Sun comes out for Barn's 'Annie'
BATTLE CREEK ENQUIRER
Originally published Friday, July 18, 2003
BY CHRISTOPHER TOWER
Not only will the sun come out tomorrow, but so will another showing of "Annie" at the Barn Theatre. And it's a bright, happy, beautiful sun.
The story is a simple one for those who have never seen it. Little Orphan Annie seeks her parents, who supposedly are coming back to fetch her from the orphanage, but finds a billionaire instead. Most audiences are familiar with the movie version, the famous songs ("Tomorrow," especially), Annie's dog Sandy and with the Depression era setting and the jokes about 1930s famous personalities, President Roosevelt and former President Hoover.
But there are more attractions to this production than the usual "Annie" optimism.
The buzz this summer for the Barn's "Annie" has centered on one thing: the return of Joe Aiello as Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks. But this happy homecoming almost is upstaged by other elements of this cheerful musical, which is definitely one of the best in the theater's recent history.
Chiefly, Kayleen Moyers is outstanding as Annie both in her scenes with the other orphans and orphanage headmistress Miss Hannigan (Iris Lieberman) and with the Warbucks. Moyers has a powerful set of lungs in her small body and can belt out her songs, such as "Maybe" and "Tomorrow," but she also sings well in an ensemble, such as "Hard Knock Life."
Although Moyers is the stand-out performer in the show, Aiello's Warbucks is as good or better. Aiello shows his consummate professionalism in every nuance, every second of his time on stage. His facial expressions are priceless. He works the comedy of the role with his whole body.
In many respects, both Moyers and Aiello deliver better performances than any Annie or Warbucks I've ever seen. Better than Broadway, better than touring companies, better than other summer theaters and better than the movie performers.
The show would not be the blockbuster it is if it was not a quality production top to bottom. The orphan children are especially fabulous and received a standing ovation from Wednesday's audience for their work.
Scott Burkell hams it up hilariously as Hannigan's swindler brother Rooster. And veteran Iris Lieberman is perfect for Miss Hannigan. Other notable talents include Candice Gould as Warbucks' secretary, Colin Wood as Drake the butler, and Eric Peterson as Fred and a presidential cabinet member.
Dusty Reeds' direction blends perfectly with choreography by Charlie Misovye. Sets by Richard Haponstall are gorgeous as are costumes by Judy Kazy-Garey.
This show really needs no accolades to win its audiences. People were waiting for standby seats at the box office Wednesday. The show is a monster sell-out, a smash hit. If you want tickets, you might have to beg to get them. It's a sad reality, but it's a hard-knock life.
Christopher Tower of Richland reviews theater and teaches part time at Kellogg Community College and Western Michigan University.
'Annie' retains her charms in Barn production
KALAMAZOO GAZETTE
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
BY C.J. GIANAKARIS
AUGUSTA -- The musical comedy "Annie," winner in 1977 of seven Tony Awards including best musical, offers audiences many appealing features, such as a feel-good story starring an engaging orphaned waif and a battery of adorable singing children. And let's not forget the perfectly behaved dog that steals every scene in which it appears.
At Tuesday's opening of "Annie" at the Barn Theatre, each element in the show received very strong expression, making it a hit from the first downbeat of the overture.
Unlike some productions of "Annie," this one emerges as an ensemble success, with all performances impressive and effective. Thirteen-year-old Kaylen Moyers in the title role is just fine as the orphaned girl taken under the wing of the fabulously wealthy tycoon Oliver Warbucks, played fabulously by Barn favorite Joe Aiello. Young Moyers displayed first-rate stage movements, whatever shortcomings one might note in her singing.
And Aiello, with completely shaven head, fashions a militaristic business baron with more interesting facets than typically seen in that role. Still the production's success does not hinge exclusively on these two lead characters.
Thomas Meehan's book, Charles Strouse's music and Martin Charnin's lyrics spread the show's energy in many directions. Other children at Annie's orphanage are granted starring moments throughout the show, and they make full use of the occasions with vigorous singing and wonderful acting. A stunning standout is 6-year-old Keegan Giffels as Molly, who showed herself to be a "natural" performer if there ever was one.
