AT SUCH MOMENTS, THE CONSTANT THEATERGOER MAY FEEL ONE OF TWO DIFFERENT, EQUALLY STRONG URGES: TO MIST UP OR TO THROW UP: A revival of
Annie, first discussed here
over two years ago, opened on Broadway last night
and the NYT says:
It would seem that Mr. Lapine is hoping to introduce at least a tincture of psychological shading to a show that is only, and unapologetically, a singing comic strip....
In 1977 Miss Hannigan was portrayed by Dorothy Loudon as a juicy gargoyle, with equal parts Dickensian villainy and showbiz oomph. Ms. Finneran, a two-time Tony winner, takes a more humanizing approach... her Ms. Hannigan is a lonely lush who really just wants to land a fella.
When her no-good brother, Rooster, proposes a scheme to swindle Oliver Warbucks and make Annie “disappear,” you detect glimmers of a conscience beneath her snarling exterior. When she performs her big solo, “Little Girls,” with a possessed, mesmerizing loopiness, it feels less like a declaration of war than like a private nervous breakdown. You don’t feel like hissing this Miss Hannigan, which adds an addling ambivalence to the show.
Yes, I will bust out the
Sarah Jessica Parker singing "I Don't Need Anything But You" link again. Also, the NYT has video of
many, many "Tomorrows," from Andrea McCardle to Idina Menzel to Zach Galiafanakis.
