Annie Jr. (Twickenham Blue)

Amazing Actors Amaze

Annie Jr.

music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin

Dramacube, Twickenham Blue Cast at Hampton Hill Theatre until 26^th June

Review by Evie Schaapveld

Evie Schaapveld is one of our younger reviewers.  Eleven years old, she acts with a number of local stage companies.

The Twickenham Blue Cast performance of Annie Jnr was a great performance by Dramacube.  I was going to see this play last year but because of coronavirus it was then postponed for many months.  This is the first play that I’ve seen for ages, so it felt very nice and exciting to go into the theatre, since I hadn’t been for a very long time.  The songs that played while you were waiting for the play to begin and when it ended were very well chosen.  When the curtain opened, there was astounding scenery and I really liked the New York backdrop. 

The play starts with the orphans in the orphanage and Annie (Mimi Worsley) and the orphans singing Maybe which was well sung by all the girls.  After that Annie attempts to escape but is foiled by Miss Hannigan (Mia Cousins), and all the girls are then put to work, which leads them to sing It’s a Hard Knock Life which had good choreography.  The props in this scene were very good and I really liked the large oversized bed and the laundry basket that Annie escapes in.  I also enjoyed Mia Cousins singing the song Little Girls which she performed really well.

After this, Grace Farrell (Grace Mae Chenery), who is Oliver Warbucks’ assistant comes to the orphanage to choose an orphan to stay for Christmas.  After this, she and Oliver Warbucks (Gael De Bonnieres) grow attached to Annie, although she wonders if she can find her real parents.  Rooster Hannigan (Joshua Briggs) and Lily St Regis (Anya Malinowska) attempt to fool Mr Warbucks for the reward money of 50,000 American dollars by pretending to be Annie’s parents and they sing and dance really well to Easy Street with Miss Hannigan.  Their plan is foiled as Annie finds out that both her parents are dead, but there is a happy ending as she and all the other orphans are adopted.

I thought it was a good musical with good actors and casting choices in my opinion, including Mia Cousins the actor for Miss Hannigan; Mimi Worsley , the actor for Annie; Grace Mae Chenery, the actor for Grace Farrell  and Gael De Bonnieres the actor for Mr Warbucks (who stepped in for another cast member).

People who were in the supporting cast, such as the orphans, New Yorkers and staff, were Rosa Bruce-Ball, Ella Quaeck, Olive Taylor, Emma Phillips, Daisy Langrish and Larissa Schaffrik, to name a few of the amazing actors in this amazing performance who sang and danced impeccably well, as well as giving comic relief to Miss Hannigan’s reign of resentful terror.  I really liked their performance of You’re Never Fully Dressed without a Smile.

I hope I will see these remarkable actors in other plays in the future and am so glad that I got to see this show!

Evie Schaapveld, June 2021

Photography by Bomi Cooper