Deck the stalls

The festive season always means a theatre pause and reflection as to the year’s greatest applause. A Broadway break enabled experience of my new favourite thing in Dear Evan Hansen, which is now up there with Rent as my musical mecca, along with other 2019 faves Hamilton and Mean Girls. Closer to home, however, amongst the usual 100+ shows seen, there are a number of memorable mentions.

Most Entertaining

• The Gospel According to Paul in which Jonathan Biggins brilliantly portrays the love-him-or-hate-him Paul Keating.
• 100 Years of the History of Dance (as Told by One Man in 60 Minutes with an Energetic Group Finale), another solo show, this time from Australian director, choreographer and performer Joseph Simons.

Best musical:

• Sweet Charity – the perfect start of year show from Understudy Productions, the little Brisbane theatre company that has very quickly become a very big deal.
• the ridiculously funny Young Frankenstein, Phoenix Ensemble’s stage version of Mel Brooks’ 1974 horror-movie spoof and parody of both the musical genre and vaudevillian traditions.
• The Book of Mormon– the ridiculously still so-wrong-it’s-right musical is still the funniest thing around, even in repeat experience.

Best musical performance:

• Naomi Price as the titular Charity Hope Valentine in Sweet Charity, a role that appears as if written for her.

Best dance

• Queensland Ballet’s The Nutcracker – the most wonderful ‘tis the season treat around.

Best cabaret

• little red theatre company’s  From Johnny to Jack – Luke Kennedy’s chart of the greatest comeback in Australian rock and roll history… an energetic, feel-good, heart-warming celebration of all things John Farnham.

Best independent theatre

• Ghosts – The Curator’s homage to great Norwegian playwright Henrick Ibsen’s controversial play was innovative in its layers of scathing social commentary.

Best comic performance

• As Rooster in Queensland Musical Theatre’s Annie, Darcy Rhodes gave a standout razzle dazzle expressively larger-than-life performance.
• As a duo of Environment Minster and press advisor, Jessica Veurman and Charleen Marsters made for an ‘absolutely fabulous’ comic team in That Production Company’s Kill Climate Deniers.

Best dramatic performance:

• Patrick Shearer for his powerful and precise performance as the bohemian artist son Oswald in Ghosts.

Most moving

• Love Letters – the heart-warming story of two people who share a lifetime of experiences through the medium of handwritten letters, presented at Brisbane Arts Theatre by real-life married couple Ray and Melissa Swenson.

Best AV

• Project Design Justin Harrison’s dynamic projection designs represented a key component of Kill Climate Deniers’ vibrant realisation.

Best new work

• The relatable guilty pleasure of FANGIRLS – like a witty young adult novel set to music and full of glittery fun, complete with important messages.

Favourite festival show

• James Rowland’s Brisbane Festival show Team Viking (and its Songs of Friendship trilogy counterparts) ‘a revelatory storytelling cycle about love, life, friendship and death that serves as an accomplished piece of storytelling.

Notable mention to:

• Rocket Boy Ensemble’s Reagan Kelly for its killer opening monologue chronicle of night out in the valley
• Melbourne’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child for its incredible stagecraft of illusions and magic beyond just that of the expelliarmus sort.

Annie appeal

Annie (Queensland Musical Theatre)

Schonell Cinema and Live Theatre

June 5 – 9

Little Orphan Annie has been a part of American pop culture since first appearing as a 1924 comic strip. Although the story became a hit Broadway musical, “Annie” in 1977, it is probably its 1982 film version that is its most widely known and recognised realisation, whether that be because of the titular Annie’s iconic red party dress, her loveable mutt Sandy or the inspired casing of Carol Burnett as orphanage matron Miss Hannigan. And from the moment that Queensland Musical Theatre’s production of “Annie” opens in overture, we are reminded not only of this, but of its enduring soundtrack thanks to the 14-piece orchestra’s brilliant realisation (Conductor Trenton Dunstan). The show is packed full of musical highlights from the early ‘It’s a Hard Knock Life’ and anthemic ‘Tomorrow” to ‘NYC’ and ‘I think I’m Gonna Like It Here’ and their orchestral arrangements are a wonderful reminder of why the musical won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

The excellence continues into the show’s opening orphanage scenes where we meet the energetic Annie (Jade Kelly). Although living in the orphanage under the care of the happiness-hating Miss Hanigan (Lisa Mellor), Annie refuses to accept that she is an orphan, believing that one day she will be re-united with her parents. Kelly’s flawless voice and beautiful high range are showcased in the plucky ‘Tomorrow’, sung in comfort to ‘her’ friendly stray dog Sandy. She also embodies the kind-hearted protagonist when offered the chance to spend Christmas with billionaire Oliver Warbucks (Nathaniel Currie), softening the sophisticated entrepreneur, as well as US President FDR towards his optimistic new deal.

The youth cast of orphans is outstanding. In addition to Annie, of particular note is Tia Godbold as the littlest orphan, Molly, who loves making her friends (and the audience) laugh. Not only is she gorgeously precocious and full of personality, but she shows impressive professionalism to cope with a mid-scene dis-attached microphone dilemma.

Meanwhile, Currie embodies the role of the charismatic Warbucks and he sings like a dream; his Act Two ‘Something Was Missing’ where he shares his realisation that he’s spent his whole life building up his empire without allowing time for love in any way, is simply beautiful.

Annie’s stay at the billionaire’s mansion, however, is not all gifts and good times with Warbucks and his faithful secretary Grace (Abby Page), as she is left vulnerable to fraudsters, including the rough and tumble brother to Miss Hannigan, Rooster (Darcy Rhodes) and his egotistical gold digger girlfriend Lily St. Regis (Ellen Axford), who pose as Annie’s parents in attempt to get their hands on Warbuck’s advertised reward. As convict Rooster, Rhodes is the show’s absolute standout. His razzle dazzle performance is expressively larger-than-life as he exploits all of its comic possibilities, making it impossible to divert your eyes in his every on-stage appearance. He also helps to make the jazzy ‘Easy Street’ another Act One high point, full of energy and showcase of on-point harmonies.

There are many performance highlights in this professional production. The large cast means that there are busy ensemble numbers featuring over two dozen performers on stage, such as when, in escape from the orphanage, Annie comes across New York’s Hooverille, where people made homeless by the Great Depression have come together a community. Projected backdrops establish the era, with suffering all around.  Costumes are well-chosen, however, some props not of the era, even if added for joke value, detract from the otherwise careful attention to detail. And sound lapses in microphone cues cause some minor distraction, as does an annoyingly very wobbly set door. Still, it is easy to understand why the Schonell Theatre is at audience capacity, for this not only a musical with wide appeal, but a production of immense worth, obviously enjoyed by all, given its rapturous curtain call applause.

Although it is set at the ‘hard knock life’ time of the Great Depression, “Annie” is far from downbeat. Instead, its affirmation of the unyielding hope of tomorrow makes it a buoyant family friendly favourite. While the story has cute and cheeky orphans to appeal to youngsters and the guaranteed awe of appearance of a dog onstage, there is adult attraction too, through dialogue humour around the politics and personalities of the time. In many regards, this is a triumphant production of the classic rags-to-riches story that will have you leaving with smile on your face, warmth in your heart and its catalogue of catchy tunes in competition in your head.