BWW Reviews: ANNIE, New Wimbledon Theatre, November 30 2010

First produced in the late seventies, set in the Great Depression and now on tour in the UK, Annie might be said to be a musical leitmotif for the need to bolster confidence in the economy with its signature number insisting that "...the sun'll come out tomorrow". Despite the presence on stage of President Franklin D Roosevelt and some unfashionable promotion of public spending, the social commentary of the first half is ditched for a good ol' feelgood Christmassy tale of the triumph of good over evil. And, for an unabashed crowdpleaser packed with big numbers and enough children and animals in the cast to turn WC Fields apoplectic, that's how it should be.

With plenty of echoes of Harry Potter's life story for the younger members of the audience to latch on to, eleven-year-old Annie, abandoned by her parents to a life in a New York orphanage, is scooped out of a hard knock life scrubbing floors under the tyranny of surrogate evil stepmother Miss Hannigan, for a fortnight in the Fifth Avenue apartment of billionaire plutocrat Oliver Warbucks. Naturally, Annie's chutzpah and charm melts the hearts of financiers, politicians, servants and after a scrape or two along the way, the sun does indeed come out for our pint-sized bundle of optimistic get-up-and-go.

As Annie, three actresses (Victoria Sian Lewis, Lydia Tunstall and Molly Low) play the part in rotation, showing admirable stamina over two-and-a-half hours of singing, dancing and rather undemanding acting. Old pros Su Pollard and David McAlister as Miss Hannigan and Oliver Warbucks, provide a solid centre for the large cast to play off, but Philip Andrew steals the show, being both charismatic and genuinely threatening as con-man Rooster.

One could be churlish in highlighting some rather wobbly American accents, the slightly creepy dance between Annie and Oliver Warbucks and the somewhat unsympathetic invitation to cheer and jeer as the alcoholic, lonely Miss Hannigan is led away to incarceration in a straitjacket at the behest of The President's G-Men, but the show successfully pushes and pulls the audience's emotions until we're all focused on our little heroine's pursuit of the love she craves.

If you're looking for family entertainment a notch or two above the crass, celebrity driven panto soon to flood theatres and you feel that a Dickens-based Christmas tale is too heavy-handed, go and see Annie er... tomorrow.

Annie is at the New Wimbledon Theatre until Saturday December 4 and on tour.