RALEIGH -- Does any production of "Annie" need a review? With nearly 200,000 productions since 1977, this quintessential feel-good musical still packs them in, as it did Saturday for N. C. Theatre's staging. So the details don't really matter - tickets will be sold; fans and families will be entertained.
This production fares best in its details. Kenneth Foy's scenic designs are beautifully balanced between comic strip and real world; the orphanage appropriately dingy, Daddy Warbucks' home properly glitzy. Costume World Theatrical supplies eye-popping attire: spiffy uniforms for Warbucks' staff, wonderfully varied duds for New York tourists and hawkers.
Director Casey Hushion's chorus is one of the best, working together with precision, taking on cameos with individuality. Vince Pesce's choreography is cleverly integrated into each number; the orchestra, under Edward G. Robinson, has a jaunty bounce.
And the category that's usually trouble - kids and animals - is firmly under control. The orphan girls work together nicely, their dialogue and dancing never cutesy. Little Mary Kate Englehardt holds the audience captive as orphan Molly, her comic timing and confidence admirable.
English Bernhardt displays a powerful voice as Annie, thankfully not shrill and capable of emotional nuance; her character comes out best in scenes with Warbucks. And Mikey, the dog playing Sandy, would melt the coldest curmudgeon with his scruffy vulnerability and spot-on cue-taking.
The adult cast has fine performers, if none that dazzle. Soap opera veteran Robert Newman blusters too much as Warbucks, but finds attractive warmth as the character becomes attached to Annie. Christy Morton makes Warbucks' secretary Grace perkily efficient but lacks underlying tenderness. Joey Calveri and Dana Zihlman Harshaw make the most of the conniving caricatures Rooster and Lily, while Eric Michael Gillett brightens things as President Franklin D. Roosevelt, references to programs for the jobless and homeless striking particularly contemporary notes.
An obvious draw is the casting of Andrea McArdle, Broadway's original Annie, as Miss Hannigan, the warden-like orphanage head. McArdle is a winning, talented performer, but the decision to play the role as loveable kewpie doll instead of comic book villain defeats the intended humor and leaves little for the other characters to play off.
Saturday's performance had low energy in act one, things not taking off until act two, with its bigger production numbers and more character interaction.
Still, the audience roared at the curtain call, topped off with McArdle soloing in "Tomorrow" for old times' sake.
