Annie Live!
Published September 28, 2024
Film info
- Title Annie Live!
- Directors Alex Rudzinski, Lear deBessonet
- Year 2021
- Run time 2hrs 7m
- Genres Family, Music, Comedy
- Tagline The sun will come out tomorrow
Annie, the beloved seven-time Tony Award-winning Broadway sensation, comes to life like never before in a live musical event starring Harry Connick, Jr., Nicole Scherzinger, Tituss Burgess, Megan Hilty and Taraji P. Henson, with newcomer Celina Smith in the title role of Annie. The iconic musical follows smart and spirited little orphan Annie, whose whole life changes when larger-than-life billionaire Daddy Warbucks takes her away from an orphanage run by the mean Miss Hannigan. One of Broadway’s all-time biggest hits, the stage production features such popular songs as Tomorrow and It’s the Hard Knock Life, which are adored by generations of audiences around the world.
Live blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 1:10 | Like seeing these behind the scenes quick changes! |
| 7:54 | Feels wrong to applaud Miss Hannigan, who is evil, but you can’t help it! |
| 10:05 | Boggles my mind that you can get all these kids to do all this stuff in the right order at the right time. |
| 20:19 | Can’t argue that the girl playing Annie has an amazing voice. Camera work is putting me off a bit. |
| 30:35 | I’ve not actually seen Scherzinger acting, only singing. Interesting. |
| 33:46 | Not to complain as it drives the entire rest of the musical, but it does seem unfair to have picked Annie just because she happened to be in the office at the right time. |
| 41:48 | The actual Mona Lisa. |
| 44:48 | Always fun when there’s a line that resonates for different reasons. |
| 57:16 | I didn’t realise this song, Sign, was written for the film. It’s so good! |
| 1:02:06 | A lot about Annie annoys me but there are some great songs. Eassssy Streeeeet. |
| 1:08:43 | We Got Annie is on the annoying side of the equation. |
| 1:17:22 | I don’t understand ventriloquism via the radio. |
| 1:23:58 | “Yea, I heard. Next thing you know they’ll make a musical about her.” |
| 1:32:38 | There’s more politics in this than I realised. |
| 1:47:25 | How disappointing to learn your name is Mudge. |
Thoughts
I love these live musical events, and am glad to have the opportunity to see them and review them here… but I have to admit this one wasn’t a favourite. As I said above, I have mixed feelings about Annie the musical anyway - it’s a bit dreary but some of the songs are real classics. The good stuff in here was great - Taraji as Miss Hannigan was exceptional, the pipes on our new young Annie amazed, and it flowed really well. But the camerawork was wonky, Nicole Scherzinger seemed out of place and how could anyone look at anything other than Warbucks’ bald head? Medium good but worth a watch anyway.
Rating: 3 / 5
