ANNIE LIVE! – Original Television Soundtrack (Masterworks Broadway – 886449739189)
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
I know lots of people think this musical is very saccharine and old-fashioned but it still sells, so I think those people must be in the minority. I remember the first time I saw Annie at the Victoria Palace in 1978. At the end of the performance, I had to pretend I had dropped my programme and was trying to find it, as the tears were rolling down my face!
There have been many reincarnations of the show and cast albums but, I have to say, this one is something special. This is the return of those hit and miss Live! Musical events put on by NBC in the USA. We have had an absolutely abysmal Grease!, Sound of Music and Peter Pan and then a couple of passable ones – Hairspray and The Wiz. However, this feels different. There are some new orchestrations and the cast sound as if they are having a whale of a time.
Talking of cast, there are a couple of standouts. Taraji P Henson as Miss Hannigan is one of them. The performance comes out through the singing and the interpretation of the songs, and she sounds as if she will be wonderful to watch once I get the chance to see the production. Harry Connick Jr plays Daddy Warbucks, a part in a musical that doesn’t seem to go anywhere. Connick Jr does the best with what he is given, and it is refreshing to actually hear someone singing the role rather than the usual talking/singing associated with the part.
Nicole Scherzinger plays Grace, another rather innocuous role and she sings it like… well, like Nicole Scherzinger. Annie, herself, is played by newcomer Celina Smith who certainly has a powerful set of lungs on her.
Taking the recording as a whole, I find it refreshing and yet retaining all the schmaltz and sugar sweetness of the original. All you closeted Annie fans out there will love this. And all us out-and-proud Annie fans will devour it like a gorgeous strawberry sundae.
Nick Wakeham
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.