Annie Review by Isabel F. with help from Sarena S.

The overture may have lasted a little long, but the CMS production of Annie was nothing if not amazing. I saw opening night and the closing Sunday matinee, and both were equally impressive. Vocals were strong, dancing was exciting and the actors did a great job of tying the audience into the emotional aspect of the show. This could sound cheesy, but I think people will understand when I say I felt chills when the orphans sang “It’s a Hard-Knock Life.” Their faces were animated and you felt like this privileged group of Concord kids transformed into plaintive and deprived orphans. It was kind of ironic, how convincing the orphans and the Hooverville-ites (hobos) were in their “Depressed” states.

The ensemble worked hard to create the mood and pulsing background of this production, while the leads brought feeling and skill to every detail. Annie was played by Ana F-C, who showed us that a 6^th grader can do just as much as any older kid with a main role. She was spunky and tender at the same time, and really seemed to connect with the other characters, especially Warbucks, who was played by Joe V-H. He was the soul of the show, rotating from singing to dancing to acting to carrying Annie around. The original show didn’t have as many dance numbers, in fact, the only original dance number was Hard-Knock Life. Mr. Shancady and Jen Jarvis (the choreographer) changed the show a lot by adding a Rockette tap-dancing in N.Y.C.

Almost every song had some choreography, which definitely helped the scenes a lot. Elana I. was perfectly preposterous as Miss Hannigan, the evil orphanage lady who with her criminal brother and his equally immoral girlfriend, Lily St. Regis (played by Jeremy S. and Hannah S-D). Before intermission, they performed their fantastic number, “Easy Street.” In the song, this sneaky group of characters announced their plan of how to become rich. Towards the end of the play, there were several very touching scenes and songs. The audience was enamored by the heartfelt acting by Warbucks and Annie, and the comical impersonations of Lily and Rooster. When the curtain closed for the final time, there was a collective sigh as the audience and cast alike savored the last moments of Annie, CMS’ fabulous production that blew the roof off of every performance.