Making another foray into Triangle-area regional theater, last night I saw NC Theatre’s production of Annie at the Progress Energy Center for Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh. This was in the same building where I saw Rent, but in a different theater. There are like four theaters in this performing arts complex, and Annie was in the big one! My ticket was only $30, and I was in the front row of the “balcony,” dead center. I put quotes around the word balcony because I was under the impression that I would actually be in a balcony situated over orchestra seats, but it was really just an elevated tier behind the orchestra section, and it was pretty far back. Nonetheless, I feel like it was still worth my $30.
I have a confession to make: Annie isn’t my favorite musical. Now, I don’t hate Annie, but it’s never been on my list of must-see shows. I’m not sure why, since I don’t have anything particular against it. In fact, the only time I’ve ever actually seen it on stage was when I was in 7th grade and my middle school did a production of Annie, Jr. I’m pretty sure that doesn’t even count.
However, I knew I had to see this when I saw the ad in the newspaper saying that Andrea McArdle would be playing Miss Hannigan. Yes, that Andrea McArdle. The original Annie. Tony Award nominee. The one mentioned in the [title of show] song “A Way Back to Then.” Since I was born far too late to ever see Andrea McArdle as Annie, I knew this might be my only chance to see Andrea McArdle in Annie. I’m so glad I did. I was surprised by how much I liked it. I’m not really sure what I was worried about. I was most pleasantly surprised by the talent level of the children. Many of the adult actors came from around the region and country (including a good few from NYC), but the children are all from the Triangle area. I was delighted to see that they were really talented, especially the little one playing Molly. I thought “Hard-Knock Life” was stellar, and I loved the choreography with the buckets.
I really only have two complaints about the show, and neither have to do with the acting or singing. The first is that I don’t think Annie’s wig was red enough. With several mentions to the red hair in the script, I don’t think it was a wise move to put her in a sort of muted auburn wig, which (at least from my seat far away) looked brown and not red at all. As a natural redhead, I was disappointed. Annie is one of the few Broadway musicals (including, of course, Redhead) in which redheads really get to be the star. Live it up, folks! It’s fun to be a redhead! Don’t try to be subtle!
The other complaint I have is the audience talking during the overture and the entr’acte. I know that nothing is going on on-stage during these musical numbers, but they are actually part of the show, and I would like to listen without hearing murmuring from around the house. I know that there were a lot of young children at this production, many of them probably seeing professional live theater (as opposed to children’s theater) for the first time. However, this is a great learning opportunity about respect for the performing arts and how to behave properly at the theater. A lot of kids think it’s really cool to do fancy things, so capitalize on that. If we don’t teach children how to act at the theater when they’re young, we’re not allowing them to truly appreciate how wonderful and special the performing arts were. I must give them credit, though: once the overture was over and the action started, they, as a whole, were quite well-behaved. I just don’t want your children to grow up to be those people who made me stand up to let in a whole row of latecomers during the opening number of Rent.
All in all, the show was great. The kids were great. The adults were great. Andrea McArdle was, of course, fabulous. And as an encore, she sang “Tomorrow,” and then was joined by the young actress playing Annie, and then by the whole cast. It was a fun treat for a theater geek like myself to see Andrea McArdle in the show that gave her her start.
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