Annie the Musical tour review

That old theatre adage of “never work with children or animals” must have been uttered by people who hadn’t experienced the talent and professionalism of the cast of Annie, which I was lucky enough to catch on opening night at the Bristol Hippodrome. The show, almost half of which was populated by children and of course, one dog, brought the roof down with every single one of the young ladies making the songs and dances look effortless.
The girl playing Annie reached notes I can only dream of, warbled in a pitch perfect American accent and danced fantastically alongside her older counterparts. Though the children were mind blowing, we can’t forget the adult cast members, especially Anita Dobson, who played Miss Hannigan hilariously and Alex Bourne (Oliver Warbucks) who was the perfect foil for Annie, the two worked fabulously together, giving more well-known double acts a run for their money.

While this isn’t entirely the same storyline that you might remember from the film of the seventies, it is a joyous celebration of family and has a lot of heart. The choreography takes you right back to the 1920s and delighted the die-hard musical theatre fans in the audience while impressing those more familiar with modern takes on the genre at the same time. The set designs and staging were also impressive managing to immerse you into the cold life of Manhattan’s homeless one minute and then transporting you into President Roosevelt’s office the next.

As the song suggests, you’re never fully dressed without a smile, luckily, Annie filled me with so much joy that I was grinning from ear to ear by the time the final curtain came down.

Annie is at the Bristol Hippodrome until 23rd March before moving on to theatres in: Chester, Hull, Newcastle, Glasgow, Bradford, Southampton, Plymouth, Llandudno, Nottingham, Southend, Sheffield, Woking, Dartford, Liverpool, Milton Keynes, Dublin, Birmingham, Eastbourne, Cardiff. The role of Miss Hannigan will then be played by Lesley Joseph for the remaining dates in Canterbury, Crawley, Belfast, Ipswich, London and Stoke on Trent.

Annie is currently touring around the country, book seats for the remaining dates here.