Ellesmere Musical Theatre Company’s Annie – 11 March 2025, Montgomery Theatre

Review by Claire Taranaski.

It’s not often I get the chance to directly compare an amateur performance with the professional tour but after seeing the professional tour of Annie 18 months ago and Ellesmere MTC production last night, I’m proud to say there was nothing amateur about it, with the entire children’s cast and many of the adult performances not being out of place in the professional tour, making this a must see for fans of the musical, anyone who missed out on the 2013 tour and those who want to witness the future of musical theatre talent in Sheffield.

There are two teams of children performing in the show, doing three shows each, and I saw Team Mush (the other team is Team Sandy named after the character played by Callie, probably the cutest and most well-behaved dog ever to have appeared on the Montgomery stage). I will not say which shows each team are performing as don’t want to be bias towards them and I expect they are as equally talented and professional. Team Mush had a real connection on stage, comic timing and confidence for performers so young with Clara Needham as Molly bringing tears to my eyes within moments on the show starting (it’s the mother in me). They also had the best and crispest ensemble choreography and ensemble vocals of the night across the likes of “Hard Knock Life” and “Fully Dressed”.

You can’t mention Annie without mentioning the title character and “leaping lizards” Lana Green for Team Mush was a natural on stage with all the ingredients to be a musical theatre star, superb vocals, chemistry with her fellow cast members and Callie, confidence, comic timing, personality and just something magical about her that made her great. She made her iconic solo musical numbers her own from “Maybe” to “Tomorrow” and if it was not for the fact her family were sitting immediately in front of me, her chemistry with Craig Lawton as Oliver Warbucks in “I Don’t Need Anything But You” felt so real I would have been sure they were related.

On the subject of Craig, he may not be the typical choice for Warbucks but was superb and brought something new and paternal to the role that made me connect with his character more emotionally than previous interpretations. He was another character that also brought tears to my eyes with his moving rendition of “Something Was Missing”.

Gina Holmes as Grace Farrell could not have been more perfect for the role and a couple of weeks after seeing the professional tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, she could easily interchange with Ellie Nunn who played Truly Scrumptious, and audiences would have been none the wiser.

We know Leah Rhodes-Burch well at Last Night I Dreamt Of and her portrayal of Miss Hannigan might be her best yet as she made the character her own, brought her full personality and talent to the role without the temptation for exaggerating the orphanage manager character and her personality traits to the extreme and instead at times almost won us over to her side. Her performance of “Little Girls” was superb. The company also took a risk with having a more mature portrayal of Rooster and Lily (played by Jonathan Bates and Natalie Hide Coward), which made their back story feel more genuine and their performance with Leah of “Easy Street” more passionate, and also jazzy than other versions.

I have already mentioned the child ensemble but can’t not mention the adult ensemble too, who were at their vocal best with the wonderfully harmonised “You Won’t Be An Orphan For Long” and choreographically at their best and cleverest with “NYC”, making clever use of the Montgomery stage and their various talents.

I must praise director and choreographer Carolan Copley Tucci and co-director and principal choreographer Kate England and musical director Anna Wright for getting the very best out of the full cast and ensemble and helping them obtain a production rivalling the professional tour. I must also praise the full band, who Anna was busy conducting throughout and were note perfect.

I know I have said this in the past but only because they continue to get better and better, but this is Ellesmere MTC best show yet and it will be a “hard knock life” for musical theatre fans to miss it.