Review: ANNIE at Fairfield Center Stage

On Sunday, November 16th, I had the pleasure of seeing yet another first-rate production put on by Fairfield Center Stage, ANNIE! The venue is at Wakeman Hall inside First Church Congregational of Fairfield, a location that has become common for Fairfield Center Stage productions. I enter Fairfield Center Stage productions with high expectations, and they always exceed them! Director Christy McIntosh-Newsom combines her talents with choreographer Mia Tommins, music director Ken Legum, and assistant director Marcelle Morrisey to help bring about the best in this first-rate cast that includes many young stars who shine brightly in this production!

With book and score by Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin, this show features some well-known songs like “Tomorrow” and “It’s The Hard-Knock Life.” The cast is accompanied by a talented live orchestra who perform backstage. The orchestra includes Ken Legum as conductor and keyboardist, Mike McGrath as keyboardist and assistant conductor, Mac Johnston on violin, Mark Dennis on trumpet, Steve Fasoli on reeds, Charles Casimiro on bass, and Gabe Nappi on drums and percussion.

The show grabs the audience’s attention right from the opening scene. A verbal girl fight quickly escalates into a physical one, entertaining the audience in the house, as well as the other girl orphans on stage. The acting, singing, and synchronized dancing by all the actresses playing the orphans reflects the high levels of talent, hard work, and teamwork that went into this production. These talented actresses include Mirabel Moore as Molly, Miranda Cameron as Kate, Zahra Noonan as Tessie, Caroline Sadler as Pepper, Verity Pritchard as July, and Avonlea Pritchard as Duffy. The Orphan Ensemble includes Quinn Johnson, Blaise McBride, and Ella Etheridge.

Suraya Noonan is phenomenal in her break-through role as Annie! With confidence and poise, she delivers every line with clarity, has an excellent singing voice, and knows how to command the stage as the lead star! She conveys feeling that resonates throughout the audience, making us feel what Annie is feeling. Annie is someone who, despite having been through difficult times, maintains a constant positive outlook in life. She is inspirational to those around her, radiating her optimism to her peers and even to adults, helping bring light into the lives of those who she encounters. With a grateful heart, Annie sees blessings where others may focus on reasons to complain. Suraya Noonan becomes Annie on stage, with this role that showcases her wide array of talents.

Clint Clifford excels in the male lead as Oliver Warbucks, the billionaire who agrees to take in an orphan for two weeks during the Christmas season, having no idea that this would be a life-changing experience for him. Annie, the orphan Oliver Warbucks takes in, very quickly becomes like a daughter to him, to his own surprise. He soon decides that, if Annie can’t find her biological parents, he wants to adopt her as his own. Oliver Warbucks shows what a loving and sensitive man he is, in that he places Annie’s desire to find her parents ahead of his own hopes of Annie becoming his daughter. He proactively engages his resources, including the F.B.I., to seek out Annie’s parents, even knowing that if this quest is successful, he will lose out on having Annie as his daughter. He even provides the incentive of $50,000 to Annie’s parents, if they come for her. This creates a conflict within the minds of the audience. On the one hand, we would like to see Annie become Oliver Warbuck’s adopted daughter. On the other hand, we would like to see Annie reunited with her biological parents, knowing that such is Annie’s deepest desire.

Lindsay Johnson brings the character of Grace Farrell to life, in a convincing manner! Grace Farrell works for Oliver Warbucks and is the person who specifically chooses Annie to be the orphan to come to stay with Oliver Warbucks. She looks out for Annie’s best interests from that point on and is certainly a positive presence in the lives of all those around her.

