A nation in the midst of its gravest economic crisis. Out-of-work Americans on the streets. Underage orphans forced into backbreaking labor. And a perky little redhead with an unquenchable hope for a better “Tomorrow.” Annie The Musical is back at Glendale Centre Theatre, proving that even the grimmest of times can inspire the most cheerful, delightful, and tuneful of musical comedy treats.

 Cartoonist Harold Gray’s Little Orphan Annie may have been among the America’s favorite daily comic strips from the moment it made its 1924 debut, but it took over fifty years for Annie to make it to Broadway as a 2377-performance Best Musical Tony winner with a Tony-winning book by Thomas Meehan and Tony-winning songs by composer Charles Strouse and lyricist Martin Charnin.

Glendale Centre Theatre staged Annie to smashing effect eight years back, and now the incurably optimistic orphan returns in an all-new production, its terrific new director, fabulous new choreographer, and all-around splendid new cast guaranteeing two-and-a-half hours of sheer family-friendly delight.

Meet eleven-year-old Annie (Erin Tardibuono), abandoned as an infant by parents who promised they be back to reclaim her but haven’t shown up yet.

No wonder then that as soon as she’s old enough to make her escape from the clutches of group home meanie Miss Aggie Hannigan (Stephanie Lesh-Farrell), the Little Orphan bids farewell to fellow waifs Duffy (Sadie Fisher), July (Calista Madzar), Kate (Celine Bautista), Molly (Amelia Fischer), Pepper (Bella Stine), and Tessie (Savannah Fischer) and heads off in search of Mommy and Daddy.

Aiding Annie in her quest is abandoned pooch Sandy (canine cutie Fitz Callander), that is until the cops nab them both and return Annie to Miss Hannigan’s and Sandy to parts unknown.

Fortunately for the redheaded miss, the Municipal Orphanage gets visited by a certain Miss Grace Farrell (Deborah Robin), secretary to  industry mogul Oliver Warbucks (David Callandar), assigned to deliver an orphan to the billionaire’s Fifth Avenue mansion for the Christmas holidays, and who better to brighten things up than you know who.

Meanwhile back at Miss Hannigan’s, the orphanage head’s shifty brother Rooster (Troy Dailey) and his blonde bimbo girlfriend Lily St. Regis (Asia Myra) concoct a plan to swindle Warbucks out of the $50,000 he’s offering Annie’s birth parents should they show up to take her back.

Now all Rooster and Lily need is info only Mama and Papa could know, and who better to supply them with that than Miss Hannigan herself, that is if they agree to go fifty-fifty with her.

Along the way, songwriters Strouse and Meehan serve up one catchy, clever ditty after another, chief among them Annie’s ode to hope (the ubiquitous “Tomorrow”) and “It’s The Hard Knock Life,” not only the first of choreographer Kai Chubb’s infectiously entertaining musical numbers but a couldn’t-be-better showcase for the multitalented Misses Bautista, Fischer, Fischer, Fisher, Madzar, and Stine.

Zoe Bright directs Annie with abundant pizzazz, paying painstaking attention to all four sides of Glendale Centre Theatre’s arena stage while making savvy casting choices that pay off big time beginning with Tardibuono’s absolutely captivating Annie, winning hearts from the show-opening “Maybe” and sealing the deal with a show-stopping “Tomorrow,”

Lesh-Farrell steals scenes right and left as a Miss Hannigan as womanly as she is an irascible, flask-toting harpie, Callandar gives “Daddy” Warbucks equal parts brio and charm, and a warm and winning Robin makes for the loveliest of Graces Farrells.

Dailey and Myra are hilarious as all get-out as dastardly, ditzy comedic baddies Rooster and Lily, and never more so than when impersonating Annie’s down-on-their-luck hillbilly “parents” Ralph and Shirley Mudge.

Ensemble players Savannah Ackerman (Annette), Lenessa Age (Mrs. Pugh, Perkins), Haylee Coburn (Mrs. Greer, Apple Seller), Erika Cruz, Michael Davanzo, Steven Didrick (Drake), Tom Hall (Bundles McClosky and a spot-on FDR), dance captain Michael C. Kennedy, Berlynn Milliken (Cecile), Viktor J. Pacheco (Lt. Ward), Jeffrey Sabino (a silver-throated Bert Healy), John Tardibuono (Judge Louis Brandeis), and Ryanne Young (a big-belting Star To Be) deliver the goods every step of the way, with special snaps to those assigned Chubb’s plot-and-character-driven dance steps and to three-part-harmonizing Boylan Sisters Ackerman, Milliken, and Young, all of the above vocalizing under Steven Applegate’s assured musical direction.

 GCT Team’s set design once again demonstrates a particular deftness at theater in-the-round scenic design, with scene changes executed quickly and nimbly by assorted cast members. Costume designer Angela Manke has come up with yet another all-around terrific wardrobe of period outfits, this time with a comic book flair, enhanced by Paul Reid’s topnotch lighting design. Voices and prerecorded instrumental tracks are expertly mixed by sound designer Orlando Torres.

Brenda Dietlein is executive producer. Vache Sipanian and Jaymes Dietlein are backstage crew.

You don’t need to be a kid (or have your own tots in tow) to deem Annie yet another Glendale Centre Theatre winner. I dare anyone not to fall under the spell of the pint-sized redhead with a voice as big as her heart.

Glendale Centre Theatre, 324 N. Orange St., Glendale.
www.glendalecentretheatre.com

–Steven Stanley
August 15, 2019
Photos: Dennis Stover

Tags: Charles Strouse, Glendale Centre Theatre, Los Angeles Theater Review, Martin Charnin, Thomas Meehan