Annie Lights Up The Stage!

IT’S ALREADY A FEW DAYS SINCE SATURDAY’S FINAL PRODUCTION OF ANNIE BY ALWAY HOUSE BOYS AND GIRLS BUT RENDITIONS OF “I THINK I’M GONNA LIKE IT HERE” CAN STILL BE HEARD AROUND THE SCHOOL.

This year’s Junior Production of ‘Annie’ played to sell out audiences on Friday and Saturday. The cast of 68 sung their hearts out as the classics ‘Tomorrow’ and ‘Hard Knock Life’ were performed with energy and commitment under the watchful eye of Head of Drama and Creative Arts, John Johnson. The excitement of the performance was already high after the ‘good luck’ message received from Hollywood movie, star Robert Downey Junior, who wished the cast and crew well as well as a rallying call to the Welsh Football team as they played out their quarter final match against Belgium on Friday.

The production saw some excellent choreography from Sue White who produced some wonderful ensemble moments and a gutsy rendition of ‘Hard Knock Life’ in particular. This worked well with the musical direction of Stephen Power and a terrific set and costume design compiled and completed with the overview of Mrs Hughes, Creative Arts technician, and her team. The production was able to move from Orphanage to Warbuck’s mansion in a matter of moments and the general pace of the show was a real feature of the final performance.

The cast was led admirably by Georgiana and Eluned as ‘Annie.’ They were well supported by Bradley and Aimee as the horrible ‘Miss Hannigan’ and Enson and Tom as millionaire business man ‘Oliver Warbucks.’ These pupils showed great professionalism in producing a performance that was incredibly professional and engaging and included three performances on one day on the Friday as the cast performed for local primary schools, Penmaes school and then on the first night on Friday. Undoubtedly one of the stars of the show was the canine star, Alsatian ‘Max’ who filled the role of ‘Sandy’. After extensive auditions, where 15 dogs turned the Neuadd Theatre into a scene from ‘Crufts’, Max made the final cut and performed brilliantly on the night. Max, who belongs to the grandfather of Georgiana who played ‘Annie’ on Friday was an absolute star and even visited the audience after the performance!