Musical review: Annie, Capitol Theatre

It’s difficult to find something not to like about the Capitol Theatre’s production of Annie and even harder when it features children, a dog, timeless melodies, flawless choreography and exceptional performances by all cast members. 

Annie is based on the Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, which debuted in 1924 and is set in New York during the Great Depression. It was adapted into a musical in 1977 and became popular on Broadway. Annie first toured Australia in 1978 and there were subsequent productions in both 2000 and in 2012. Now the musical has returned to the Capitol Theatre, Sydney. 

There are good reasons why Annie still resonates with audiences today and these include the polarising themes of wealth and poverty, kindness and greed, belonging and loneliness. 

The production opens with a digital projection of images associated with New York, establishing the location and the era. Admittedly, this does take a little too long, but provides the opportunity for the audience to settle into their seats.

Once the performance begins it’s delivered methodically, meticulously and seamlessly. 

The narrative commences with despondent orphans held captive at the New York City Municipal Orphanage, which is where we meet Annie (Dakota Chanel) who is planning her escape. From this point the story moves quickly and effectively with no opportunity for boredom. 

The set transitions are smooth with no pauses taken to reset scenes and this establishes a flow and feeling of effortlessness – it moves like clockwork.

All the cast are superb, even the minor roles. It is clear how much thought, practice and hard work has gone into creating such a cohesive ensemble performance. 

Miss Hannigan (Debora Krizak) engages the audience with her physical expressiveness and mischievous persona; Oliver Warbucks (Anthony Warlow) presents his character as genuine, stoic and warm; and Annie (Chanel) demonstrates impeccable timing and sophistication in every action. 

The production interweaves humorous one-liners and heartfelt dialogue with musical compositions that are accompanied by a live orchestra. The songs, ‘It’s the Hard Knock Life’, ‘Tomorrow’ and ‘Easy Street’, are all met with huge cheers from the audience.

One of the most charming scenes – and there are quite a few of these – involves the simulation of The Bert Healy Radio Show that playfully includes recording techniques from the era of live radio.  

There is a warning that the production contains strobe effects, haze and loud bangs. 

The role of Annie rotates between four different child actors over the season, and this also occurs with the child actors who play the orphans.  

With all the positives, there is a small issue with developing empathy and building ‘heart-tugging moments’ between Annie and Warbucks. While these moments do exist, they are superficial and fleeting. This does not appear to be a problem stemming from the actors’ performances, but more from a structural issue within the stage play itself. 

The plot involves 11-year-old Annie being assigned to stay with the mature billionaire, Warbucks, for a period of two weeks leading up to Christmas. When Annie goes to stay with Warbucks he is disappointed she is not a boy. However, his initial reluctance turns into a super quick acceptance of Annie, and within the first few minutes of their meeting, she has won him over. There is not enough time for the relationship to build depth. 

Then within a week, Warbucks wants to adopt Annie, even though the audience is not privileged to witness their developing relationship over that period. The full awkwardness of this superficial situation is played out later during a scene where Warbucks and Annie have a private waltz together. At this point, if it wasn’t for the skill of Warlow, this scene could have been very creepy indeed. To Warlow’s credit, he captures some sentimentality, but it is unable to be maximised. 

Another minor issue is how Sandy makes a very limited appearance. The production would have benefited from involving the dog more, especially given that it is included in the main promotional material.

Read: Comedy review: Garry Starr: Classic Penguins, Beckett Theatre, MICF 2025

Annie is not a ground-breaking new theatrical production, but it is entertaining, enjoyable and, on so many levels, extremely well executed.

Annie, Capitol Theatre
Based on: Little Orphan Annie
Book: Thomas Meehan
Music: Charles Strouse
Lyrics: Martin Charnin
Director: Karen Johnson Mortimer
Resident Director: Trudy Dunn
Executive Producer: Adrian Storey
Choreography: Mitchell Woodcock
Musical Director: David Piper
Associate Musical Director: Kohan Van Sambeek
Scenery: Kenneth Foy
Costumes: Kristian Fredrikson 
Lighting: Gavin Swift

Projection Design: Craig Wilkinson
Sound Design: Michael Waters
Technical Director: Stuart Johnston – TDM
Photographer: Daniel Boud
Cast: Dakota Chanel, Sandy, Anthony Warlow, Debora Krizak, Mackenzie Dunn, Keanu Gonzalez, Amanda Lea Lavergne, Camille Nko’o, Cailin Scully, Matilda Teiotu, Skylah McMah, Zoe Reeves, Chloe Delle-Vedove, Ellie Lang, Greg Page, Luke Alleva, Cameron Boxall, Tim Brown, Emily Casey, Anna Mallows, Sebastian Johnston, Tom New, Ryan Ophel, Dean Vince, Suzanne Steele, Lisa Sontag, Madeline Pratt.

Annie will be performed at the Capitol Theatre, Sydney, until 21 June 2025 before touring to the Princess Theatre, Melbourne between July and December 2025, followed by the Lyric Theatre, Brisbane.