And I encountered a future star of musical theatre at the opening night with Stacey Hunt, a fourteen-year-old from Bridlington.Stacey didn't put a foot wrong and was word perfect in her role. Her renditions of Maybe, Hard Knock Life and, in particular, Tomorrow were excellent. She has a powerful voice for a girl of such tender years, and is also an excellent dancer. The youngsters, Annie’s fellow orphans at the New York City Orphanage under the direction of the tyrannical Miss Hannigan, are also talented youngsters and bring the show to life in the opening scenes all are members of the SLP College at Garforth. Annie is a 10-year-old orphan suddenly chosen by Grace Farrell, the secretary to multi-billionaire Oliver Warbucks, to spend two weeks over Christmas with Mr Warbucks and his household, eventually he wants to adopt her. Annie believes her parents are still alive so Warbucks offers a large cash reward to her real parents if they will come and prove their existence. This prompts Miss Hannigan, her scheming brother Rooster and his girlfriend Lily St Regis to hatch up a plot for Rooster and Lily to imitate her parents. Will they succeed in fooling Oliver Warbucks and Grace Farrell? That is the question everyone wants to know, and which I am not going to reveal here. David McAllister, who plays Oliver Warbucks, is a veteran performer and it really shows in his performance. I thought his rendition of NYC and, in particular, Something is Missing were excellent. Likewise Louise English, as Grace Farrell was utterly charming. I was also impressed with Nick Stoter as Rooster Hannigan and Jo Sherwood as Lily, his accomplice in crime were also outstanding. Although still best known as Gladys Pugh in “Hi Di Hi”, Ruth Madoc excelled as the drunken nasty Miss Hannigan, showing what a versatile actress and singer she is. Chris Colby’s direction was superb, and the choreography by David Kort was outstanding. Add to this the brilliant musical direction by Anne Marie Lewis-Thompson and you have a truly terrific show. My one slight criticism was that on occasions the orchestra seemed a little too loud for the performers. Some tickets are still available I would therefore recommend that you get booked as a matter of urgency. Annie is at the Grand until Saturday 25 November 2006. | 
