What are they teaching my 2 year old? Part II
Today's review is a production of the touring company of Annie that
came through the Bass Concert Hall. We attended a Saturday matinee, it
was us, about a zillion other children, and some disgruntled childless
couples (it's a matinee of Annie, geniuses). We managed to score some
fantastic seats at the last minute, and so were sitting in the second
row center. From there we could see everything on stage extremely well,
along with the pit orchestra (mini orchestra? There were like, six
dudes down there). That much, Ollie really liked.
Given the last production we saw, honestly, it staggers me to say that as a family we enjoyed this (expensive, professional) production less. At least with the Story there was the constant bafflement at the plot, the enjoyment of watching our friend play in the band, and the unpredictability of kids. With this show I have to say the highlight for the grown-ups was discovering the Bass sells Fat Tire and you can take it to your seat with you, and for Ollie it was the rare appearances of Sandy, the dog, who received an audible gasp from the children and a smattering of applause when he/she first took the stage.
It's been a long time since I've seen Annie, and I guess what struck me about this production was the missed opportunities here. The parallels between the world of Annie, with the homeless, poor, starving and government loathing citizens and our own time were obvious. So why not make more of them? Do you know who sits in orphanages and the foster care system? Teenagers, differently abled children, and children of color. So don't give me an orphanage full of tiny adorable white moppets (note, there was one girl of color). Miss Hannigan is stuck in the impossible situation of being the sole 24 hour care for children with no resources whatsoever. Is there a way to point the finger at the society that forgot these kids and not make her such a sex-crazed shrill harpy? Why were the poor people so clean? Were they upper middle class citizens who took on crazy mortgages and lost their homes? How can we point to that (actually, that one's easy for me. In the shanty town have them living out of Hummers).
Why not have a black Annie? I mean, Jesus, think about all the questions that opens up. There are tons of people out there raising children of different races then their own. All the time they face issues about how to expose children to their own cultures, the kids face issues about not fitting into one world or the next, as well as ethical issues about how these kids ended up in orphanages and foster care to begin with. Warbucks is basically the original Angelina Jolie. How could Annie address this?
Why not set it in the present time? Sure, some of this stuff would seem weird (FDR, for example), but whatever. The audience would go with it. Let's get into race and class issues that we should be addressing in NYC (everybody was so white!!!). Let's get into technology and greed. Let's look at the fact that in the end Annie gets to live in the mansion and her friends are going back to who knows what.
Ok, so putting aside the time I spent reconceiving the entire production as a whole, let's look at this one. Ollie and I disagreed on Annie. Ollie liked her, and got antsy when she wasn't onstage. I thought she had an outstanding belting voice, an extremely nasally lower register, and absolutely no stage presence. Given that I was so close up, I could see how she rarely had any expression on her face at all. She went through the motions, but she felt none of it. I know it's a kid, and I'm trying to make some space for her, but many of the other kids were much more engaged in the roles and much more present on stage.
This was true for most performers, with the exception of Miss Hannigan and oh, god, I've forgotten her name. The secretary lady. While I wasn't thrilled with either of their characterizations, I have to say they embraced their roles with gusto, were there the whole time, and had lovely singing voices for their characters. They, of all people on stage, truly seemed like the wanted to be there and wanted us to have a good show.
The rest of the group seemed like they wanted to collect a paycheck, more or less. I was particularly baffled by the guy playing the cop, among his many roles. He was playing it like a mustache twirling villain crossed with a dude from a Quentin Tarintino movie. It was bizarre. I decided later that maybe he was trying to differentiate his various characters, but dude, dial it down some.
The sets and drops in general were servicable, though we quite liked the shantytown under the bridge. There was also a moment with snow coming down outside the glass windows of Warbucks's atrium that was lovely. The costumes, however, man. These were by far the cleanest, classiest homeless people I have ever seen. Being so close, it was obvious that everyone was spotless and without rip or tear. Patches were neatly attached to clothing that obviously had no need for patching (especially such perfectly square ones). There were some homeless ladies wearing coats I would have killed for, they were so cool and in mint condition. Poor Annie had to wear the traditional red dress and wig for the finale and a less flattering outfit they could not have found for that girl. Also, costumes were in general two to three inches too short, and we could not have seen more cooches if we'd gone to the Moulin Rouge.
Overall, Ollie dug the dog and the scenes with the kids. The whole subplot with Hannigan colluding with her brother to dupe Warbucks bored Ollie to tears. By the end he was getting really, really antsy. This was not a major success for any of us involved. Though he looked really cute in his dress up clothes and shoes.
