Review: At Dr. Phillips Center, ANNIE Ain't Equity, But It Is Interesting

That the sun will come out tomorrow is a fundamental fact of meteorology. But somehow, when Little Orphan Annie sings it on stage, the phrase transforms into something profound.

ANNIE opened on Broadway in 1977, based on a 1920s comic strip but set in 1930s New York. It has enjoyed two Broadway revivals, four screen adaptations, a holiday special, and countless touring productions in the years since.

A quintessentially American tale of optimism and economic upward mobility, its staying power is no puzzle. Annie’s escape from her dingy orphanage and its hard-knock life craftily privileges both capitalist hierarchy and social safety nets, making it an equal-opportunity crowd pleaser, even as it name checks two U.S. Presidents and casts aspersions on both parties.

The current U.S. touring production from Crossroads Live Group's Troika Entertainment is its own entity, unconnected to previous stagings but hewing closely to the original Broadway version. That makes sense — the director, Jenn Thompson, originated the role of ANNIE’s orphan Pepper on Broadway back in 1977. Thompson’s version launched last October and initially ran for just under a year. Now a second leg of that same tour is underway — again without an Actors’ Equity contract — and arrives at Orlando’s Dr. Phillips Center this week.

Mounting a non-union production of a story about unfair working conditions and class disparity in New Deal-era America takes some gall. Watching such a production on the heels of a record-breaking WGA strike and in the midst of an ongoing SAG-AFTRA one only adds to the irony. But setting aside the ethics of it all, the ANNIE on stage in Orlando transcends any low expectations one might reserve for a non-Equity, not-from-Broadway tour. 

No, the sets don’t wow. One can’t help but smirk when the wealthy Mr. Warbucks waltzes past the piece of plywood passing as his “mansion” and sings “Something Was Missing.” (The budget, that’s what.)

But Rainey Treviño is an impressive Annie. Hers is a street-smart and treacle-resistant eleven-year old — more Jodie Foster than Shirley Temple. It’s a refreshingly grounded take.

Stefanie Londino is doing something different too as Miss Hannigan, the boozehound headmistress of Annie’s orphanage. Londino’s is less villainous and cruel than the usual Hannigan. She finds a relatable messiness in the role, portraying Hannigan as frenzied but not necessarily nefarious. It’s a double-edged sword. On the one hand, Londino three-dimensionalizes a character who can sometimes skew toward cartoon. But the narrative as written needs Miss Hannigan to be horrible, not only to give shape to Annie’s arc but also to justify Hannigan’s comeuppance in the end. Londino’s portrayal is exceptionally interesting and watchable and yet not quite in service of the story at hand.

As for Daddy Warbucks, I found myself marveling at Christopher Swan’s convincing power-broker posture, which looks so natural to him on stage but must surely have been adopted as a character choice. Intriguing too are his vocal choices. Swan clearly has a singing voice, landing so many of his notes in a lovely vibrato, both high and low. That makes the decision to talk-sing his way through “N.Y.C.” a real head scratcher.

The cast’s vocal powerhouse is Julia Nicole Hunter, who plays Mr. Warbucks’ assistant, Grace. Hunter’s performance has the confidence and poise of a Mary Poppins, while her singing has a contemporary Broadway belt. So substanital is Hunter's presence that it's tempting to read Grace as heroine of the story. More than anyone else on the stage, Hunter brings the Orlando audience a taste of New York-caliber talent and gives lie to the fallacy that non-Equity must always mean “less than.”

Likewise, two members of the ensemble make a special impact — Savannah Fisher and Jaelle Laguerre, whose brief but big-voiced solos are among the evening’s highlights.

I don’t doubt that Director Thompson’s personal history with the show is at least partially responsible for this version’s overarching strengths. At the same time, I wonder if she’s too close to the role of Annie’s orphan-house compatriots to direct them toward restraint. Their performances are very cute but also very big, and patrons’ mileage may vary as to the palatability of that across two acts. (In fairness, the young actors are used sparingly throughout the show, and more than once, they undeniably steal it.) Similarly, choreographer Patricia Wilcox hasn’t quite brought the musical numbers up to Broadway’s standard of synchronized precision.

In a way, ANNIE always seems to arrive right on time. In the 1970s, its Great Depression backdrop reflected the woes of the day. In 2023, it does the same for ours. Though certainly saccharine, it also points to a fundamental fact of which we do need reminding: the sun will come up tomorrow. And what better way to remind us than with a dozen beautifully composed songs that have encouraged whole generations in the darkest of days?

Tickets are available from the Dr. Phillips Center box office, where the shows run through October 29, 2023. 

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What do you think of ANNIE on tour? Let me know on Twitter @AaronWallace. 

Photo Credit: Christopher Swan and Rainier (Rainey) Treviño in the North American Tour of ANNIE. Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade. Used with permission, courtesy of Dr. Phillips Center.

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