Starring Alicia Morton, Victor Garber, Kathy Bates, and Audra Ann McDonald
Directed by Ken Marshall
Music by Charles Strouse; Lyrics by Martin Charnin
Annie Live! wasn't the show's first television adaptation. Flush with the runaway success of Cinderella on The Wonderful World of Disney in 1997, Disney scouted around for other appropriate projects. Rob Marshall's choreography in that movie so impressed the producers, they convinced him to direct this one. They were very right. This proved to be almost as big of a hit as Cinderella, the second most popular Wonderful World of Disney special ever. What made it such a success then? Let's start back at the orphanage in New York, as one little girl gazes wistfully out the window for her parents, and find out...
The Story: Annie (Morton) is determined to run away and find her parents. Though she does adopt a dog she names Sandy during her latest attempt, she's still returned to mean, abusive Miss Hannigan (Bates). Grace Farrell (McDonald), secretary to billionaire Oliver Warbucks (Garber), comes to the orphanage to adopt a child for a week. To Miss Hannigan's horror, she admires Annie's spunk and chooses her.
Annie's delighted to spend time in Warbucks' huge mansion and live in more luxury than she's ever known. Warbucks doesn't know what to make of her at first. He finally warms up to her, to the point where he wants to adopt her. When Annie says she's waiting for her parents, he offers a 50,000 dollar reward for anyone who can find them. Miss Hannigan, her con artist brother Rooster (Alan Cummings), and his ditzy blonde girlfriend Lily St. Regis (Kristin Chenowith), overhear the radio show and come up with their own scheme to get their paws on Warbucks' loot.
The Song and Dance: Terrific performances and a somewhat closer fidelity to the show make all the difference here. Morton's a charmingly tough Annie, McDonald radiates warmth as Grace, and Garber is a perfectly gruff Warbucks (and has a gorgeous tenor to boot). Bates has an absolute ball as the meanest Miss Hannigan in any version of Annie. She's so mean, she's the only screen Miss Hannigan to not be reformed or merely lose her job. She's relishing every boozy minute and makes me wish she did more musicals. Chenowith and Cummings are appropriately sleazy as the criminal duo who would do anything for a buck, including double-cross each other. Love the gorgeous costumes and sets too, both of which are fairly lavish for a TV musical in 1999.
Favorite Number: The little girls get a vibrant "Hard Knock Life" as they clean up their bedroom and wish for better things. There's also a short reprise when the orphans cheer Annie's escape that I've never heard anywhere but here. They also have an absolute blast with their kickline for "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile." "Tomorrow" is given two touching performances, by Annie on the snowy streets with Sandy after she finds him and Grace near the end when she assures Annie that her new parents will be just fine.
"NYC" makes its screen debut with Warbucks, Grace, and Annie happily pelting each other with snowballs and enjoying all the delights that the city has to offer, including a show and a giant teddy bear for Annie. Rooster, Miss Hannigan, and Lilly really get into their delightful "Easy Street," happily strutting on those Manhattan sets. Warbucks' "Something Was Missing" and his "I Don't Need Anything but You" with Annie are just gorgeous, with Garber really ladling his instrument into the former in particular.
Trivia: Andrea McArdle, the "Star to Be" in the Broadway show during "NYC," was the first Annie in the original 1977 production.
The sets for the Broadway show in "NYC" were inspired by "The Broadway Ballet" in Singin' In the Rain.
What I Don't Like: Despite them wanting this to be closer to the stage show than the 1982 Annie, it still loses the chorus numbers "We'd Like to Thank You, Herbert Hoover" and "A New Deal For Christmas." Much is simplified to fit the two hour run time. President Roosevelt doesn't come in until the last ten minutes, Annie doesn't attend a Cabinet meeting, and her time among the hoboes is limited to them making a few wisecracks at a cop before he shoos them along. The first version of "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile" is only heard by the orphans over the radio, not seen. I suspect Miss Hannigan plays the "mother" role in Rooster's scheme only because Bates was the bigger star at the time.
Oh, and there were some complaints at the time about Warbucks giving Grace an engagement ring at the end. Not only is this the only version where they do this, but there's been debates about how likely it was for a white man to marry an African-American woman in the 30's and whether they actually could have.
The Big Finale: A great starter Annie for families with younger kids, fans of the stars, or those who have fond memories of when this debuted.
Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming. It's on Disney Plus with a subscription.
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