Similarly, Iris Lieberman as Miss Hannigan, the beastly matron at the orphanage, balances her slapstick comedy (taking nips at a hidden bottle and mastering the droll double-take) with Aiello's, though they seldom are on stage at the same time. And Scott Burkell's outrageously funny performance as Miss Hannigan's shyster brother Rooster presents yet another exaggerated and effective source of continuous laughs, thanks to imaginative body movements and his signature comic demeanor. Audiences therefore never are lacking a supply of humor on stage.
"Annie" is a musical as well, of course, and the scenes for its hit songs are invariably fine. The young girls at the orphanage enjoy several spotlighted scenes in the first act. In addition, the early Hooverville episode delivers a powerful social commentary with Brecht-like song-dance qualities. Music director Ian Eisendrath deserves much credit in marshaling his fine instrumentalists in the pit.
Another standout musical section opened the second act. In the NBC radio station at Rockefeller Center, Warbucks and Annie air plans for locating Annie's "lost" parents by offering a reward. At the same time, Eric Parker delivers a superlative performance as Bert Healy, host of the radio program. His fine singing and mastery of the microphone, juxtaposed with the serious search just announced, suggested the dominant business aim of commercial radio.
Also essential is Warbuck's close association with great historical figures in the action's setting during the Great Depression. Compliments to costume designer Judy Kazy-Garey and wig master Garrylee McCormick in helping to morph well-known Barn performer Howard McBride into a readily identifiable Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The result is an amazingly effective recreation of the White House and FDR's Cabinet in the second act.
Little of the production's excellence would be possible without top-notch direction from Dusty Reeds, excellent and smooth-flowing choreography from Charlie Misovye and attractive, functional sets by Richard L. Haptonstall. Even Rosie Parker as Sandy, the dog, is quite wonderful. This is a Barn production to see, hear and enjoy.
Barn Theatre apprentices handle it all
KALAMAZOO GAZETTE
Sunday, July 20, 2003
BY JAMES SANFORD
AUGUSTA -- "What day is it today?" Barn Theatre actor Adam Kern asks. "It's Friday?!"
He seems utterly confounded. "Wow, my grandparents are coming up today. ... Oh, my god, today's payday, too! It feels like yesterday was Monday."
First-year apprentice Kern said he finds it difficult to keep track of time at the Barn, which sometimes seems like a universe unto itself.
"You always have specific places you have to be at specific times," he said, "but you don't have to worry about going to the bank or the cleaners; everything you need is right around here. I never get to see any other people outside of town unless they come out to see the show."
Kern isn't eager to venture very far outside of Augusta after a recent evening trip into downtown Kalamazoo. Thanks to some bad directions at a gas station, he wound up making a side trip to Grand Rapids on his way back home.
"I left Burdick's at 11:30 and got back at 2:30 in the morning," he said.
Aside from the unexpected road trip, he said, he's enjoying his tenure at the theater, where he's currently playing the dual roles of an apple seller and a member of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Cabinet in "Annie." While he won't be onstage nearly as much as he was when playing Deuteronomy in "Cats," Kern takes it in stride.
"One show you're singing solos; the next you get to rest," he said. "But you still have to make the stuff you do interesting, even though you're not the lead. You still have to give it the same amount of energy."
He's also working on the lighting crew and has been making electrical signs for the show's Big Apple backdrops. At the time of the interview, he had just run into some wiring problems that meant the props wouldn't be finished as soon as he'd hoped.
"It gets frustrating sometimes when things don't go as smoothly as they could technically," he said.
On the other hand, he's enjoyed working with the young supporting cast in "Annie," aside from one startling incident early on.
"I walked into the pit last week," he said, "and they were all in there singing Britney Spears. I turned around and walked right out. That is something Adam does not need to hear."
Still, he doesn't find the experience stressful.
"This is weird, but at least at my school when you're in shows with the same people you're in classes with, you snap easier," said the 21-year-old Kent State University senior. "Here we all know we're here to perform, to work together.
"There's a more professional attitude here, too. ... At college, some people have an attitude of 'I'll be professional when I work at a professional theater.'"
Kern, who has one more semester to complete at Kent, is looking into a Fulbright Scholarship to study theater in London for a year. The rest of his spare time is spent reading -- he just finished "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" -- and "buying groceries at the Shell station and going online."
