Note: By now ya'll know that I'm a terrible editor. So be prepared for me to be editing this AFTER I upload it. Also, I'm not a professional reviewer nor do I try to be in these. I'm simply stating what I thought.
There was nothing that stood out it was generic and safe.
When I first heard that NBC was doing Annie Live! quite frankly I was less than pleased. I find Annie to be an annoyingly optimistic musical that is over done. However, I decided to give it a chance. Then, they started to announce the cast... I have no other way to describe it, but as an Instagram stan dream cast. The casting just seemed so generically bland and I truly did not understand why they chose who they chose. (Except for Megan Hilty who replaced an ill |
| Nicole Scherzinger and Ensemble |
Jane Krakowski.) Before the show even started there were many cast changes. First, Jane Krakowski had to step away due to a positive COVID-19 test and was replaced by the wonderful Megan Hilty, who previously played the role at the Hollywood Bowl. Then, Andrea McArdle, the OG Annie, who was due to play Eleanor Roosevelt (A new role written for the show) backed out due to family matters that she had to attend to. But then, the video footage started to come out and I was less than impressed... All of the scenery looked like something you'd find in a prom catalogue. Even in spite of all of this, I said, "Paul, give it a chance... Not everything is going to be The Wiz Live!" and therefore, I stuck it out... Honestly, throughout the entire evening I was less than impressed. From the cheap looking sets, to the amount of times that someone WALKED IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA or the sloppy edits where you would see stage hands setting things up or you'd see another camera in the shot. Meanwhile, everyone on twitter was absolutely raving about the production and it left me asking myself, "Am I watching the right Annie Live?" The screenplay by Thomas Meehan was decent and for the most part faithful to the stage show. The script obviously cut out a few numbers, but it did manage to add two numbers from the 1982 film, "Sign" sung by Oliver Warbucks and Miss |
| Male Ensemble |
Hannigan in a scene where Oliver is trying to adopt Annie and Hannigan is trying to seduce Warbucks. The second number they added was "We Got Annie" which was added to the 1982 film to show off Ann Reinking's dance ability. While "Sign" actually served a purpose, "We Got Annie" was nothing, but a glorified dance number. The direction by Lear Debessonet was stiff and boring. He did not push any boundaries and gave a very straight forward and safe approach to the material. I was confused by the dance troupe of young girls in modern clothing who appeared in the beginning (along with Annie and the other orphans also in modern clothing) as well as the end where they were completely out of place because everyone else was in period dress. What was the purpose of that? Other things that annoyed me was when actors would look directly into the camera or the fact that the camera would be facing the audience in some scenes. Debessonet failed to create a world that immersed me in this production. His direction almost felt stale in some scenes, specifically in "N.Y.C." where I found myself bored. The television direction by Alex Rudzinski was another very straight forward and bland approach. There was nothing spectacular and nothing dazzled me. The choreography by Sergio Trujillo was another case of very straight forward and bland. Yes, the choreography was beautiful as one would expect from Trujillo, but it did not push the boundaries in any way. It was very safe, from the "Oh, |
| Orphans |
aren't I cool and modern for having the orphans do some form of modern dance in 'It's the Hard Knock Life'." To the leaping and gallivanting of the ensemble during "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here." There was nothing that stood out it was generic and safe. What was truly abysmal though was the sets, or lack thereof. The production design by Jason Sherwood looked like something one would order out of a prom catalogue. It was cheap and because none of it covered the entire stage you could see people preparing to make their entrances or exits. The costumes by Emilio Sosa was yet again another straight forward approach. Some of the costumes were even direct rip offs of previous versions of Annie. A lot of Grace's wardrobe was inspired by the 1999 film (the blue suit and the purple dress) and one outfit from the 1982 film (the yellow dress). I wish I could say that the performers made up for the production side of things, but they didn't. So many of the performances felt passionless. It felt like I was watching a cast 5 years into their run and they were just going through the motions. I do want to give a shout out to Alex Wong though who is just a phenomenal dancer! I saw people raving about all the kids (some of whom were actually full grown adults) during "It's the Hard Knock Life", but I was unimpressed. There wasn't a lot of passion in it. I've seen much better versions of that  |
| Taraji P. Henson and Tituss Burgess |
number. Alan Toy as Franklin Delano Roosevelt was good and delivered a nice performance. Meanwhile Megan Hilty as Lily St. Regis was fabulous, as always, especially considering she was a last minute replacement. Her boyfriend, Rooster Hannigan played by Tituss Burgess was better than I expected him to be, but he still could have been better. (Granted now I don't think anyone will ever be able to top the incomparable Tim Curry, but that's another story.) Meanwhile, Nicole Scherzinger who portrayed Grace Farrell, Warbucks' Chief of Staff (A bump up from the original stage show where she was just his personal secretary). Scherzinger is a wonderful actress and you could see the wheels turning in her eyes, but Grace is simply not her part. She did not have that same natural softness or warmness that Ann Reinking and Audra McDonald had. You could also tell she was struggling voice wise trying to stay gentle and light and not just belt, this was especially evident in "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here." A surprisingly disappointing performance was delivered by Taraji P. Henson as Miss Hannigan who was extremely lackluster. When Henson was cast I was expecting a completely obnoxious and over the top performance. I was expecting to say "Taraji could have reeled it in a little" I wasn't expecting to say "Taraji could have done |
| Harry Connick, Jr. and Celina Smith |
more." I found her "Little Girls" to be extremely lackluster. I was expecting to be cackling or at least crack a smile, but none of that happened... Someone who surprised me was Harry Connick, Jr. who, to no surprise to anyone, has a stunning voice and while his acting was a bit stiff at times, he was a very pleasant Oliver Warbucks. When it comes to the role of Annie, NBC held a nationwide casting search to find the little girl who will play the optimistic orphan. After all this searching they chose Celina Smith and my question is... Was she really the best choice? While Smith has a charming voice, there was no dynamics in her singing. She just belted everything at top volume. Her acting was also very wooden and you could see her going "Okay, I need to be here. Now I have to be here." Nothing about her performance flowed. She had zero chemistry with anyone. I didn't believe she cared about little orphan Molly, Felice Kakaletris, or that she even liked Warbucks and Grace. Everything felt incredibly forced with Smith. Overall, Annie Live! was nothing special. To repeat an earlier statement, "There was nothing that stood out it was generic and safe." I'm glad that we are getting more live musical events after the disaster of Rent: Pre-Recorded, but NBC better step their game up for next year. "The sun will come out, tomorrow. So ya gotta hang on 'til tomorrow!"
No comments:
Post a Comment