My day trip to London to see Annie the Musical
Hey!
So a few weeks ago, 5th October to be exact, I took a trip down to London with my parents to see Annie the Musical which is currently playing at Piccadilly Theatre, booking until February 18th 2018.
I have actually seen Annie earlier on in the year when I took a trip to London with my best friend, Sophie. At that time Miranda Hart was playing Miss Hannigan, Annie wouldn't normally have been something I'd have chosen to go see as I didn't know much about it and have never watched the film, but as Miranda was starring I thought it would be good to go see. I thoroughly enjoyed it and when I heard Craig Revel Horwood was going to be taking over from Miranda for 10 week's only, I knew I couldn't miss it. I'd wanted to see Craig perform in something for a while, but usually, when he performs in pantomime it is down South and living up North usually makes it difficult to go see anything without it costing a bomb. I did some planning and worked out seeing Annie could be done in a day by seeing the matinee performance, so that is what we did.
We left the house in plenty of time to get to the train station which was about an hour and a half away and then got on the train (another hour and a half) and eventually arrived in Kings Cross. We had about an hour and a half (everything is in hour and a halves!) before Annie started at 3 so we decided to walk to Piccadilly Circus.
As we walked up there were a few people outside so we queued up, got inside and found our seats. We were sat in the Grand Circle, Row E seats 15-17 which I thought was quite a decent view, it was only a row behind where I had sat previously so I knew the view wouldn't be a problem. The Grand Circle is pretty steep there but I didn't find it too bad walking down.
I bought a programme as well as the souvenir guide which I think looks great and contains various pictures from the show. As it got closer to the start time I noticed it wasn't as full as when I saw it before but that time it was full of School trips and was only a couple of weeks into Annie starting.
As the show started and the kids started singing, they really don't disappoint and their accents are great. The first time I saw Annie I wasn't expecting them to all have American accents, it just wasn't something I'd thought about, so when they started talking it came as a shock! But they keep it up well throughout the performance. There are 3 different Annies and 3 different sets of orphan kids which perform together and rotate each night. The first time I saw Team Lexington but when comparing the cast lists this time the kids were all the same as before, except Annie, we seemed to have Team Lexington again but with Madeline Haynes from Team Madison. I had read on Twitter that there were new Annies debuting so that could have been why.
Then Craig made his appearance coming through the big door in the centre of the stage into the orphanage, comparing his Hannigan to Mirandas I feel Craig portrays her a lot more drunk/hungover! It had been a few months between seeing each show but I can't remember Miranda drunkenly stumbling around the stage as much as Craig did.
Craig's accent did surprise me at first, I think because I had never heard him speak any other way, but I feel if I didn't know who was playing Miss Hannigan I'm not sure I would have been able to guess, he was definitely in character, whereas Miranda, I could tell it was still her. As I did mainly go to see Annie for Craig since I'd only seen it a few months prior, I was really looking forward to seeing Little Girls and Easy Street, I knew that Craig could sing from the few YouTube videos I've come across but had never seen him perform live and he was awesome, the dancing was great too, which was to be expected. I just wish there was a soundtrack of Annie because I would definitely buy it!
The dog, Sandy, played by a Labradoodle called Amber was adorable and very well trained, although she wasn't in it as much as I thought, she bought a little extra cute factor.
As the show drew to a close and the cast came on for the curtain call, Craig did his chaînés turns across the stage in the same way that Miranda galloped to the front, both of them added their own little touch.
After the show we made our way to meet my Aunt and Uncle, who live close to London, to get some food. Walking through Trafalgar Square as we did, I don't think I'll ever tire of seeing all the sites in London.
Overall it was a great day, I would definitely do London in a day again. I thoroughly enjoyed Annie both times and if it wasn't such a trek to get to London I would go see it again! I loved both Miranda and Craigs Miss Hannigans. Miranda wasn't as strong a singer, but personally, I didn't feel it mattered that much although I do think Craig was a better Miss Hannigan overall and would love to go see him perform in something again.
Annie gets a 10 from me!
You can see Craig Revel Horwood in Annie at the Picadilly Theatre until 26th November (excluding Saturdays) by clicking on: http://www.anniewestend.com/
From the 27th November, Meera Syal will be taking over.
Lyndsey xx
