You can “bet your bottom dollar” that musical sensation “Annie” knocked my socks off at Fresno’s Saroyan Theatre.
On the surface, “Annie” is a heartwarming story about a young orphan girl and her dog on a journey to find her parents. She spends Christmas with a closed-off billionaire who quickly warms up to her, and in the end they find their missing pieces within each other. But there is so much that lies beneath the surface of this classic musical.
On this tour, Little Orphan Annie is played by Hazel Vogel, an innate talent at only 12 years old. With just the first few notes of “Maybe,” I had full body chills. She completely and totally stole the show. There’s more talent in that girl’s pinky finger than in my entire body.
This absolutely stacked cast performed the show on Broadway in New York before hitting the road, and you can totally feel how they brought that quality Great White Way charm all the way to the stages of the West Coast.
From Stefanie Londino’s hilarious Miss Hannigan to powerhouse Julia Nicole Hunter’s clever Grace Farrell all the way down to the ensemble, every single person on stage radiated both their aptitude in performance quality and their love for the show.
The comedic timing of the entire cast, especially Londino’s, ensured that no one in the room was left fully dressed without a smile.
My favorite part of the entire show was in Act II, when Annie and Warbucks visit President Franklin D. Roosevelt at The White House. When I watched the movie as a kid—which was pretty often—my attention span was taken by the catchy score and the cute dog.
(Side note: Kevin, who played Sandy, was the smartest and most talented dog I’ve ever seen on a stage. Someone needs to get that dog into the Westminster Dog Show or something.)
I didn’t notice how political the musical was when I was Annie’s age, but like many Broadway shows, “Annie,” which is set during the Great Depression era, contains a lot of underlying social commentary, especially on American class stratification. I couldn’t help but laugh at the political discourse, feeling all too familiar to me.
“Now, Oliver, since you speak for those happy few Americans who have any money left, I’d like to begin with your views on matters,” Roosevelt said.
The room detonates into a Republican-versus-Democrat argument over unemployment to war, the stock market to world hunger, street riots to natural disasters and everything in between.
Annie, overwhelmed by the adult conversations, begins to reprise “Tomorrow.” The room is stunned, but Roosevelt is inspired.
“Yes, sing,” Roosevelt said. “Like Annie. I’ve just decided that if my administration’s going to be anything, it’s going to be optimistic about the future of this country. Now, sing!”
I found myself with lasting goosebumps all over again. In that moment, I realized “Annie” is a story about hope in so many more ways than one. Hope for lonely little girls everywhere. Hope in choosing your forever family. But especially hope for the future of America.
In times like these, it was a great reminder that the sun will come out tomorrow.
“Annie” completes its run at the Saroyan on Wednesday, Feb. 12. Tickets can be found here.
