Annie

So I saw the revival of Annie last week with Michael--I thought it was pretty good, although it wasn't quite a home-run.  Annie and the other girls were good, although I had a hard time understanding some of the orphans.  Daddy Warbucks was terrific, as was Rooster. Grace seemed a little grim, frankly!  And Kate Finneran...really didn't do such a good job as Miss Hannigan, sadly--I'm not sure what she was going for but it was kind of a mess.  The show in general was smaller, more scaled-down--one area where that did not quite work was "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile."  The choreography for that number was much more naturalistic than in the original--the girls were playing dress-up with various Miss Hannigan items of clothing (basically an extended joke about being "dressed").  Okay, not a bad idea in theory, and I sympathize with the struggle against such iconic staging--it can be frustrating when you're up against that kind of legacy.  But Smile isn't about naturalism, or character growth/exploration--it just isn't that kind of number.  It's just not.  It's a showstopper--it is designed to showcase the kids and bring a smile to YOUR face as you watch them.  Watch the original number (you can YouTube it, they performed it for the 1977 Tonys)--the audience breaks into applause at LEAST 3 times during the number.  Molly alone gets at least two applause breaks!  They are complete bosses, absolute professionals and the number is just....they're amazing, I literally get chills down my spine watching it because they're SO GOOD, every one of them.  You can't really scale down those kinds of expectations with some kind of naturalistic character piece when we hardly get any time with the orphans as it is, and they don't really stand out to us.  Dude, why fight it?  Don't think too much, just serve up some moppet shtick and and let 'em have their moment ;)

I don't really dislike the movie but I was VERY disappointed that they cut all my favorite songs!  Herbert Hoover, New Deal for Christmas?  Waaaaah!!!!  I love the sarcasm of HH, and New Deal is just so darn cute.  "The snowflakes are frightened of falling/And oh, what a fix! No peppermint sticks!"  SO CUTE.  And my absolute favorite, NYC--what the hell were they thinking, to cut that?  Come on, guys--any director should WANT to stage that number.  It's a crackerjack, with that lilting, bouncy beat and the key changes.  And those lyrics!  My favorite:  "You make 'em all postcards!"  Such a great song!  The other night I was walking uptown to visit Lori and I was playing that on my phone--I started staging it in my head.  So I'm already one up on John Huston ;)  Also--why on EARTH did they cut TOMORROW??  What were they thinking?  You swapped out Tomorrow for such gems as We Got Annie and Dumb Dog? *shaking my head*

I will say about the movie--I think it's disgusting that a bunch of loser fanboys decided to crap on a little kid by "awarding" her a Razzie for that movie.  Does it make you feel better about your pathetic lives that you picked on a 10-year-old girl?