Annie the Musical with Miranda Hart

miranda hart in Annie
You know when you like something, and you keep going back because what you like is good fun? That seems to be us with Annie. We caught it twice on the UK tour in Wimbledon and Croydon and thought that would be that. But then they announced Miranda Hart would be playing the part of Miss Hannigan. Now – hands up, I haven’t watched her programmes – but! I could see the part would really work. So we had to buy tickets.

Miranda Hart is a huge Annie fan too. There was a recent interview with her confirming this.

So you’re a huge fan of the musical and you get a chance to play one of the most fun roles in there – of course you’re going to do it! We went yesterday and oh my goodness. She is perfect for the role. She doesn’t try to be Carol Burnett or anyone else who has played Miss Hannigan – just herself.

I haven’t watched ‘Miranda’, I only had a vague idea of her sense of humour from clips on tv, so I’ve seen how she looks to the camera and pulls a face – and you get that on stage. How she manages in a theatre I’ll never know – it’s like she’s looking at you! It’s very very funny when she does too.

I was in my seat almost crying with laughter which I know I’ve never done while watching Annie before. The set has changed slightly too. The jigsaw floor is still there but now extends further back with a raised platform for certain scenes. I noticed some small tweaks to the show as well. It’s almost identical to the touring version otherwise.

An example of one of the changes – the orphans find out they’re not getting hot mush for their breakfast and they cheer. Miss Hannigan announces they’re getting cold mush, then jumps on one of their beds mocking them saying “yayy! Cold mush!!” several times, it shouldn’t be funny, but because Miranda Hart is doing it, it ends up being very funny. It’s all in the delivery.

The rest of the cast remain largely unchanged from the UK tour – the same Daddy Warbucks and Grace Farrell too. They’re still doing a marvellous job and you can tell they’re enjoying what they’re doing.

Then of course there are the Annie’s. Madeleine Hayes was our Annie, and I think she might have been on one of the previous times we saw the show too. The orphans were superb too – a really good confident bunch of girls who played their parts wonderfully.

Do I really need to go into the story of Annie? I would think that if you’ve seen the film then you know what to expect – just don’t expect any crazy chases up bridges. They created that for the 1982 film for reasons nobody truly understands.

You have an awesome cast and crew who know what to do and look like they’re fans of the show. It works on so many levels with jokes for adults in there too.

Plus Miranda Hart makes an absolutely excellent Miss Hannigan.

The opening night for Annie the Musical starring Miranda Hart as Miss Hannigan is the 5th June 2017. She will remain in the role of Miss Hannigan until the 17th September 2017. For more information head here.



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