Broadway in London presents Annie at the John Labatt Centre (99 Dundas St), May 23 at 3 pm and 8 pm. Tickets range in price from $65 to $75 and can be purchased by calling 1-866-455-2849.
It’s the hard-knock life: Annie at the JLC
London, ON - Is the recession wearing on you? Are you feeling pessimistic about life in general? Then pump some optimism into your life by checking out the classic musical Annie.
Annie - which drops into the John Labatt Centre on May 23 - tells the sentimental tale of a little red-haired orphan who warms the heart of all those around her, including the aloof millionaire Daddy Warbucks.
“Annie is the perfect show for the pessimist,” says David Barton, who plays Daddy Warbucks in the production. “It’s an optimistic show written and designed for all the pessimists in the world.
“[One of the main messages in Annie is] that tomorrow brings something new and different, and that that something new and different is going to be a good thing. In the end, if we will allow ourselves to experience that optimism, we’ll all have a little bit of that red-haired optimism in us.”
Barton admits that he used to be “one of those pessimists.”
“For 25 years, working in community theatre, I kept saying, ‘I am not going to do Annie, it’s overdone, just one of those shows I’m going to avoid.’ And then when I finally gave myself to it, I was so glad. I was able to set aside my pessimism and enjoy the experience of this show.”
In fact, Barton fell so in love with the role and production that he’s done it more than once - this is his second time touring nationally as Daddy Warbucks.
“It’s one of the few roles that I’ve done that I absolutely fell in love with and felt I could do over and over again,” explains Barton. “It’s the message of the play, the optimism that the play has; it’s being able to undergo change and have the audience join me on that journey that keeps me going every night, that keeps me refreshed and alive.”
Barton says playing such a famous role is “a balancing act” because the audience knows the character and may have preconceived notions of how he should be portrayed.
“You have to be true to the character but at the same time, you want to bring a certain degree of you’re own uniqueness to the role. My Warbucks is probably a little bit more approachable than other Warbucks’. I approach it from the point of view that yeah, he’s a gruff man and he’s all business, but there’s something about him that a little girl and his secretary fall in love with.”
Barton says that while some people might dismiss Annie as “being this sappy little fairy tale,” he feels it actually has “a lot of depth” to it.
“[In life], we often think something is going to happen and it doesn’t, or something different happens and steers us in a different direction,” says Barton. “But if we’re able to deal with it optimistically like Annie does, we can allow it to be a positive change instead of a negative one.”
Barton notes that this positive theme is particularly relevant during hard times, such as the current recession. He says that since the original story takes place during the Depression, it relates in many ways to today’s recession: people are afraid and aren’t sure how these changes are going to turn out, so they just have to hope this change will bring about a positive outcome in the end.
Barton also loves that the show reflects how important self-realizations are in facilitating change. He says one of his favourite moments in Annie is when Warbucks decides to adopt Annie.
“[In that moment], Warbucks sits Annie down and he’s trying to tell her [he’s adopted her], but he can’t find the words,” says Barton. “So he says to her ‘It doesn’t matter how many Rembrandts and Duessenbergs you’ve got, if you have no one to share your life with, if you’re alone, you might as well be broke and back in Hell’s Kitchen.’
“I love that- Here’s this man who all that’s mattered all his life has been making money. He’s got all this money, and he’s realized that it’s not going to make him happy. What’s missing is someone to share his life with. It’s that moment of self-realization that Warbucks has, that he needs people. That’s probably my favourite moment in the show, that moment of self-realization and transformation.”
Barton urges people to give themselves into the show, noting that: “it will, through its music, through its optimism, through this particular cast’s energy, insight and enthusiasm that they bring to the stage each night, it will draw people into this optimistic world.
“It will turn their pessimism into an optimism that will allow them to deal not only with Annie, but with their own life and the world they live in.”
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