Theatre: Annie

 By Martin Charnin, Charles Strouse and Thomas Meehan

Directed by Karen Johnson Mortimer

Musical director Peter Casey

Set Design by Kenneth Foy

Choreography by Kelly Aykers

Starring Nancye Hayes, Michael Cormick, Todd McKenney, Bert Newton, Chloe Dallimore, Julie Lea Goodwin and Claudia Fitzgerald as Annie

Burswood Theatre

Until August 23

Claudia Fitzgerald

Much depends on whether you’re going to Annie expecting a musical or an entertainment. As the former, it leaves a fair bit to be desired; as the latter, it’s got a lot to recommend it.

In truth, it’s a pretty slight work, missing most of the original Harold Gray cartoon strip’s Dickensian darkness and political sting. It’s not one of Broadway’s great scores either; the two big numbers, Tomorrow and Hard-Knock Life, would start on the bench at best in any of the great musicals, and there’s little else here that isn’t done much better elsewhere.

But Annie’s failings as a musical are hardly the fault of the big, diverse cast of this production, or the work of its creative team.

Link here to the complete review in The West Australian 

Theatre: Turns

Devised and written by Reg Livermore
Directed by Tom Healey
Set design by James Browne
With Nancye Hayes and Reg Livermore, accompanied by Vincent Colagiuri  

Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre

August 10 – 13, 2011

Nancye Hayes and Reg Livermore are steeped in the traditions of the British and American musical stages, and both are masters of the Australian theatrical idiom that is at once derived from, and subverts, them.

Hayes is a gloriously precise and funny performer, and Livermore’s intelligence and emotional power make him a formidable stage presence. They both know exactly where an audience’s buttons are hidden, and just as exactly how to push them.

So, to the extent that Turns is, as its title suggests, a star turn for two genuine stars, it’s a success.

Link here for the complete review in The West Australian