Yes, it’s Little Orphan Annie in her big musical. Young Star Musical Theatre in Prescott, Arizona recently put it on, in the process making The Great Depression seem very funny. The show gets off to a great start with a terrific group of orphan girls led by Annie (Lexy Shepherd), cute little Molly (Becca Tischina) who delivers a fiery Miss Hannigan imitation, and Abby Kirschbaum as an ever-ornery Pepper with terrific stage presence. Their lively It’s a Hard-Knock Life makes it clear their not taking their bad lot sitting down, although they do sit down and row themselves across the stage using washrags as oars during Director Shmaine Posey’s often-clever choreography. Later, Cassandra Finn as July and Caroline Ward as Tessie lead them in a very entertaining rendition of You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile.

In her first lead role, Lexy Shepherd is a confident Annie who belts out Tomorrow strongly and enjoys some good comedic moments, such as her efforts to sell herself to Warbucks’ personal assistant Grace Farrell, and her over-the-top pouting to guilt-trip Warbucks into joining Grace and her at the movies. Daddy Warbucks is played by her real-life stepbrother, Ethan Posey, who makes his stage debut in the big role, and does a nice job as the man who unexpectedly falls in love with the orphan, including a relaxed and fun song-and-dance with her in I Don’t Need Anything But You. Kayla Kite plays his personal assistant Grace with a charming affection for Annie, and an amusingly shocked and momentarily speechless response when Warbucks adlibs at the end of the show and asks her to marry him (after the show she signed her autographs as “Mrs. Warbucks.”

But hey, it ain’t all rags-to-riches and family bonding and wedding proposals. What would this show be without the villains? And these three sleaze balls take the cake as they try to take Warbucks for fifty grand. High school senior Marney Henze is the moody drunk Miss Hannigan (playing those drunk scenes quite realistically, which she attributes to studying film). She runs the orphanage with humorous rants, complaints, and evil, melodramatic laughter while dreaming of straightening the curls and stepping on the freckles of Little Girls. Billy Reed is her felon-of-a-brother Rooster who is just the right balance of goofy and sleazy as he leads sister and girlfriend down a hilariously danced path to Easy Street. That girlfriend is Lily St. Regis played by the singular Carly Jonovich. Rooster’s notably unrefined gal wears an outrageous dress that is screaming for people to notice her, which is precisely the personality she goes for. She uses voice, expressions, and body language to hysterical effect, trying to draw attention to her attributes by constantly striking what she hopes will be attractive poses. That body language also includes some terrific dancing befitting of the character, including a lot of swinging her awful purse around. And then there’s her last move. As they are walking out of Warbucks’ mansion with the $50,000 check, Warbucks stops them by asking if they’d forgotten anything. Lily looks confused, quickly checking her coat pockets, and finally bending over to make doubly certain she remembered to wear her undergarments.

Performs September 14-22, 2007

Rob Hopper
National Youth Theatre