(Lisa Bobbert as Miss Hannigan & Luca
Tarboton as Annie)
Representing
hope and optimism, Annie is yet another KickstArt triumph! (Review by
Caroline Smart)
The multi-award
winning KickstArt theatre company have certainly started their year off with a
bang, with their production of Annie directed
by Steven Stead and designed by Greg King which is currently running at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre.
Annie is all about hope and optimism. A little
girl in an orphanage is dead set on finding out who her parents were. Her only
link is a locket and a note. One of Broadway’s blockbuster successes, Annie is set in New York City in 1933 in
the Great Depression which preceded World War II. Franklin D Roosevelt is in power and
he appears as one of the characters.
Luca
Tarboton (alternating with Sarah Donkin) is an absolute
delight in the title role – she’s spunky, completely focused, articulate and a
good dancer. There’s an old theatre adage – “never work with children and animals
– they’ll steal the stage!” Well, the six youngsters playing the rest of the orphans
certainly do that and then along comes a gorgeous Golden Labrador called Pluto
(in the role of Sandy) and all hearts are stolen even further.
It’s a star-studded cast headed by Lisa
Bobbert, who plays the horrendous and drunken Miss Hannigan with an impressive
brashness and Iain Robinson who gives a solid performance as the initially
crusty Oliver Warbucks who transforms under Annie’s influence.
The rest of the top notch cast include Jessica
Sole as Warbucks’ secretary and Belinda Henwood as Lily St Regis along with Lyle
Buxton, Graeme Wicks, Rory Booth, Georgina Mabbett, Charon Williams-Ros, Marion
Loudon and Caitlin Kilburn who all undertake a number of roles as did dancers
Katy Moore, Evashnee Pillay and Dominique La Grange. Good to see Anthony
Stonier in a production other than adult pantomime and Peter Court as President
Roosevelt gave a delicious cameo performance as the sound man in the radio
show.
However, the delightful surprise of the
evening was seeing Steven Stead – whom I have watched grow since he was a young
schoolboy into the co-producer of Durban’s most acclaimed independent theatre
company – hoofing it in Easy Street
along with Bobbert and the charming Belinda Henwood. I couldn’t fault his
movements!
The musical
is based on a comic strip so all the characters are a bit larger than life.
Stead’s careful direction allows us to see these characters as real people even
though the situation may be a bit hard to believe. A little girl persuades a
President of the United States that “the sun will come out tomorrow” and he
launches into a frenzy of optimism? I don’t think so. Would be lovely it if
were true, but bureaucrats don’t work like that. Still, it’s good to dream and
that’s what Annie is all about.
This is
certainly not the first time I have seen this musical, but it is the first time
I have seen it since my sister and I discovered (about seven years ago) that we
were adopted. This new understanding of my life and where it has come from
allowed me to see the production with a heightened awareness and poignancy.
Special
mention should be made of King’s sets which were set against a beautifully lit
skyline backdrop.
You will
leave the theatre inspired by the optimism that the show presents. On Broadway, the Annie cast
would have numbered at least three times this amount so all congratulations to every cast member as well as
to the design and technical team for presenting yet another KickstArt triumph!
Annie runs until June 15 at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre. The show is
heavily booked so early booking is advised through Computicket; or phone 0861
915 8000 or book online at www.computicket.com.
For block bookings of 10 or more contact Ailsa Windsor of Going Places on 083 250
2690 or email: editor.goingplacessa@gmail.com
See Clive Read's short video of Annie: at https://vimeo.com/96238944
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