There is always something special about theatre that brings families together and introduces children to the experience. For 50 years (first premiered 1976) Annie has been that musical and it is always a joy to watch no matter the place or cast. The latest production is at The Empress Theatre in Magna and it is a charming night of community theatre.

If somehow you don’t know Annie tells the story of the plucky orphan who cheers everyone up during the Great Depression. In real life she did that very thing with the Little Orphan Annie comic strip and radio show that aired in the 1930s. The musical version is a secret holiday show that is set at Christmas with billionaire Daddy Warbucks fostering Annie for the Christmas holidays and through the experience they become an unlikely family.

Part of what makes Annie special is the iconic songs. Of course, everyone knows “Tomorrow” and “Hard Knock Life” but my favorite is the opening song “Maybe.” It has such a haunting quality and I think it is one of the more underrated Broadway songs. I also think “Little Girls” is one of the best villain songs as sung by the selfish Ms Hannigan. At The Empress, Hannigan is played with all the camp required for the role by Shannon Pearson. She’s also pretty good at playing boozy, which isn’t always the case with Utah acting.

Annie is played by Jordyn Bowser and she is very sweet in the role and has nice chemistry with Sheldon Pearson as Warbucks. All the orphans are cute but I was particularly charmed by Penny Teitter as Molly. It said in the program this is her first scripted character performance and I hope she keeps at it because she’s got great stage presence.

Director Jim Martin uses the full stage at the Empress which I appreciate (if you have that unusual stage you might as well take advantage of it) and I love they have the hand-painted NYC skyline painted on the background complete with the Roxie movie theatre the characters go to in one of the scenes. I’ve said it before but I much prefer hand-painted over AI and always appreciate the effort that it takes to do things right (set design Vali Johnson, mural Parker Skeen.)

The amount of orphans is on the small side but they make it work with what they’ve got. It’s unfortunate the actors had to deal with nearly constant microphone issues but that’s the breaks with community theatre. Still, I had a great time at Annie and think it would be a wonderful way to introduce the young ones in your life to musical theatre. It is playing at The Empress until Nov 21st and they have 3+ and sensory friendly performances scheduled. More information can be found here.

Annie has music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Chamin and a book by Thomas Meehan based on the comic and radio program by Harold Gray.

If you enjoy my writing and would like me to review your production I’d love to. I also have a patreon which is a great way to support my shorter logs for shows I don’t get to review. I have some really fun perks like bonus episodes, patron polls and monthly Q&As with actors, directors and writers. Please take a look here.