Return To The Theater: Annie (1999)

Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and today, we continue our Return To The Theater. But first some history,  Annie is a Broadway musical that was originally adapted from the comic strip, Little Orphan Annie that debuted in 1924. In 1977, the Broadway musical adaption of Annie debuted and soon surpassed the original source material in popularity.   To the point, where in 1982,  Columbia released the first film adaption of Annie.

Now, there have been other takes on the material such as a modernization that was released in 2014

And the subject of today's review, a Made-For-TV version that aired on The Wonderful World of Disney.  I will freely admit that I have a rather limited history with Annie as I've never seen a production of Annie onstage. I barely remember the original movie as I've only seen that maybe twice in my life and as for the 2014 movie, I was turned off by the trailers.  So, in regards to Annie, my basis is the 1999 version.  So, with that out of the way, let's begin.




The Plot



The movie is set in 1933 during The Great Depression and a young orphan named Annie is waiting for her parents to return one day.  All she has with her to know them is half of heart shaped locket that they gave her years ago.  She tries to escape and find them but she is stopped by the evil Miss Hannigan, who happens to run the orphanage that Annie lives at.


Though, Annie does eventually sneak one day without Miss Hannigan noticing and this is here, where she meets and befriends her dog, Sandy.  Annie after evading the police is taken back to the orphanage. And sometime later,  secretary to billionaire Oliver Warbucks shows up as Warbucks wishes to have an orphan stay with him during the holidays.


Annie is selected much to chagrin of Miss Hannigan and in a sweet moment, we get to see Annie enjoy her time as Grace asks Annie what she wants to do first and at first, she says that she'll scrub the floors but Grace says that people will wait for her on hand and foot.   And Annie gets to enjoy life for the first time with people caring for her.  And Annie gets to enjoy the high life for the first time.

Warbucks shows up and is shocked to see Annie there and his reaction is that orphans are boys.  And is at first put off by Annie and doesn't know how to react but after a night out on the town in N.Y.C, he finally warms up to Annie and grows to care for her as if she was her own.    While Annie does grow to care for Warbucks, she still hopes to find her real parents and Warbucks sets up to find them and offers the people that are Annie's $5,000 dollars.   Just then,  Miss Hannigan's brother, Rooster and his dimwitted gal (played by the wonderful Kristin Chenoweth), Lily St. Regis show up with Rooster wanting ten bucks but soon comes back and comes up with a plan to get the moolah from Warbucks as he and Lily will pretend to be Annie's parents but Lily almost botches the plan as she isn't very bright and Miss Hannigan decides to take her place and they go to Warbucks' mansion and pretend to be the Mudges, Annie's parents and Lily is left behind with the orphans and the ditz lets it slip to the other girls, what the Hannigans are doing and Lily realizes that Rooster could leave her cut and dry.   Lily and the other orphans head to the Warbucks mansion as Lily wants her cut and the villains are revealed and their plan is botched by FDR as Warbucks talked to him on the phone earlier in the film about how the depression affecting his business.  And this is when  Warbucks decides to take Annie in her as his own and FDR promises to find stable families for all of the other orphans.




All in all, this is an okay movie. Not bad but one that I'll find myself returning to anytime soon.



Characters


Main Characters


Annie played by Alicia Morton

I think one of the big things that makes this version of Annie work so well is that Alicia Morton feels like a real kid. They never attempt to make cutesy and just let her be a kid and that makes her more endearing to the audience and you can see how Daddy Warbucks would grow to care for her.



Daddy Warbucks played by Victor Garber

Hey, it's Victor Garber again.   And unlike yesterday's film, he actually had quite a bit more to do as Daddy Warbucks and he was just excellent in this role as you could truly buy into the relationship that he had with Annie.  Even if the start felt a bit rushed at the beginning.   Garber for the role actually shaved his head.  That's awesome and that helps to show that he was dedicated to the role and it was always a joy watching him as Daddy Warbucks.




Supporting Character


Grace played by Audra McDonald

I do like the character of Grace and just as with Warbucks, you do get to see her grow and care for Annie.  She is a very sweet lady.  If there is one aspect that I felt was a bit underdeveloped, it was that of the blossoming relationship between Grace and Warbucks.   Not that it wasn't prominent and I know the relationship between Annie and Daddy Warbucks is more important but I felt like the movie at times forgot about the relationship between Grace and Warbucks.




Music



Maybe









This song is very sweet and does a good job of setting up who Annie is quite well.  And you can hear the love in her voice as she yearns to know her parents.   Your heart can't help but break for her as you listen to this number.




It's A Hard Knock Life







How does the 99 movie handled one of the most iconic songs of the musical?  Quite well, honestly as this is quite the enjoyable take on one of the most well-known numbers from Annie.  You can clearly hear the girl's' anger as they sing as it seems to be made clear that they are angry and that they possibly don't get to let off steam all that often.




