background decoration. Shown through the Hooverville shanty town scenes, or the pointed references to unemployment and Roosevelt’s New Deal, the economic setting of Annie is rightfully central.
Numbers like ‘A New Deal for Christmas’ and ‘We’d Like to Thank You, Herbert Hoover’ carry a resonance that I don’t remember noticing as a child. Particularly within the economic context that we are currently living in, a message of optimism and child-like joy is striking. The show feels less like a purely nostalgic story about an orphan and more about inequality, insecurity, and the hope that circumstances can change. I suspect some of this is the production, but some of it is undoubtedly me.
The standout performance comes from June Young who plays Annie brilliantly in her first national tour. Young brings the lovable character to life, alongside the Empire Team playing the other girls in the orphanage. The chemistry between Young as Annie and Alex Bourne as Daddy Warbucks is equally heartfelt. Claire Sweeney is similarly fantastic as Miss Hannigan.
The political backdrop does not come at the expense of the sheer theatrical pleasure of the piece. Nick Winston’s choreography is fantastic, giving the ensemble numbers an energy and scale that make the production feel genuinely joyous. The contrast between the vibrancy and the harsher world in which these characters live is particularly compelling.
Allowing nostalgia and history to coexist, Foster’s Annie is deeply rooted in the economic crisis of its period, and a production that gives that context room to breathe. There is something refreshing about seeing such a familiar piece through a new lens, and knowing that its joy is still being shared with fresh eyes.
Image provided to The Student for press use.
