New York city is a magical place. A place of grandeur and a place of dark desperation. There is a magic in the air – a fizziness that makes you dizzy – where the possibility of being somebody, or “making it” feels absolutely feasible. It is one of the most celebrated cities in contemporary entertainment – it’s had songs written about it, great films made about it, and is the home of many TV shows. As Australians we revere it as much as Americans do.

And why not? It’s an exciting place to be.

The opening moments of Annie paint a fuzzy focused view of New York in the 1930s. Soft and sepia. Like that of a picture book viewed through the hazy stare of someone in the deep throws of nostalgia. The overture overtakes us with the themes we have heard from the last 34 years – as the music climbs and the images melt into a kaliedoscopic overview of time and place. New York, 1933.

Written in 1977, and performed in over 22 different countries, this is one of the musicals which has a firm place in the contemporary musical canon. It was made into a film in 1982 which starred a whole string of amazing performers- Tim Curry, Albert Finney, Carol Burnett, Bernadette Peters etc. And it’s reached beyond the walls of the theatre into pop culture with rapper Jay-Z sampling a section for his single “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)” included in his third album – which was then parodied in the Austen Power film, Goldmember…. so it’s had a very long and successful life thus far.

But it could not be more relevant now, in 2012 – a few years since The Global Financial Crisis hit the world – and now Australia is only just starting to feel the shock waves. Set in 1933 during the great depression – it paints a very clear picture of New York – a place which is full of people- those that “have” and those that “have not.” And that is fairly a stark contrast – and remains so today – America: a land of opportunity, America: a land with no public health care. America: the home of Oprah, America: the home of the Ku Klux Klan. And here we see an orphan in a run down home for girls AND we see a self-made billionaire who has the bubbles in his bath selected by a specialized servant.

The story is fairly simple – essentially it’s a rags to riches tale. Sassy, brave and ever-hopeful orphan Annie lives in a horrible orphanage for girls run by the drunk and disillusioned Miss Hannigan. Annie spends most her time fending of squabbles with her fellow orphans or reassuring the youngest orphan, Molly. She is a cheeky, street-wise optimist, firmly believing that she will find her parents one day and she’ll escape the orphanage. Her world is forever changed one day when billionaire Oliver Warbucks’s personal secretary, Grace Farrell, walks into the orphanage to offer an orphan a two week stay with Mr Warbucks.

For those who know and love the 1982 film, the stage production is not quite an “on-stage” version of the film. There are songs in the stage version which don’t appear in the film – for example a song
“We’d Like to Thank You Herbert Hoover” is in the stage version – which serves to set the general tone of the common-man at the time of the Great depression and is delivered by a gutsy and talented chorus.

Strangely there are some lumpy dramaturgical problems with the stage version.

Dog lovers- and indeed most people with a heart – will fall in love with Sandy the dog – and will miss him, and fear he is dead for most of act two – before he reappears in the last four minutes. Additionally it is very confusing why the girls at the orphanage would be happy for Annie being made the daughter of a billionaire, when they were so nasty at the top of the show about her having a note and broken locket from her parents. That change in them is neither shown, nor explained.

In fact, “transformation” in the characters is pretty much neglected completely or too swifty found in this production.
Even the very important billionaire’s cold heart melted by an orphan is not depicted. We see Warbucks immediately take to her – whereas in the film version we are convinced that he will throw her out as soon as he is disappointed that the orphan isn’t a boy. In the stage version he seems to surrender PRETTY quickly to their very bland and polite interactions. He is too charmed, too quickly and unjustifiably.

Traditionally the character of Annie is most loved for her sassy/brave/fearless/hot-tempered disrespect for authority – Miss Hannigan and policemen etc – but it seems in the stage version as soon as she is given the slightest wiff of money, she turns into a manipulative yes-girl. In this production she loses her humility and she loses her sass. And this is probably most notable when she discovers she’ll have to live on a pig farm with her parents – her expression seems to be not one of “I’m so glad I have parents and I’ll live out the humble life with them I’ve always dreamed of” but of “damn it, I’m not going to have someone handcraft my dinner menu for me anymore.” The fact that Annie loses Sandy for most of the show – and doesn’t seem to notice – is also very unfortunate and doesn’t do much to endear her to us. I did think Warbucks a little mad to be fawning over an 11-year-old girl and requesting the FBI to drop the Al Capone case to find her parents, when she was so openly manipulative (using “sad-eyes” and “bottom lip pouting” techniques to get him to cancel his pressing appointments so they can attend a film together.) For some the show might be a little bit tricky not to start questioning this relationship between a grown man and a very compliant, overly obedient and somewhat manipulative orphan – who he then semi-proposes too with a locket from Tiffanys. It’s a little disconcerting – and and I would say it would be less so, if we got more of his temper and transformation, more of her temper and her transformation… and saw the platonic relationship develop. As it is – the spontaneity of the adoration seems more like love at first sight, than a mutual platonic, paternal bond.

Additionally, we like Nancye Hayes so much as Miss Hannigan – she’s not a monster at all, she’s a woman with a disappointing life surrounded by misfortune and poverty, that we felt sorry for her getting arrested as an accomplice.

On a production note – I was extremely annoyed at one of the props in the opening Warbucks House sequence. The mop that Annie snatches off one of the maids when she delivers the “I think I’ll start with the floors” line is by design more of a 1990s swivel sweeper than a 1930s mop. I suspect it was chosen due to it’s lovely green-coloured head. But this irked me. A lot.

Look, I know. I’m being very harsh. Dramaturgically and production wise. After all it’s a musical. It’s fantasy. It’s fun.

And yes. Yes it is.

But it’s also $110 a ticket. And there are moments that are missing their catalyst – and seems to rely on the audience knowing the movie for it to make sense.

And the story is, well a bit much.

That being said, what you are paying for is not to see the film on stage, but to see performances by some of Australia’s most celebrated and loved musical theatre performers – Nancye Hayes, Todd McKenney and Anthony Warlow – and to be in awe/envy of the profoundly talented chorus of young performers headed by Siena Elchaar (on the night I saw it) as Annie… oh, yeah and one often-despised radio shock-jock, playing Franklin Roosevelt – Alan Jones, whose performance is somewhat eclipsed by a very charming dog.

All I know is that the Warlow fans WON’T be disappointed. He’s in fine form. So is Nancye Hayes – She’s a force to be reckoned with – utterly, utterly charming. And there was an impulse from many around me to sing-a-long to the songs. It’s pure feel-good stuff.

(So never mind the anachronistic mop, huh?)

It’s a big show. Full of talent and rising talent (the chorus of orphans – wow – they’re amazing). And the resonances with today’s financial crisis couldn’t be more timely. Afterall, who can deny a story of hope and optimism that reminds us that there is more to life than money and that is someone to share it with?