Annie, The Hawth Theatre, Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Amanda Hayes
Wow! What a fabulous start to the festive season we had last night watching the first night of a week long run of Annie at The Hawth Theatre, Crawley. It’s a fabulous and straightforward theatre to watch any show in, with its easy access to the M23, plenty of free parking, plus the necessary comfy seats, well stocked bar & restaurant.
We, my husband, 10 year old son & I, arrived just in time for our 7.30pm performance where the lobby was full of hustle and bustle with a mixture of young and old collecting their tickets and ordering drinks. I was surprised at the sheer number of young children there despite the late start on a school night all super excited about seeing the show.
The performance was being held in the main theatre which, surprisingly for a Monday night was packed, and you could tell with one glance at the stage this was going to be something spectacular. The stage was a vison of lights and set up as the dormitory in the children’s home where the show is set. The show doesn’t deviate from the Classic 1930’s rags to riches theatre and film story, with the evil, gin loving, Miss Hannigan played by fabulous household name Craig Revel-Horwood of Strictly Come Dancing fame. Craig started his career in musical theatre, and it shows, as he puts in a commanding performance acting, singing and dancing his way through the performance.
The whole production is fast paced with absolutely no let ups, from the opening scene Annie, played by 9 year old, Zoe Akinyosade, bringing the stage to life with a solo performance of “Maybe” quickly followed by a rousing song and dance set of “Hard Knock Life” backed by the other orphans. The seven amazing girls from just 7 years of age, filled the stage with their uplifting voices leaving the audience buzzing.
When billionaire Mr Warbucks, (Alex Bourne), chooses Annie to spend two weeks with him over Christmas he decides to adopt her, but not before trying to find her real parents first. With a large reward offered, in enters Miss Hannigan’s sleazy brother Rooster (Paul French) and girlfriend Lily ( Emily Barnett-Salter), bringing some added humour to the show with their performance of “Easy Street”. Alex puts in a heart warming performance as Daddy Warbucks with really strong vocal performances throughout including “I don’t need anything but you”. Another with extremely strong vocals is Grace Farrell (Amelia Adams), Mr Warbucks calm, and classy secretary who coolly outwits Miss Hannigan in the early scenes. In fact, I can’t fault any of the large, twenty-two strong, cast from the vocals to the superb choreography and high energy dance routines they light up the stage from start to finish.
I’ve also got to give a mention 8 year old Labradoodle Amber, who plays Sandy. Such an amazing little dog who you can spot running across stage several times throughout the show, long after her main tear-jerking part at the beginning is over.
We all really enjoyed this performance immensely; it is perfectly suited to both children and adults, happy, sad & funny all in one, so is the perfect family trip out. The show has a running time of around 2 hours & 20 mins including 20 minutes interval and finishes around 10pm. My son did say he wished it had started a bit earlier though as he was tired by the end and struggled to get up for school this morning.
With performances only running until Saturday 18th November, albeit with two shows per day on Wednesday & Saturday, you need to get your tickets quickly for this fabulous show as tickets are selling fast!
Rating: 5/5
Tickets starting from £26.50
Annie is at The Hawth Theatre, The Hawth, Hawth Avenue, Crawley, West Sussex RH10 6YZ from 13th – 18th November 2023.
For more information or to book tickets https://www.parkwoodtheatres.co.uk/the-hawth/whats-on/annie
or call the Box office: 01293 553636