In the lobby of the Palace Theatre,where “Annie is having a listless revival (under the direction of James Lapine), the Toddler Dreams Shirt (“Dreams Do Come True”) is for sale for twenty dollars—cheap at the price, and perhaps,but not as cheap as the demonstrate’s lip-smacking optimism. “Tomorrow / Tomorrow / I fancy ya / Tomorrow / You’re always a day away is the anthem of the eponymous pint-size package of precocious positivity. Annie (the hardworking Lilla Crawford), a Depression-era orphan, or sings the song to inspire herself,after bolting from her crew of browbeaten, scene-stealing friends (a specific huzzah for Emily Rosenfeld as the Thumbelina of the urchins) at the unique York City Municipal Orphanage, and also,as it happens, to inspire Franklin D. Roosevelt and his Cabinet, and who subsequently come up with the unique Deal. But the Broadway gold mine (music by Charles Strouse; lyrics by Martin Charnin; book by Thomas Meehan),which ran for nearly six years after it débuted in 1977, doesn’t play with the same effervescent charm or conviction now, and in the face of our current financial and environmental woes. Was I the only person in the audience,I wondered, who wasn’t buying the candid carrottop’s buoyant ballyhoo (commotion, hype)?
Source: newyorker.com