Emotion, spontaneity lacking in 'Annie'

"Annie" is showing her age.

It's not that the 1977 Tony Award-winning musical hasn't retained its spunk. But few audience members for this kid-pleasing show - now in a new non-Equity national tour playing Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre - have any memory of the musical's Great Drepression-era setting. So the script's name-dropping of historical figures like Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis or tennis champion Don Budge don't generate big collective laughs anymore.

This probably helps to explain why the creators of the forthcoming "Annie" film adaptation starring Jamie Foxx and Quvenzhané Wallis have junked the musical's original 1933 setting in favor of contemporary New York.

But I suspect the time switch will be a big mistake. "Annie" is still regarded as a return to form of traditional Broadway book musicals, and its Depression setting is intrinsically tied to its inspiration of Harold Gray's newspaper comic strip "Little Orphan Annie."

For those who haven't yet seen it, "Annie" is a clever and sentimental origin story of a plucky redheaded orphan who sings of a better "Tomorrow" before she's adopted by the billionaire Oliver Warbucks. And despite the long-ago setting, the solid and collaborative efforts of playwright Thomas Meehan, composer Charles Strouse and lyricist Martin Charnin still work wonders emotionally on audiences young and old.

Yet there are hits and misses with this new touring "Annie," directed again by Charnin, who staged the original and has almost had a monopoly on helming all subsequent Broadway and touring productions.

My main issues have to do with some of the central casting and Charnin's direction. Lines uttered by the child actors lack the necessary feel of spontaneity, as do their movements - making them seem almost mechanical at times. That is sadly true of Issie Swickle, who sometimes plays the title orphan like she's just going through the motions.

Lynn Andrews brings a welcome big and brassy presence with a booming voice as the embittered orphanage matron Miss Hannigan, a role she previously played in the 30th anniversary non-Equity "Annie" tour. Yet Andrews' comic timing still isn't as finely modulated as it could be, so many potential laughs are missed.

The big production number "N.Y.C." is also a letdown, since Charnin has switched its typically hectic Times Square setting in favor of an amiable mosey through Central Park. It comes off like a cost-cutting measure since it meant that costume designer Suzy Benzinger didn't have to create a separate set of outfits for just one number.

But even with these drawbacks, there's still much to recommend this "Annie." Charnin has assembled a strong supporting ensemble. There's fine gruff work from Gilgamesh Taggett as a bulldogish Oliver Warbucks, playing nicely off the lovely and refined Ashley Edler as sharp secretary Grace Farrell.

Garrett Deagon is a long-limbed dynamo as greasy schemer Rooster Hannigan in the raucous number "Easy Street," strongly aided by Lucy Werner as his ditsy girlfriend, Lily St. Regis.

This touring "Annie" is also a visual delight thanks to set designer Beowulf Boritt's beautiful mix of traditional flat backdrops and gritty dimensional scenery (particularly in the rundown orphanage).

So even if many of the historical references in "Annie" now go over the heads of its viewers and their parents, it's still an admirable and emotionally engaging musical. And die-hard "Annie" fans should take in the original stage show now to fend off any potential disappointment in the updated film version being released next month.