Annie

Annie was an ideal choice for Eltham Little Theatre. They regularly include a junior musical in their program, and this allowed for plenty of juniors, as well as the adults, to have a sing.

Towering over the production was the Daddy Warbucks of John Leahy. Having seen him before, I was expecting his big voice and strong personality, but I was quite taken aback by his sensitive singing. Nicola Ramsay also sang well and was a strong Grace Farrell.

Annie herself has some difficult music to sing. It generally lies a little high and young singers can push their chest voice up too high, or break into a thin head voice. Ava Keiper did neither, easily coping with the high notes without change of technique. She had more trouble with the dog. The recalcitrant mutt kept trying to pull her over and walked between her legs while she was singing her solo. Ava did an amazing job not to be thrown. She also worked very well with the adults and had some tender scenes with Warbucks.

Merinda Gallagher was a very funny Miss Hannigan and worked very well with Gavin Baker and Nicola De Rosbo-Davies as Rooster and Lily. Lily was hilarious, deliberately dancing in the wrong direction, with Miss Hannigan trying to put her on the straight and narrow. Sarah Hill also shone in a small solo.

The minimalist sets worked well, allowing the action to flow. I particularly liked the radio show being on one side of the stage while the children were listening on the other. The lighting changed and the radio studio was struck while the next scene played out.

Backing tracks were utilised and seemed to work well, though sometimes words were missed. The children and adult chorus numbers were all well sung.

This was a most enjoyable show.

Graham Ford

Images (from top): Gavin Baker as Bert Healy and Gabrielle Hardy as Annie, Nicola Ramsay as Grace Farrell and Ava Keiper as Annie, & Merinda Gallagher as Miss Hannigan and Ava Keiper as Annie.