Annie: Plenty of laughs as Craig Revel Horwood stars as Miss Hannigan, but this fairy tale needs grit as well as wit

Annie

Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin

★★★☆☆

So much childhood nostalgia is associated with the musical Annie that it can be difficult to remember it’s actually a Great Depression story: the tale of a kid with enough chutzpah to save the American economy from ruin and its impoverished masses from penury. The most iconic song in Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin’s score is Tomorrow, an anthem of optimism with a transformative function: the fictional orphan uses it to inspire president Franklin Roosevelt and his cabinet to create the New Deal.

The source material for the 1977 musical – memorably adapted for the screen in 1982 – was Harold Gray’s comic strip Little Orphan Annie, which ran in the New York News from 1924 to 2010. These origins are inspirational to this new touring production directed by Nikolai Foster. Colin Richmond’s set has a proscenium covered in sketched maps of New York City, with brightly coloured jigsaw pieces floating like clouds in the sky, an evocation of the mystery of Annie’s parentage.

[ Craig Revel Horwood: ‘My life was better before Strictly Come Dancing’ ]

It is in the performances from the central villains, however, that the production achieves its most cartoonish feel. Craig Revel Horwood plays the evil manager of the orphanage, Miss Hannigan, using the large bosom integrated into Richmond’s costume for emphasis in speech, song and dance. Paul French and Billie-Kay add animal accents to their shared scenes, which teeter on the cusp of pure farce, especially in the Christmas Day denouement.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to marry the hilarity with a sense of danger, as the trio conspire to trick the billionaire Oliver Warbucks (rich baritone, Alex Bourne) out of $50,000 and Annie’s guardianship. Indeed, Annie’s happy ever after seems as effortless as Sharangi Gnanavarathan’s spunky charm and fine singing voice in the leading role. This easy resolution – plus the talented child chorus who join Gnanavarthan, and the zippy second half – will reinforce the musical’s appeal to a younger audience, but there should be grit as well as wit if we are to take any learning from this American fairy tale.