When KicksArt Theatre co-directors and neighbours, Steven Stead and Greg King, told us they were going to stage the musical ‘Annie’ we thought they had flipped more than somewhat. ‘It has kids in it,’ we pointed out. They nodded glumly. ‘And a dog!’ The nods were glummer, but the determination remained.
True conviction that a life of theatre had finally blown Steven’s mind came when he announced that he would not only be directing it, but would also act the part of the nasty ‘Rooster’ Hannigan.
Annie from iol Tonight
Prepared to witness shambles, disaster and general chaos, we attended last night’s performance – and were blown away. The kids were seasoned singers, dancers and actresses transplanted into young bodies. The dog was spot-on with every cue (and bribe), while obviously enjoying every minute. The adult members of the cast rose to the challenge of being in competition with cute kids and an animal for stage attention, and avoided being upstaged by delivering sterling performances.
As playing one of the parts as well as directing, Steven had given himself the challenge of having to lead by example, so his performance needed to be done particularly well. It was. I loved the section where he is acting as ‘Rooster’ when ‘Rooster’ is acting as the diffident long-lost father. So changed was he that we didn’t recognise him at first.
The songs are challenging for children in particular, and some quality was lost in the lower registers. The higher notes were all belted out with accuracy and enthusiasm, though.
Visually, the show is dazzling. Dances are lively and done with wonderful precision, and the tableaus appearing at the end of each number are quite stunningly staged and executed. Sets are, as usual for the ones designed and built by Greg, simply amazing, from orphanage to streets of New York, to the Warbucks mansion and the White House.
By now, you will be sick of all these enthusiastic superlatives. Don’t take my word for it, though. Ask any one of the members of the packed-house audience who all stood up and applauded themselves to exhaustion last night.
Colonialist's Blog 
You can never use too many superlatives for me 🙂
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When you’re rich as well as famous, you can hire me as your publicity agent! 🙂
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Ha ha ha, sounds like a plan 🙂 if you want to write a sample biog …. Lol
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Sounds like a show I would enjoy. WOOF!
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It gives you a New Deal!
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I never cease to be amazed at the high quality performances our local schools can pull off. They must spend so much time and energy into these productions–nothing like when I was in school!
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I’d hate to see a school try and put THIS production on – it would be far beyond their resources. The young actresses prove, though, that local schools do have the human material available!
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It sounds like it was a great show!
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Sounds like a cracking night out, Col: and all the more enjoyable because it was unexpected!
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It should have been expected, I suppose. After cutting teeth with prima donnas at places like London Opera House, he does know his stuff!
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Sounds like a great night!
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And I’ll find out from the rest of the fambly tomorrow night whether they have kept it up!
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Beautiful review Col. I loved the movie and can only imagine how beautiful the play was. 😀
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It was, indeed, and some of the roles were clearly modelled fairly closely on the way they were done in the movie.
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I’m singing Tomorrow as I make myself a cup of tea.
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But you won’t wait until then to drink it, I trust?
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It will have gone cold!
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This is what I’d call a raving revue… wish I had the chance to see it… thanks for the heads up…
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‘Rave review’ is the normal term, but in my case yours is accurate! 🙂
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Wonderful, the took a challenge and made a great success. It would have been terrible if it had flopped, but NO, they must be feeling elated this mirning
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My spelling is terrible when I make comments lying in bed…very sorry
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That would, indeed, make typing more difficult!
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They still have to worry about all the things that can go wrong during the many performances still to follow!
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What a great review. Must have been wonderful expecting to see a disaster and then finding out you were witnessing something incredible.
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I certainly wouldn’t have had the nerve to stage anything involving a batch of temperamental little girls AND a dog!
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I so enjoy watching plays at local schools and universities. The talent at such young ages amazes me at times.
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It is too seldom that, as in this case, such talent is allowed to flower in fully professional theatre.
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It always amazes me to see the professionalism shown by students in those plays; I’ve seen several, and enjoyed every one. Congratulations to all the cast and crew!
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The poor kids were really thrown into the deep end on this one – it is a world-class theatre company and a fully professional production with seasoned cast. They’ll tend to turn their little noses up at school productions after doing something on this scale!
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Just loved Annie, sure it will be a great success
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It gives every indication that it will be. We thoroughly enjoyed it.
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That sounds like my kinda entertainment! Well done to all involved.
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An amazing show. The second batch of our family goes on Friday. It will be interesting to see how the grandkids stand up to the two hours of it (not counting interval).
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