And defrosting. "I've lived on frozen pizza ever since I got here," he said. "I've had it pretty much every day."
Everything's coming up Rosie
During a break in "Annie" rehearsals, Emily Smith reached into a plastic bowl and grabbed a handful of a very special treat: chopped-up hot dogs. The snacks were not for her, however. They were for Rosie, the golden retriever that Smith and assistant lighting director Leslie Chambers were training to play the role of Sandy, the cuddly canine who escapes the dogcatcher to become Annie's cherished pet.
"I've been coming in early to help work with her," Smith said as she ran her fingers through Rosie's shimmering, copper-colored fur. "It's fun, and it gives me a good excuse to get out of the office for a few minutes: 'Oh, the dog needs to get out for a walk.'
"Plus, now I can put 'dog wrangler' on my resume."
Rosie belongs to apprentice Matthew Parker and reminds Smith of her own dog Monty, "a golden retriever/St. Bernard/German Shepherd mutt mix" that weighs in at "about 140 pounds."
"My dog, I think, is a little more well-trained than this one: He gets the paper for us," Smith said. "But this job is great for me. I'm an animal lover."
Watching Rosie roam around on the hill behind the theater, Smith sings to herself, "Everything's coming up Rosie ..."
It's Smith's second year at the Barn and she finds she's taken on "more technical responsibilities this year."
The workload doesn't faze her. "I just know what to expect now, so the hours are not a surprise to me," she said. "It's better than last year because I'm not freaking out about the responsibilities. I'm making better friends and enjoying it more."
Now that it's midway through the season, Smith said, she finds "most of the kids are kind of settling down. We've just been through a three-week run of a difficult show ('Cats') that's been really intense vocally and physically."
In "Annie," Smith plays "a wacky, fun role" as one of the Boylen Sisters, the chirpy trio that sings the first version of "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile."
"I was a Boylen before in a community-theater production," she said, "but, of course, the quality here is so much different."
Before the end of August, Smith will be leaving the Barn to join the national touring company of Theater Four, a children's theater troupe. She'll play Tiny Tim in its version of "A Christmas Carol" and the Shoshone woman Sacagawea in a show based on the adventures of Lewis and Clark.
"It's really exciting because I love kids," Smith said. "It's better than working at Starbucks, that's for sure. ... It's a good feeling to know I have actual acting work through December."
The floating head
While "Annie" was in rehearsals, Trevor Southworth might have been on the verge of singing those lines that orphanage matron Miss Hannigan delivers in her solo "Little Girls": "If I wring little necks, surely I will get an acquittal."
The chorus of girls playing Annie's fellow orphans had seen Southworth's head shot on display in the entryway of the theater and had been taunting him with cries of "You have a floating head!" In the photo, Southworth's face is fully illuminated, while the rest of his body is obscured in shadow.
Admittedly, it does kind of look like he has a floating head. But Southworth isn't bothered by it. "I know where my shoulders are," he said.
Aside from putting up with putdowns from the kids, "Annie" has been a fairly easy assignment for the third-year Barn veteran, who makes a brief appearance as Lt. Ward in the first act and runs the spotlight during the second act. It's a far cry from the rigorous preparation he did for his role as Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat in "Cats." That part required extra time in the dressing room, having a wig affixed to his head and heavy makeup applied to his face.
"For 'Annie,' I don't have to come in until 8 o'clock, throw on a little dab of makeup and go," he said.
So Southworth, a self-described "reading fiend," might have time to work on getting through the jumbo-size "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." He's a huge fan of J.K. Rowling, having just reread "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" and "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" as preparation for the new novel.
"They're great, just very entertaining light reading. ... You can't put ('Phoenix') down," Southworth said.
"I always have a book on me. I find it reassuring because nine times out of 10 the problems characters are experiencing in a book are so much worse than what you're going through."
Harry Potter's trials are a distraction from Southworth's current crisis. "I don't have any cable where I live, and I'm a cableholic," he said. "I have nothing, not even ABC, CBS and NBC. The TV we have isn't cable-ready and I'm going through serious withdrawal. But that's probably a good thing."
James Sanford can be reached at 388-8553 or jsanford@kalamazoogazette.com.
Home · Curtain/Ticket · Reviews · Photos · Michigan · Theatre