That little orphan named Annie is back, reminding audiences at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center that the sun will indeed come out tomorrow in Actors’ Repertory Theatre Of Simi’s entertaining community theater revival of the Broadway musical smash.

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.

Its pint-sized heroine is eleven-year-old Annie (Lexie Windisch), abandoned as an infant by parents who promised they’d be back to reclaim her but haven’t shown up yet, and in an America now in the midst of The Great Depression, the likelihood of them dropping by anytime soon seems slim to none.

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 (Beth Stockton), the Little Orphan decides to take matters into her own hands, bids farewell to fellow waifs Duffy (Maiah Interior), July (Delilah Shafer), Kate (Ava Dukakis), Molly (Reese Lovenson), Pepper (Ameline Lynch), and Tessie (Abigail Patterson), and heads off in search of Mommy and Daddy.

Aiding Annie in her quest is abandoned pooch Sandy (curly-furred charmer Dipper Weiss) 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 (Dawn Michelle), secretary to industry mogul Oliver Warbucks (Michael German), 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 (Noah Gephardt-Canada) and his blonde bimbo girlfriend Lily St. Regis (Annie Clare Hudson) 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.

And did I mention than President Franklin D. Roosevelt (Peter Fair) shows up 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,” the latter a couldn’t-be-better showcase for up-and-coming child performers Dukakis, Interior, Lovenson, Lynch, Patterson, Shafer, and especially for the big-voiced Windisch as the feistiest and fiercest of redheaded orphans.

Director David Ralph starts things off with a black-and-white early-1930s newsreel tutorial on the Great Depression, the homeless encampments called “Hoovervilles” it spawned, and the election of a President who promised Americans a New Deal, and as music director Gary Poirot and the production’s live orchestra launch into the show’s Greatest Hits Overture, a cartoon slide show fills us in on the back story of the little orphan girl who’s about to fill the theater with optimism and joy.

Annie The Musical is jam-packed too with roles designed to give adult performers the chance to charm an audience, and German’s warm-hearted billionaire, Stockton’s amusingly scenery-chewing orphanage head, Michelle’s lovely, vivacious private secretary, Gephardt-Canada’s shifty bamboozler, and Hudson’s bleached-blonde bombshell do just that, and Fair is about as dead-ringer an FDR as any production could hope for.

In addition, Annie abounds in cameo roles that give Francis Paul Cabison (Bert Healey), Chris Carnicelli (Fred McCracken, Judge Brandeis), Patrick Clark (Drake), Grace Delto, Ted Elrick, Lex Gonzalez (Boylan Sister), Helena Gwin (Boylan Sister), Jameson Gwin, Juliet Jeffords, Dakota Koep, Savannah Ludwig (Boylan Sister, Star To Be), Anna Marie Melendrez, Catalina Rodriguez, Danielle Romo (Mrs. Greer), Jenna Laurén Romo, Nicole Spadaro (Mrs. Pugh), Brendan Weissman (Bundles), and Poppi Wilbur-McDaniels the chance to keep an audience smiling.

Longtime ARTS choreographer Becky Castells knows precisely how to create dance moves just right for a community theater cast and the same goes for Matthew Park where cast vocals are concerned.

Annie abounds in period costumes by producer Jan Glasband and Kim Kiley that range from Depression-era rags to Upper East Side chic and pretty much the same can be said for Luis Ramirez’s myriad wigs and stage manager Hannah Higbee’s slew of props.

In addition, Nick Caisse knows how to design sets on a limited budget (though more scenes than I’d prefer take place in front of dark curtains) and Ian Kelley knows how to light scenes for maximum effect.

Last but not least, sound designer does a terrific job of mixing amped vocals and the show’s live orchestra.

Caroline Esposito is assistant to the director and kids’ vocal coach.

For nearly fifty years and counting, Annie has proven itself capable of winning an audience over whether performed on a Broadway stage or at a local community theater.

In other words, though it may not be the production you’d pay a whole lot more to see at a major professional house, Actors Repertory Theatre Of Simi’s Annie is guaranteed to leave you with a smile on your face, and as one of the show’s catchiest songs puts it, you’re never truly dressed without a smile.

Actors Repertory Theatre Of Simi, Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, 3050 Los Angeles Avenue, Simi Valley.
www.actorsrepofsimi.org

–Steven Stanley
July 5, 2024

Tags: Actors Repertory Theatre Of Simi, Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin, Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, Thomas Meehan, Ventura County Theater Review