Ellen Gruber plays Annie and Georgie plays Sandy in the Encore Theatre production of Annie, running through Jan. 12 in Dexter. | Photo by Michael Bessom
This year’s winter show from the Encore Musical Theatre Company is Annie, the classic 1976 musical by Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse, and Martin Charnin based on the comic strip about a gutsy redheaded orphan who escapes from her orphanage during the Great Depression.
Ten-year-old Ellen Gruber is a lot of fun in the titular role, with a loud red wig and a strong belt that lends itself well to her signature number, “Tomorrow.” The orphan chorus is also a talented group; eight-year-old Frankie McElroy is sweetly naive as Molly, and Slauson eighth grader Lila Teall Beaver leads the dance sequences as Duffy.
Sarah B. Stevens is an absolute knockout as Miss Hannigan, the embittered matron of Annie’s orphanage, armed with a sneer and a bawdy New York accent. David Moan is similarly fantastic as Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks, a role that has been interpreted many different ways. His Warbucks is awkward, businesslike, and despite his confident newscaster’s baritone, completely out of his depth interacting with Annie.
Filling out the adult cast are Shaun White as Miss Hannigan’s criminal brother Rooster, and Mariah Colby as his ditzy girlfriend Lily St. Regis (“like the hotel”). They showcase sparkling chemistry with Stevens in one of the show’s best numbers, “Easy Street.” All three performances at times veer into camp (White’s background as a drag performer is apparent), with none of the sinister undertones at play in some productions; you never sense that Annie is in any real danger from this gang. The remaining ensemble players look, act, and sound great. Amy West’s energetic choreography is a lot of fun, with some fine dancing led by Emily Ling Mei.
Annie’s dog friend Sandy is played by a professional canine actor named Georgie who specializes in this role. Georgie’s handler, Rochelle Scudder, doubles as Grace Farrell, Warbucks’s hyper-competent secretary, who got laughs as the only character in the story comfortable interacting with children. Sandy’s appearances reliably drew awwwww’s from the audience, especially during “Tomorrow,” which has Annie singing directly to Sandy, comfortably splayed out in her arms.
The accompanying musicians, hidden in an upper box and conducted by EMU’s R. Mackenzie Lewis, fill the space without being overwhelming. Abby Sage Hall’s costumes, of which there are a lot (Annie alone has, by my count, six costume changes), are varied, colorful, and specific to each character. Although all the actors are mic’d, there were times where I struggled to make out what they were saying—the space seems a bit acoustically tricky.
Of particular note is Anne Donevan’s props design, from FDR’s uncomfortable-looking vintage wheelchair to a mildly disturbing dummy wielded by a radio ventriloquist (Ann Arbor’s own Keith Kalinowski, also quietly charming as Warbucks’s butler Drake), to a specially made doll Hannigan dances with during her big number “Little Girls,” which has a hilarious payoff I won’t spoil.
The show is very family-friendly and there were a large number of children in the audience, some in costume. No numbers have been cut, but it moves briskly, clocking in at around two hours and 20 minutes with a 15-minute intermission. A perennial issue with Annie is that the second act is a lot slower, and I started to hear squirming behind me when FDR (Encore veteran Dan Morrison, amusing) was debating the hot-button issues of 1933 with his cabinet.
This is a confident production, delivered with the quality and professionalism we’ve come to expect from Encore. It is well worth a trip to Dexter in these cold, gray weeks.
