Lambertville, NJ
22 November 2025
Matinee
When the curtain rises at the beginning of Annie, the audience sees the inside of the orphanage, complete with a line of bunk beds, and large cast of child actors. The number of girls on stage was impressive — there were well over ten orphans (not including the character of Annie herself). All of the colours, including the set and the costumes were fairly muted — even appearing as dingy.
This made Annie’s costume pop even more (she is the only character who wears bright red). Annie (played by Julia Mueller) is the beacon of hope for the other girls in the orphanage — she has a letter from her parents promising to come back for her. And while the other girls in the orphanage tease her for having this note and for believing that her parents will return, they also wish they had the same.
The girls bond over their desire to be anywhere but in the orphanage and especially over their dislike of Miss Hannigan (played by Anna Hentz) — the woman who runs the orphanage and who goes out of her way to make the girls lives as miserable as she can. This leads to a game of the children pulling pranks, back talking, and getting things over on Miss Hannigan. One example being Miss Hannigan slowly taking a long drink from her flask and announcing to the children who are staring at her that it’s her “medicine”; only for a young girl to retort with wonder, “you must be really sick”.
The choreography was impressive. In the song “Hard Knock Life” all of the child actors were in perfect unison as they slammed their buckets to the floor. And it felt so realistic to see each kid pull a different funny face behind Miss Hannigan’s back.
Mr. Warbucks’ home looked equally as impressive — large, grand, well lit, looking as if the mansion has an open floor plan design. And the stage was once again packed with actors — this time all adults portraying the large number of staff for Mr. Warbucks (played by Jay Casale). All of the staff are dressed in tuxedos, classy maid outfits, or a beautiful gown. Leading the staff is the butler, Drake (played by Edward Forsthoffer III) and Mr. Warbucks’ personal secretary, Grace (played by Deven Miller), who both keep a feel of stoicism and professionalism while also being witty and kind hearted.
The acting in this show was phenomenal. The kids looked like they had so much fun being on stage — plus they all could legitimately sing and dance. Miss Hannigan came off as slimy and detestable, yet funny enough to be the comic relief. Joining her are the characters of Rooster (played by Phoenix Fritch) who is Miss Hannigan’s brother and Lily St. Regis (played by Chelsea Connelly Lewis), his girlfriend. All three of them became the villains that the audience loves to hate. They were fun to watch and the actors clearly enjoyed playing these roles.
This show had wonderful moments of satire, tongue-in-cheek dialogue, and plenty of winks and nods to make the audience laugh. It was surprisingly poignant and relatable for a modern day audience in America’s political regime. With a comical look at politics — including making President Roosevelt (played by Sterling Coyne) into a character genuinely invested in the future of Annie (who then forces members of his cabinet to also be personally invested), a silly dance number about how easy life would be with money, and the over all message that having all of the money in the world is meaningless if you don’t have anyone to share that wealth with — this show had a bit of everything.
My absolute favourite aspect of this show, however, is the character of Sandy (played by Russell) who is a veteran in this role — having played this character in a total of five different productions of Annie. The use of a real dog was beautiful. The image of Annie singing centre stage with only the stray dog that she just decided to care for as her only company is a powerful one.
My only suggestion is simple (and honestly not particularly important for the show or the production): have a staff member of Mr. Warbucks lead Sandy (presumably by the leash) or interact with Sandy in some way in the background of a scene or two of Act II. I did spend far too much time during the second act wondering where the dog was and hoping she wasn’t living outside.
I wouldn’t change anything else. Music Mountain Theatre did a fantastic job.