It's A Hard Knock Life (Reprise)






On the other hand in the reprise, you hear the hopes that the girls have for Annie as she escapes and that makes this number so wonderful as you can hear the hopes in their voices.




Tomorrow








I remember this being the big gut wrenching number in the original movie but really didn't seem to be the case here.  What I mean by that is, that Tomorrow seemed to be treated as Annie's theme in the original movie whereas with this movie that title seems to belong more to Maybe.  Still, this is a very cute take on this song that is always a joy to listen to.



Little Girls






This is such a great villain number as you grow to loathe Miss Hannigan throughout this number as her loathing of Little Girls is made oh so clear as you listen to the number and Kathy Bates totally sells it as Miss Hannigan as you grow to loathe her more and more as the number goes on.  



I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here







This is bar none, my favorite number in the musical as you hear the joy in Annie's voice as she gets to experience a new life with people that will actually look after her.  Sure, it's Warbucks' staff but she's never had anyone care for her before, so this is a big change for her and one that she needed as she needed to get away from the awful place that she was at.




N.Y.C







This is such a great number as Warbucks sings about New York and his love for that great city.  It's so fun and it celebrates everything that is so great about one of my favorite places to visit.   Sure, in many ways, the NYC that this song is singing of is long gone but I think that the spirit of it still lives on and the spirit of NYC is a strong one. Fun Fact: the Star-To-Be that see onstage is the original Annie from Broadway, Andrea McArdle



N.Y.C (Reprise)/Lullaby







This is such a sweet number and this is where you finally start to hear Warbucks fall for Annie and see her as the girl that he wants to take care of. It's a small and simple moment but it's so precious and sweet.



Easy Street







Man, this number is just so fun. You can't help but enjoy it and this song makes being bad seem like so much fun as you just hear how much these three gloat in being bad as they think that are owed a better life on Easy Street.  This number is such a blast and I enjoy it so much





You're Never Fully Dressed  Without A Smile







This song is okay. Not bad but I feel like it takes time away from the story that could be better served. Again, not bad but I dunno, it leaves me with nothing. I'd rather see what Annie and Daddy Warbucks are up to.






Something Was Missing







This is such a great number and from what I understand, this is the only film adaption of Annie that included it as it was cut in the original film and the 2014 modernization.  This song does so much to humanize Warbucks and makes you feel for him and Victor Garber sells the hell out of this song and does one fantastic job as this song makes it so clear that he wants Annie to be his little girl and it is such a sweet number in that regard.




I Don't Need Anything But You








This number does a great job of establishing the relationship that developed between Annie and Warbucks as it's clear that you can hear how much they have grown to care for each other. And will always stick by one another's side.  Such a fun number that makes you happy that these two have found each other.





Maybe/Tomorrow (Reprise)







This is such a great reprise as Grace attempts to cheer up Annie with a reprise of these two wonderful songs and yeah, they do get to me a bit but man, it's just so gut wrenching to hear Grace sing this to a crying Annie.





 Little Girls (Reprise)





A short little reprise of Little Girls as Hannigan is carted off to the nuthouse. It works and is fun but there isn't much meat to it.




I Don't Need Anything But You (Reprise)






We end on sweet reprise of I Don't Need Anything But You as the movie closes out with everyone getting their happy ending.





Villains



Daniel Francis "Rooster" Hannigan & Lily St. Regis played by Alan Cumming & Kristin Chenoweth

These two were just so fun to watch together and  they bounced off one another so well. You grew to despise them as they were onscreen.  I loved how ditzy, Kristin Chenoweth was as Lily and Rooster, Cumming played him wonderfully and made him so slimy.   And apparently,  before being asked by director Rob Marshall, Cumming had never heard of Annie and you know I think that helps his performance because I think that an actor familiar with the original film may have tried to base their performance on of that Tim Curry (Hey, I may have only seen the movie once or twice but you don't forget Tim Curry)  but that wasn't the case with Cumming at all.





Miss Hannigan played by Kathy Bates

Kathy Bates makes for a great Miss Hannigan as she is just cruel and vicious and you can hear that every time, she is onscreen. She has this look about her to where it seems as though life has worn her down and she feels that she is owed her due just for living and scraping by but not working hard.   You grow to hate her, the more you see her.



My Final Thoughts


I know I said at the beginning that Annie is a musical that I can take or leave and stick by that.  The 1999 film version is quite good and has a lot of elements that are enjoyable to watch such as Victor Garber as Daddy Warbucks and the great trio of villains and the music is wonderful as well.  I enjoyed this movie quite a bit but this is one that I don't see myself ever watching again. Not because I didn't like it, far from it but rather because I just think the story of Annie is only okay.  This movie surpasses my expectations but it didn't really make me a fan.   Join me next time as we conclude our Return To The Theater as I look at Disney's 2014 film adaption of the Stephen Sondheim musical....


Into The Woods