Porthouse Theatre's Production of 'Annie' Hits All the Right Notes

The musical Annie, based on the ancient comic strip "Little Orphan Annie," has become a rite of passage for many a young girl since it opened almost 50 years ago on Broadway. Since then countless pre-teen lasses— in professional, semi-professional and amateur productions—have stepped into that title role with one thing in mind.

The note. It's all about the note. You know the one. The note we all want that little girl to hit and hold when she sings "Tomorrow." If she doesn't, it's no big deal, it's just another show. But if she does, everything seems right in the world for just a moment.

This well-known musical is buoyed by Charles Strouse's catchy music and the witty lyrics by Martin Charnin, so it has a lot going for it from the jump. And in the Annie now at the Porthouse Theatre, Annie and everyone else hit their marks, turning in a thoroughly entertaining iteration of this popular (yes, damn near overdone) musical.

Once again, director Terri Kent and choreographer/artistic collaborator Martiń Ceśpedes fashion a smooth and entirely professional production by keeping the pace fast and fresh while attending to all the details.

Of course, they have a lot to work with since the song list includes a few killer showstoppers. In "It's a Hard-Knock Life," the staccato rhythms reflect the miserable conditions in which the orphans exist, overseen by the brutal warden Miss Hannigan. She is played by a sneery Amy Fritsche who enjoys herself immensely, particularly in her mordant ode to her kiddie charges, "Little Girls."

That's where Annie dreams of something better in the optimism-drenched "Tomorrow," the song with...the note. And at this performance Parker Towns (who shares the role of Annie at alternate performances with Ava Kimble) absolutely nails it—and pretty much everything else—after she's rescued from the orphanage and taken to live in cushy luxury with Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks.

Sure, these days he'd probably be arrested for grabbing a girl out of an orphanage and taking her away without proper adoption procedures. But this is a comic strip world in which tomorrow will always be better, even though it never arrives since it's "always a day away."

In the role of Warbucks, Dante J.L. Murray is an imposing presence with a deep voice, giving his dead-pan delivery of some lines some extra comedic juice. His cool assistant Grace (Courtney Elizabeth Brown) and an ensemble of 13 maids and butlers attend to Annie while moving and dancing with slick precision.

And in case you're longing for an anthem, the musical pauses to sing a tribute to Annie and Warbuck's hometown in "NYC." It's a ballsy and brawny tune ("You crowd, you cramp, you're still the champ, NYC!") that is in a class with the other famous New York City ditties such as "New York, New York" and "A New York State of Mind."

While the first act of Annie has all the great songs, the second act has much of the plot, including one involving Annie's birth parents, and the dastardly duo who try to impersonate them and glom onto the reward money offered by Daddy W.

This storyline is enhanced by Matthew Gittins as Rooster, who takes slimy to a mucilaginous new low along with his sidekick Lily (Mary Savocchia). And they bump and grind to the prospect of quick riches in the sultry and sleazy "Easy Street."

By the end, when President Roosevelt joins in to save the day, you know you've been fully Annie-ed once again. Surrender now, resistance is futile.

Annie
Through August 4 at the Porthouse Theatre, Blossom Music Center Campus, 3143 O'Neil Road, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44223, 330-672-3884, kent.edu/porthouse

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