View from the Green Room: Stage Coach’s splendid Annie
Annie and the kids at the orphanage.
I wondered why I thought that The Stagecoach’s Annie was the best show I’ve seen at the Barron Hall in Stradbally. Is it the clever set that flows so well on their tiny stage? Or the nods to Depression Era USA with thirties radio programmes and music spilling out into the hall as we took our seats? The subtle signage of street signs, advertisements for the new film of Little Women or the subway directions? The sharp costumes that move us from orphan urchins to Speak Easy shysters and on to snappy Wall Street tycoons with smartly dressed servants in tow?
But… as I looked through the cast list, it struck me that it was the polished performances of young cast members that have come through Martine Rogers’ stage school and are maturing into fine actors and singers.
Martine has a conveyor belt of talent here in Stradbally that could cast any youth show. And they’ve gained plenty of experience over the last few years.
The last time I saw Lucy Power in the Barron Hall, she was an excellent Annie. And now, here she is, all grown up as the perfect Grace Farrell, secretary to the world’s richest man Oliver Warbucks (Tom A Rogers).
Tom is actually reprising his previous performance of the hard-nosed tycoon whose heart is melted by red-headed, adorable, Annie. Molly Power is a hoot as the hapless Ms. Hannigan – you hear her before you see her – who has her orphans scrubbing floors at 4.30am as she listens to sponsored romance dramas on the wireless.
The experience of Arthur Rogers and Gráinne Dowling as Rooster and Lucy (also Rebecca Fan), America’s worst fraudsters, shows in everything they do and their tap-dancing trio with Molly in “Easy Street” is great fun.
Annie’s gang in the orphanage drive the show on and provide lots of mayhem for poor Ms. Hannigan. Molly (Kara Kiely/Méabh Power), Duffy (Caoimhe Halpin/Siún Jones), July (Sarah Coffey/Eva Gough), Kate (Éabha Casey/Lily Casey), Pepper (Hollie Walsh/Anna Crowhurst) and Tessies (Julie Ivory/Pippa Kirwan/Eve Huaghey/Méábh Jones).
The radio scenes are hilarious as the two-tier stage provides performers and audience. Lui Ivory is excellent as the self-obsessed radio announcer Bert and his team of performers The Boylan Sisters (Rebecca Doyle, Erica Haughey, Maeve O’Neill/ Rebecca Fan and Gráinne Dowling) bring a real Hollywood pzazz of glamour and fun to their scenes.
The big chorus scenes grow seamlessly into the show. Numbers like “I think I’m gonna like it here” and “NYC” bring big applause from the house, as do the tap-dancing sequences.
Ultimately, the show belongs to Annie (Aoife Crotty and Alissa Haughey). Aoife is today’s Annie and is a bundle of energy along with being note and word perfect. Confident and talented, today’s Annie wins hearts – both onstage and off!
Aoife sings, dances and acts like a seasoned trooper and her scenes with Daddy Warbucks carry off the plotline. The huge ovation Aoife received is well deserved and I am reliably informed that Alissa Haughey is also superb in the part.
Well done to Martine and Tom Rogers on the Stage Coach’s best production to date and a big shout out to Sandy the Dog who added yet another ahhh to the ahhhhhh factor of Annie.
