THE SUN'LL COME OUT...by Barbara Biddison

THE SUN'LL COME OUT......by Barbara Biddison
That's Annie, but "tomorrow" is always worth thinking about as Shakespeare did in "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day" all the way to that "the sun'll come out tomorrow" for our young orphan girl.

As I write, the sun is shining here in Wellsboro, which reminded me that I haven't blogged about the orphan in Annie. I saw the show last Friday in Mansfield's Straughn, and it was a wonderful production. That large auditorium was full. I don't know the size of the audiences for the other four performances, but I'm guessing there was a packed house for each one. A large cast like this and a popular show usually combine to fill the audience seats.

The combination of a diverse cast and a familiar show title gets the audience. This cast has a lotta kids, mostly playing orphans, and many familiar faces as well as new adults never before seen on the HG stage. I counted names on the program, I got 53 I think, and that does not include the production crew of 18. Jessie Thompson directed, Taylor Nickerson (First Position Dance Studio) was Choreographer. Naomi Gehman was Dance Captain and Thomas Putnam was Musical Director. And Sylvia Duterte played the title role of Annie! Oh my! And let us not forget the dog. Annie has to have a dog. This stage dog was extraordinary! Oh, what a well-behaved real dog.

For a show like this we have to remember that the Mansfield stage is available only for the last few rehearsals and for the show itself. So, all of this has been rehearsed in Wellsboro and then transported to Mansfield where everyone must get used to a whole new physical surrounding. In my past acting career with HG, I had that experience once for a musical, and I have great respect for those actors and techies who do so in what seems to be such a smooth transition!