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LIGHTNING REVIEW: 'Annie' lights up Playhouse stage

Carly Gendell, as Annie, and the orphan ensemble perform 'Hard Knock Life' at Flat Rock Playhouse. [Treadshots photo]

By Bill Moss, Published: June 10, 2017

The opening night audience of “Annie” at the Flat Rock Playhouse got a sign that the show would be a rousing ride before the first two numbers were done.

From from the start, Carly Gendell as Annie sings her way into our hearts. In “Maybe,” she tells of her dream that one day she’ll find the couple that dropped her off on the orphanage steps on New Year’s Eve of 1922.
Betcha he reads
Betcha she sews
Maybe she’s made me
A closet of clothes!
Maybe they’re strict
As straight as a line...
Don’t really care
As long as they’re mine!

Started as a comic strip by Harold Gray in 1924, “Little Orphan Annie” inspired a radio show, a total of four film adaptations and the beloved Broadway musical, which debuted in 1977. But it’s never played on the Flat Rock stage until now. It sure looks like the million-watt Miss Gendell, a 12-year-old power puncher from Broadway, is going to carry “Annie” right through the July 2 matinee.
At the top of the show the 10 young actors who play Annie’s fellow orphans rock the stage in “Hard Knock Life.” The girls have got “cotton blankets, steada wool, empty bellies, steada full” but plenty of spark and sass. That early number is the first time we see the amazing and talented (7-year-old) Ivy Rose Voloshin, whose big personality makes Molly, the youngest orphan, a scene stealer all the way to curtain call.
Playhouse veteran Marcy McGuigan, as the boozy Miss Hannigan, is wobbly on her feet and demanding but plays the role with the wink it calls for. The hard knock life is too much for Annie, who sets out to find her parents.
Out on the street, Annie dials up the performance a couple more notches in the signature “Tomorrow.” The kid has range, musicality and vocal maturity well beyond her years. And now she’s got Sandy by her side. In a dog crazy town like ours, you had to know that Sandy would be a big hit. Macy, trained by the renowned animal behaviorist Bill Berloni, does not disappoint. Rescued in 2009 at age 18 months, Macy has traveled from coast to coast for seven years playing Sandy. Macy lies down and looks sad, sprints away from the dog catcher and barks on cue.

In the grimy streets of New York — the show is set in 1933, the depth of the Great Depression — Annie runs into a group of beggars and out-of-work men and women. The ensemble breaks into “Hooverville,” mocking the president who had promised a chicken in every pot.
But Herbert Hoover he forgot
Not only don’t we have the chicken
We ain’t got the pot!

* * * * *

Through a lucky accident of timing Annie gets chosen as a Christmastime guest at the Warbucks mansion. The stage is transformed from dreary to bright.
Scenic designer Dennis Maulden and lighting designer CJ Barnwell present a dazzling depiction of the Warbucks home. Costumer Ashli Arnold Crump deserves applause too for the visually striking leap from the drab colors of the orphanage and street camp to the opulence of Warbucks World, bustling with butlers and maids in tuxedos and dresses.
As Daddy Warbucks, Sean Cooper is the perfect contrast to Annie — serious and dignified and more than a little baffled at this pint-sized firecracker of a houseguest.
In Act I and in a reprise in Act II, Stephen Sheffer and Maddie Franke are cartoonishly evil as the oily schemers Rooster and Lily St. Regis hatching a plot to pose as Annie’s parents and collect a $50,000 reward from Oliver Warbucks.
Highlights of Act II include the “Tomorrow Reprise,” where Annie’s infectious enthusiasm provokes FDR and his Cabinet to adopt her optimism and, by the way, invent the New Deal and save America and western democracy.
Annie has long ago played the heart-strings of every audience member. She seals the deal when she emerges for Daddy Warbucks’ Christmas party with the trademark “Orphan Annie” ringlets and a red dress. By the time the stars perform “I Don’t Need Anything But You” and the closer, “A New Deal for Christmas,” theatre patrons are ready to jump to their feet and shout “Leapin’ Lizards, what a show!”
A musical triumph, "Annie" figures to be the great feel-good show of the summer, thanks to the performance of Miss Gendell, the collaboration of a terrific cast, the orphans’ dancing and the whole visual experience.

Tomorrow, I love ya!

But why wait?

Go see “Annie” today!

* * * * *

“Annie” opens Friday and runs through July 8 on the Mainstage of the Flat Rock Playhouse. Performances are 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. For tickets call 828-693-0731 or visit www.flatrockplayhouse.org.