Also, it is not in any way appropriate to sell small girls pink baby doll t-shirts with "Easy Street" spelled out in rhinestones on them.
Given the last production we saw, honestly, it staggers me to say that as a family we enjoyed this (expensive, professional) production less. At least with the Story there was the constant bafflement at the plot, the enjoyment of watching our friend play in the band, and the unpredictability of kids. With this show I have to say the highlight for the grown-ups was discovering the Bass sells Fat Tire and you can take it to your seat with you, and for Ollie it was the rare appearances of Sandy, the dog, who received an audible gasp from the children and a smattering of applause when he/she first took the stage.
It's been a long time since I've seen Annie, and I guess what struck me about this production was the missed opportunities here. The parallels between the world of Annie, with the homeless, poor, starving and government loathing citizens and our own time were obvious. So why not make more of them? Do you know who sits in orphanages and the foster care system? Teenagers, differently abled children, and children of color. So don't give me an orphanage full of tiny adorable white moppets (note, there was one girl of color). Miss Hannigan is stuck in the impossible situation of being the sole 24 hour care for children with no resources whatsoever. Is there a way to point the finger at the society that forgot these kids and not make her such a sex-crazed shrill harpy? Why were the poor people so clean? Were they upper middle class citizens who took on crazy mortgages and lost their homes? How can we point to that (actually, that one's easy for me. In the shanty town have them living out of Hummers).
Why not have a black Annie? I mean, Jesus, think about all the questions that opens up. There are tons of people out there raising children of different races then their own. All the time they face issues about how to expose children to their own cultures, the kids face issues about not fitting into one world or the next, as well as ethical issues about how these kids ended up in orphanages and foster care to begin with. Warbucks is basically the original Angelina Jolie. How could Annie address this?
Why not set it in the present time? Sure, some of this stuff would seem weird (FDR, for example), but whatever. The audience would go with it. Let's get into race and class issues that we should be addressing in NYC (everybody was so white!!!). Let's get into technology and greed. Let's look at the fact that in the end Annie gets to live in the mansion and her friends are going back to who knows what.
Ok, so putting aside the time I spent reconceiving the entire production as a whole, let's look at this one. Ollie and I disagreed on Annie. Ollie liked her, and got antsy when she wasn't onstage. I thought she had an outstanding belting voice, an extremely nasally lower register, and absolutely no stage presence. Given that I was so close up, I could see how she rarely had any expression on her face at all. She went through the motions, but she felt none of it. I know it's a kid, and I'm trying to make some space for her, but many of the other kids were much more engaged in the roles and much more present on stage.
This was true for most performers, with the exception of Miss Hannigan and oh, god, I've forgotten her name. The secretary lady. While I wasn't thrilled with either of their characterizations, I have to say they embraced their roles with gusto, were there the whole time, and had lovely singing voices for their characters. They, of all people on stage, truly seemed like the wanted to be there and wanted us to have a good show.
The rest of the group seemed like they wanted to collect a paycheck, more or less. I was particularly baffled by the guy playing the cop, among his many roles. He was playing it like a mustache twirling villain crossed with a dude from a Quentin Tarintino movie. It was bizarre. I decided later that maybe he was trying to differentiate his various characters, but dude, dial it down some.
The sets and drops in general were servicable, though we quite liked the shantytown under the bridge. There was also a moment with snow coming down outside the glass windows of Warbucks's atrium that was lovely. The costumes, however, man. These were by far the cleanest, classiest homeless people I have ever seen. Being so close, it was obvious that everyone was spotless and without rip or tear. Patches were neatly attached to clothing that obviously had no need for patching (especially such perfectly square ones). There were some homeless ladies wearing coats I would have killed for, they were so cool and in mint condition. Poor Annie had to wear the traditional red dress and wig for the finale and a less flattering outfit they could not have found for that girl. Also, costumes were in general two to three inches too short, and we could not have seen more cooches if we'd gone to the Moulin Rouge.
Overall, Ollie dug the dog and the scenes with the kids. The whole subplot with Hannigan colluding with her brother to dupe Warbucks bored Ollie to tears. By the end he was getting really, really antsy. This was not a major success for any of us involved. Though he looked really cute in his dress up clothes and shoes.
Also, it is not in any way appropriate to sell small girls pink baby doll t-shirts with "Easy Street" spelled out in rhinestones on them.