Alexis Willoughby thrives in the role of Miss Hannigan, the emotionally abusive tyrant who runs the orphanage. Miss Hannigan is the central antagonist, coming across as totally devoid of decency and basic human compassion, even to the point that she is critical of the orphans for, what she ignorantly perceives as their choice to be orphans. As comically ridiculous as Miss Hannigan’s thought process may be on that issue, we should all take a step back and really examine how often we may be guilty of pointing fingers at people who through no fault of their own, are suffering through some form of poverty. Why do many of us feel more moved with compassion to help starving children overseas than we feel for children languishing in poverty, here in America? Are we so consumed with condemning the media-glamorized immoral behaviors that breed poverty, that we have convinced ourselves that we are justified in turning a blind eye to the needs of the innocent poverty-stricken children who are growing up in those unfortunate circumstances, through no fault of their own? Let’s really ponder that before we point fingers at Miss Hannigan over her attitude towards orphans. Fairfield Center Stage is helping local needy families by accepting non-perishable food donations for the First Church Congregational Blessing Box, during this run of ANNIE. While increased taxation imposed upon people who can’t afford it should never be viewed as a viable or humane approach to poverty alleviation, people of good will, lending helping hands, moved by compassionate grace-filled hearts can truly make a world of difference. Fairfield Center Stage is helping provide this practical proactive avenue to help be part of the change you want to see.

Miss Hannigan’s negative view of Annie is coupled by a logical contradiction. When she gets word that there was a plan for Annie to stay permanently with Oliver Warbucks and not return to the orphanage, Miss Hannigan’s reaction was one of rage, disgust, and jealousy. If she found Annie to be irksome, I would think she should rejoice that she would never have to see Annie again, irrelevant to the fact that Annie’s life was about to improve. At the same time, Miss Hannigan displays a disturbingly common mindset among the chronically miserable. It is an addiction to cortisol, the stress chemical the body releases when feeling miserable or frustrated. People who have this addiction are often unaware of it. Sadly, in these present times of sharp political differences fueled by media and social media, many seek out excuses to complain, feel outraged, or look at the dark side of things, even though such emotions bring them down, as well as those around them. It has been theorized that the first step to overcoming any addiction is awareness and admitting that the problem exists. Cortisol addiction is not widely spoken about, yet it seems all too common.

Marc Improta is impressive as Rooster, the scheming brother of Miss Hannigan. Christy McIntosh-Newsom brings Rooster’s girlfriend, Lily St. Regis to life, complete with convincing accents and mannerisms. Along with Miss Hannigan, they scheme to try to walk on Easy Street, by pretending that Rooster and Lily are Annie’s parents, to collect the $50,000. While criminal extortion is loathsome in and of itself, that is far from the most detestable part of this scheme. In keeping this review family-friendly, like the show, let’s just say that Rooster’s plan to make Annie “disappear,” after he extorts the money from Oliver Warbucks, is not a reference to a slight-of-hand mirrors and smoke magic trick.

Another musical highlight is “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile,” led by Eli Newsom who is wonderful as Bert Healy, with backing vocals by the talented trio of Samantha Moore, Lindsay Protsko, and Najlaa Noonan as the Boylan Sisters. The song is then continued in a very entertaining dance number by the orphan girls.

Other stand-out performances include Michael Traum as President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Michael Vallarelli as Drake, Nikki Adorante as Star-To-Be, Ken Legum as Bundles, and Dodger as Sandy (the Dog).

The talented Annie Ensemble includes Isabelle Andronaco, Jane Barnes, David Donnelly, Betsy Grover, Jim Hisey, Kelsey Kaminski, Kimberly Matusiak, Bridget McBride, Sarah McCormack, Melani Piacentini, Alexis Poff, Jasmin Salas, Hailey Stevenson, and Kalea Talton.

The pervading lesson of optimism during bleak times and situations is one that we should all remember and apply when things don’t go our way. Awareness and compassion for the struggles of others is also an important takeaway. Rejoicing with those who rejoice should be another key takeaway. The other orphan girls were excited, in a good way, when good things happened to Annie. They were happy for their friend, maybe even seeing hope for themselves in Annie. This was a sharp contrast from Miss Hannigan’s jealousy attitude. If we struggle to share in the joy of others, we can ask ourselves who we would rather feel like, and the orphan girls is the obvious answer.

How does the story end? Does the wicked scheme of Rooster come into fruition? Does Annie find her biological parents? Does Oliver Warbucks end up adopting Annie? Does Annie encounter Dodger and get brought back to Fagin? Wait a minute. That last question was from a different show about a different orphan. This show’s Oliver is rich, while this show’s Dodger is less predictable, but still highly entertaining. To find out how this story ends, come to the show!