Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I Love You Tomorrow!

My daughter Megan (11) and I were given the opportunity to attend the London performance of Annie. This beloved musical happens to be my daughter's favourite film and she was totally surprised when we walked into the theatre and saw the Annie logo on the curtain. She actually started crying because she was so excited to be there. She is a theatre child and loves performing, but had never been to a Broadway performance.

Annie is played by Tori Bates. An 11 year old actress from Sarasota Florida. A fun fact that we learned last night while googling (because Google is life) is that Tori is the first bi-racial actress to ever play Annie.

The play opens with the beautiful sounding live orchestra! Then the curtain opens to the girls in the orphanage laying in their beds, which in this production are pillows and blankets on the stage. You will find that while the props are minimal, the performances put on by everyone in the cast, more than makes up for it! These young orphans can really sing and dance and you will want to sing along to the familiar, catchy tunes! Miss Hannigan played by Erin Fish is excellent in her role. She truly captures the spirit of the evil Miss Hannigan.

All Annie wants to do is find her parents, someone who will call her baby, maybe. However while she is waiting and hoping, she is chosen to spend 2 weeks in Oliver Warbuck's 5th Avenue mansion over Christmas.  She is a lucky girl. But in all reality, the staff and Oliver are the ones who are lucky. They are won over with Annie's cuteness and charm. So much that Oliver wants to adopt her. Gilgamesh Taggett plays Oliver Warbucks. He comes across as a cold and hard businessman, but is really a teddy bear who has his heart tugged on by this little girl.

As the play moves along we meet Rooster (Michael Santora) and Lily St Regis (Mallory King) The trio musical number between Rooster, Lily and Miss Hannigan had to be one of my favourite parts of the whole play. The chemistry between the 3 of them is beautiful!

I really don't want to spoil the ending of this play for you, but it’s different than I expected actually. I remember the original film version with Albert Finney. Overall I loved this Broadway in London production. I laughed, I aww'ed a few times and I even teared up towards the end. We had the experience of a lifetime last night and I am so glad I was able to share it with my daughter. Thank you Budweiser Gardens for choosing us!

Megan's review:

I thought this experience was amazing! I thought all the actresses and actors were awesome! I was really surprised to find out the actress playing Annie was 11 and has only been acting for 2 years! I was really shocked especially since she was so good! Annie is one of my favourite movies and I was really excited that I got to see it as a professional play. This was my first Broadway performance and I was pretty amazed. I thought that Sandy was really cute! Two of my favourite songs from the play were “Maybe” and “Tomorrow”! I really liked this whole experience and I hope someday I can be just as good as the actors and actresses in Annie! Thank you Budweiser Gardens for choosing us!

By Sarah and Megan Allen
Author: @mommy2sassykids