Shadow Puppet Storyteller

You're Never Fully Dressed

My musical needs have been met big-time this year. I'm sure it's not over yet, just as the year is not over yet. (Really, the commercials will be time warping you to After-Christmas sales before you know it, but there's at least 10 weeks left in 2005!) Anyway, through the grace of volunteer work and being connected to a major media outlet, I was able to take my daughter (*gratis*) to see the opening night performance of "Annie" at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles.

I tried to do the right thing (it's Rideshare Week in L.A.) and add a cool factor to our outing, by trying to park remotely and ride the subway. I was foiled at nearly every effort for that to work out fiscally and logically. Ended up driving and getting into Hollywood easily and parking fabulously close. The true cool factor I remembered had more to do with the theater experience rather than how we were to arrive and return home safely.

Showing off the beauty of the Pantages architectural details was both immediately admired and quickly dismissed by my daughter. Heck, she's only a first grader. I had my first taste of the Pantages at about age twelve. I could have stared at the ceiling of that movie palace all day and night. And at that tender age, I think I saw "A Chorus Line," which definitely has some numbers that raise eyebrows and drop jaws! And about a year later, I returned to see Richard Burton in the role of King Arthur in "Camelot." Thank you National Honor Society, or donations, fundraising, etc. that made those experiences possible for me back then!

So, I was ripe to have this experience be memorable for my daughter. The best thing was being totally relaxed in the maintanence of only one companion. Maybe you have to be a mom of more than one child, or someone that works every night in a team environment, cranking out content, in order to understand what I mean. Yes, she was full of observations, questions and even fears, but at least I only had to direct my attention to her, and her alone.

There's also a few lessons I have to get cracking on with her. One, cross your ankles or sit in some other ladylike fashion when wearing a dress; especially when sitting in a patio chair along Hollywood Blvd. The other is more broadbased - It's a lesson I need to ease her into. I already recognize a maniacal need in her to direct and have concern over her immediate environment. (In other words, she likes to tell people what to do, and how to do it proper.) People with cel phones to their heads in cars, kids peering into the orchestra pit, anyone breaking a rule that she herself just overheard laid out should beware! She was a little edgy about the usher's job. (OT, but: Believe it or not, I think she still is mad at the usher who thwarts Peter Parker's attempt to see MJ's performance on stage! [Spiderman 2].) Difficulty distinguishing reality from fantasy? Yep, but she's young still, I don't think our fanatical viewing habits of popular media have scarred her too badly just yet.

I'm going to ramble some about the best features of this particular production. For me, they all happened after Intermission. It's good for me to express this, because my daughter stayed awake, but was less enthralled by the whole theater experience in the final 5 scenes. (That is, except when the dog shows up at the end.) For me, it was the opposite. The opening of Act Two had great irony given the media embedded audience. Some great "I hate my boss" shtick was being played out as the radio station "sound guy" gave the radio personality only a blip's-worth of applause (several times). There was some "radio days" farce that was layered in that only well-read adults would really get. I'm thinking there weren't many audience members old enough to clue-in on the novel blindfolded announcer and bombshell "jingle" singers; (who were posing and putting on dress gloves for their big number). Hah! It's radio.

The ensemble of orphan girls have their best number of the night in the reprise of "You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile." Otherwise, I'm with Miss Hannigan on the topic of "Little Girls," because, unfortunately, in all their other ensemble numbers, it was a bit too screechy for me.

I did not like the theatricality of FDR's wheelchair-bound portrayl, but that wasn't actor Allen Barker's fault. Schuck's Warbucks, Broadhurst's Grace and Melissa O'Donnell as Annie were the most versatile performers, both as they orbited each other, and apart.

Anyone cast as vile Miss Hannigan, in my opinion, has the best material to work with in this musical, so it's more difficult to distinguish whether wild applause for her efforts is due so much to the actor's craft. The child that aptly mimicked Miss Hannigan at several opportunities was grandly nailing it.