She`s a little slow and awkward at times, and she doesn`t have quite the spunk that made her so lovable the first time around, but in her world premiere-or, rather, re-premiere-at Marriott`s Lincolnshire Theatre, ”Annie Warbucks” is alive and kicking and ready to make the customers happy to see her again.
Originally and disastrously presented as ”Annie 2,” a successor to the 1977 hit of ”Annie,” in a huge production that was an instant flop in its out-of-town tryout in 1989, this continuation of the musical comedy adventures of Orphan Annie, Daddy Warbucks and their friends has had a long, hard time getting around to its present enjoyable state.
After its opening night three years ago at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., its creators thought they had zero chances for success. Four weeks later, according to director Martin Charnin, they had done enough work to get to about 25 percent of where they wanted to be in turning their musical from a flop into a hit.
In 1990, after a summer`s round of workshops and performances at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut, Charnin estimates they had about 65 percent of the work done.
Now, after its opening night Wednesday in Lincolnshire, they`re approximately 82.5 percent there. Certainly, there`s still work to be done, but if this new ”Annie Warbucks” falls considerably short of being twice as good as ”Annie,” it`s not half bad, either.
The reasons for the new, improved show are amazingly simple. The musical`s creative team-book writer Thomas Meehan, composer Charles Strouse and lyricist-director Charnin-have shrewdly echoed, but not slavishly imitated, the original. The show is pleasingly familiar in every element of its story, songs and characters, but it`s just different enough to make the old times seem seem fun and fresh all over again.
The story of ”Annie Warbucks” contains most of the ingredients that worked so well in the first ”Annie.” Once again, there`s a search for a parental figure, but this time Annie and her billionaire adoptive father, Oliver Warbucks, are looking for a woman who can be her mother and his wife. Once again, too, there`s a tough old battle-ax who plots to ruin Annie`s happiness and steal Warbucks` money, but this time instead of Miss Hannigan, the mean old mistress of the orphanage, she`s Harriet Stark, the scheming commissioner of human welfare for the City of New York. Once again, our little heroine meets poor folk caught in the Depression; but this time, instead of the urban dwellers of Hooverville shacks, Annie encounters a black family of sharecroppers during her adventures in the South.
And once again, of course, as in ”Annie,” there`s a last-minute rescue and a quick happy ending to set things up for the festive finale.
Annie`s little orphan pals have returned, full of cheeky charm and bouncing about with the new bumps and grinds that choreographer Peter Gennaro has devised for them. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, portrayed in a reprise of his original ”Annie” role by Raymond Thorne, is on tap once more to lend a helping hand to Annie and, in turn, to receive more free advice from her about how to set the country right. And all the Warbucks servants and staff, portrayed by a fine ensemble and Jennifer Nees as the sweet secretary Miss Farrell, are there to bolster the singing and dancing.
The majority of the songs placed in this musical are mirror images of the original ”Annie” concepts. In place of the urgent song of optimism in
”Tomorrow,” there`s an equally peppy song of get-up-and-go in
”Somebody`s Gotta Do Something.” In place of the little orphans` song-and-dance spoof of a radio troubador`s bouncy tune, there`s now an even better routine by the moppets in which they pretend to be chorus girls in a Busby Berkeley movie musical dance routine. And in place of the evil crowing of ”Easy Street” by the wicked Miss Hannigan and her colleagues, there`s a similar song of nastiness triumphant by the equally mean Miss Stark and her accomplice.
Strong as these similarities are, they rarely become boring or irritating because they have been assembled with solid, professional skill.
Meehan`s book displays the same marvelous combination of serene innocence and witty satire that the original ”Annie” contained. The songs by Strouse and Charnin are not quite up to the high average of ”Annie,” but they are pleasing throughout; and two solos-a plaintive ”It Could Have been Wonderful,” sung by Nees, and a booming ”A Younger Man,” performed with great gusto and in beautiful voice by Harve Presnell`s Daddy Warbucks-are lovely valentines of bittersweet romance.
Presnell, who has been with this show from its inception, is an imposing, surprisingly funny Warbucks. His voice, only a little less soaring than when he was appearing in MGM musicals, projects the songs with force and tenderness; and, with a glint in his eye, he makes sly fun of Warbucks` wealth and politics. Looking with suspicion at a prospective bride who has expressed a slightly liberal thought, he asks her, cautiously, ”You aren`t a Democrat, are you?”
Lauren Gaffney, who portrays the indomitable Annie for this edition, is in the musical`s tradition of mini-sized song belters, and she has some of the sweetness we want to see in Annie. But she`s a little too timid and a little too automatic in her responses. She`s not the fearless, rambunctious little Annie who can fight as well as charm her way into your heart. (Even Sandy, her faithful canine companion, is a little stiff and unimposing in his appearances here.)
Give her a livelier presence and a spunkier stance, and this ”Annie”
could go a long way toward becoming 100 percent.
”ANNIE WARBUCKS”
A new musical with a book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin. Directed by Charnin, with choreography by Peter Gennaro, musical direction by Michael Duff, scenery by Thomas M. Ryan, costumes by Nancy Missimi, lighting by Diane Ferry Williams. Opened Wednesday at Marriott`s Lincolnshire Theatre, and plays at 2 and 8 p.m. Wednesday, 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 5:30 and 9 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 and 7 p.m. Sunday, through April 5. Running time: 3:00. Tickets are $30. Phone 708-634-0200.
THE CAST
Annie Warbucks………………Lauren Gaffney
Drake…………………………Don Forston
Oliver Warbucks……………..Harve Presnell
Grace Farrell………………..Jennifer Nees
Simon Whitehead…………………Joel Hatch
Harriet Stark………………Alene Robertson
Tessie…………………..Debbie Wittenberg
Molly………………………..Andrea Costa
July………………………….Raegen Kotz
Pepper……………………….Betsy Morgan
Peaches………………………..Ali Pesche
Duffy………………………..Natalie Berg
Mrs. Kelly……………………Mary Ernster
Alvin T. Patterson…………..Kingsley Leggs
Ella Patterson……………….Seraiah Carol
C.G. Patterson……………..Thomasina Gross
Franklin Delano Roosevelt………..Ray Thorne
