A Fairy Tale for Hard Times

For a pretty standard fairy tale, complete with evil witch, imperilled orphan, a Titanically benevolent fairy godfather and, of course, a happy ending, the CenterStage production of “Annie” is smart and entertaining. That is due in part to fine direction by AnnChris Warren, who’s good at keeping kids on stage from looking like headlight-stunned robots. Also, the music is smart. And the script is fine and often political (One of the shantytown residents sings out, “I’d like to thank you Herbert Hoover, you made us what we are today”). And then there’s Jake, playing Sandy, a big, licky yellow Lab, who knows to come when called (garnering a wave of applause). This is also a paean to 1930s New York, heavy on references to treasured landmarks such as Rumplemeyer’s (no longer with us), the Chrysler building, Tiffany’s, Grand Central. And as Warbucks (the fairy godfather played by Joseph Jervais) points out, “After New York, everything else is Bridgeport.” One of the surprises in this show is Lisa Lynds’ Miss Hannigan, played usually as a dowdy and heartless head of the city orphanage where Annie and her feisty pals have been dumped. She’s still heartless, of course, but Lynds, a hugely magnetic and fearless player, flaunts sequins and spangles, heaps of rouge and mascara and enough attitude to stun a Carol Burnett to silence. Certainly one of the high moments of the show is the Easy Street number, with Hannigan, her brother, Rooster (Nick Anthony), and his girlfriend Lily St. Regis (Eileen Keefe) dancing, strutting and singing their way to schemed-for riches. But nothing and no one outshines Amelia Allen’s Annie, the assertive, red-headed orphan who figures life with a billionaire would certainly outshine life on a pig farm. Amelia, 9 years old with a name change and a theatrical agent already, is the product of show business folk, one of whom, her grandfather, used to sing “Yes sir, that’s my baby,” to her at family dinners. Onstage she’s a natural, she likes being there, and she’s good, with a wry note now and then, a sure voice and big chest tones only when necessary. In the end, Annie changes the world, rights wrongs and melts Warbucks, the tough billionaire Republican (“You don’t have to be nice to people on the way up if you’re not going to go down”).He turns to Democrats to help Annie find her parents, inviting FDR and other administration luminaries to his mansion. And there, after hearing Annie sing “Tomorrow,” Harold L. Ickes, FDR’s Secretary of the Interior, is inspired to fashion the New Deal, the federal project that put Americans back to work in the 1930s. So, even as fairy tales go, this one is over the top. Buts who cares? It’s funny, charming and timely. “Annie,” which opened in New York in 1977, and ran for nearly 6 years, is returning later this year for a Broadway revival. Amelia has auditioned for the show twice. “Annie,” with book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin, runs at Rhinebeck’s Center for the Performing Arts through Feb. 5. For tickets and information, call 845-876-3080, or go to www.centerforperformingarts.org.