Annie - a heartwarming musical experience

IOL News

07-07-2025

Grace Farrell (Chloe Marot); Miss Hannigan (Grace McIlroy) and Annie (Kaitlyn Rex).
Image: Val Adamson
Annie is an absolute tonic! A rags-to-riches feel-good story that celebrates hope, family, and resilience, it features some great show-stopping numbers.
Well done to director Daisy Spencer, production manager/musical director Des Govender, and their excellent team for creating such an exuberant, fun, well-crafted, upbeat production. A tall order if your cast comprises 120 kids from primary school to post-matric... and a real dog!
Annie is the latest in an impressive long line of musical productions staged for the past 25 years by the Young Performers Project – a youthful theatre empowerment project that was one of the legacies of the visionary late Themi Venturas.
Annie absolutely fills the Opera Stage – the energy and spectacle can be felt all the way to the back seats in the balcony upstairs, enhanced by enormous projected images that provide an effective and subtle backdrop. Beautiful, delicate lighting by Dylan Heaton adds further magic to the sumptuous visuals of the show, which are complemented by great sound design by Anthony Govender.
The cast is extraordinary. There is absolutely no weak link. Every child performs their heart out with some delightful character cameos – from Hooverville down-and-outs warming themselves by an open fire to tray-carrying dancing and singing butlers, to busy New Yorkers on their way to the theatre – every child is absolutely in character throughout, which is no mean feat!
Spencer and Evashnee Pillay (choreography) have worked with the kids to create plausible and engaging large crowd scenes. Kathy Singery is responsible for the hundreds of costumes worn in the show. Together with her husband Dominic, she made the props too.
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Daddy Warbucks (Daniel Mayiza) and Annie (Kaitlyn Rex), centre, with his staff (including Chloe Marot as Grace Farrell) in his New York home.
Image: Val Adamson
The leads are magnificent, performing with great maturity, insight, and confidence. Grace McIlroy is delicious as the nasty, whistle-blowing Miss Hannigan – channelling a Carol Burnett goofiness, with the occasional Helena Bonham Carter whimsy and her mother's enormous pelting voice.
In contrast, personifying goodness to counterbalance Hannigan's wickedness is Chloe Marot as Grace Farrell. With the delicate poise of a ballet dancer, she personifies 'Grace' as the quintessential gracious mother figure – soft-spoken, elegant, and calm… and she looks like royalty in her green evening gown.
The devious villains are great fun. Rooster Hannigan is played with slick aplomb by Nathan Kruger (the professional performer in this year's show), who is as slippery as snake oil in a George Clooney moustache, and his sullen, distracted, ditsy girlfriend, Lily St Regis (Jenna Van Eyssen), all bottle-blonde hair and pointy nails.
Daddy Warbucks is a large, sober presence, played with gravitas by Daniel Mayiza: physically imposing, he is more basketball hero than benign philanthropist. His big numbers brought the house down.
Special mention too to Drake (Buhlebenkhosi Ngema), the tall and graceful head housekeeper, and the wheelchair-bound President Roosevelt (James Armstrong).
Saving the best till last, Kaitlyn Rex as Annie offers one of the most incredible debuts I have ever seen. Her performance is pitch-perfect brilliant – with afro, attitude, and a voice like melting chocolate. She is as charming as she is feisty. What a find!
Annie is a story about the contagious power of blind optimism. It reminds us that success, in business, in love, and in life, is essentially attitude and choices. YPP's Annie is the perfect remedy for dark times. Because, as little Annie reminds us, the sun will come out tomorrow…
- Annie is staged by The Young Performers Project NPC in association with The Playhouse Company and DALRO. It is being performed in the Playhouse Opera until July 13. Tickets available through Webtickets and Pick n Pay stores nationwide.
THE MERCURY