20 Dec Our very own Annie Production- A Magical Show to be Remembered!
Written by Alesha and Vedhasa – Year 8 student reporters
“The sun’ll come out Tomorrow, so you gotta hang on till tomorrow, come what may! Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I love ya, Tomorrow! You’re only a day away.” – From the song “Tomorrow”.
Imagine acting in a play in front of an audience you’ve never met before. How hard can it be to play make-believe in front of a camera? Well, it may not be quite as easy as you might think.
Tuesday 17th December 2019, Whitley Academy hosted the first ever Annie Production; a performance with a clear message to teach us the difference between good and bad deeds.
There were three shows over two days, Tuesday and Wednesday 17 & 18 December 2019. We were the lucky ones as we were part of the audience for the first show. As the crowd quickly filled the seats, the enthusiastic audience rose with eagerness waiting for the performance to start.
The school spacious Auditorium turned into a setting of American daily life (mostly inside an orphanage) of the 1930s and the location was Harlem, Manhattan Island, New York City. The props scattered around the stage showed us how life was in those days, nearly 90 years ago…
1:30pm – the show began.
We sat there in amazement as the cast started revealing the story of Annie, a young orphan girl living in a miserable life, in an orphanage badly run by the tyrannical Miss Hannigan. Miss Colleen Hannigan, a former professional singer, spent her days drinking alcohol and trying to find a husband for herself.
Annie was forced to work day and night with her fellow orphan friends and enemies until she turned 11. At Christmas time, Annie ran away from the horrid foundling home in search for a new life away from the cruelness of Miss Hannigan. Unfortunately as it always was Miss Hannigan found her, but this time luck was on Annie’s side…
The play carried on its wonderful story, until at a point the spectators, our neighbouring primary school pupils, our rewarded students, the student reporters and the hard working teachers who put this all together, were all nearly in tears. The tears of the teachers were of happiness and a sense of ‘togetherness’ while the tears of the students were of empathy and pride.
As soon as the bright lights of the Auditorium were switched on, the whole room was filled with applause and the resonance of the song sang by the whole cast who managed to merge themselves with the audience towards the very end of the show. A mixture of feelings were left as the audience filed out of the Hall. There were no words to explain how magical it was … just WOW !
The cast was exhausted after their marvellous singing, acting and dancing. At this time the student reporters took the opportunity to interview the leading characters.
Some of the questions we asked:
Q: How did you feel to be one of the main characters?
A: “I definitely had a lot of pressure but it was really fun.”
Q: How did the dance rehearsals go?
A: “They were great! We spent long hours, evenings, mornings and even Saturdays to rehearse!”
Q: What would you do to improve yourself for more performances?
A: “I would definitely rehearse more. It would help me to be more confident.”
As for us –the reporters – we will never forget the final scene of the Production… The image of Annie and the orphans experiencing their first Christmas full of colours, life and joy. This will always remind us of the importance of caring for each other, not only at Christmas but all year round.
We want to thank:
– Mrs Stokes and Mrs Latue for spending countless hours to make sure the cast could be the be performers.
Our thanks also go to the supportive teachers and our parents who have helped our school’s performance come alive and supported the cast with their lines and long hours spent in school.
Thank You for reading our blog and we hope the cast have inspired you to go into acting too.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2020!
“You are special. Never stop believing in that!” –
The line from Annie transcript