Annie 2014

Yes: It’s about time the old school musical got a facelift

I’ve loved Annie since I was 10 years old and I played an orphan in my children’s theater’s production of Annie, Jr. We did the musical the way it’s traditionally been performed: casting a tall white man as Daddy Warbucks and a white girl who donned the classic curly red wig in the title role.

That’s why it’s so refreshing to me to see Oscar-nominated 11-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis break barriers as she steps into Annie’s shoes when the remake of the film hits theaters next Friday.

Art, including musicals, is beautiful when held to a particular context, but it becomes even more beautiful when it can transcend its origins as the world changes. Think of The Wizard of Oz evolving into The Wiz and later into Wicked. Or Romeo and Juliet morphing into West Side Story. Or even Puccini’s opera La Bohème’s adaptation to Rent. All great pieces of art. All still great in their adaptations.

Annie’s themes, as with the themes of any good musical, are innately human: love, loneliness, hope, dreams. For as long as there is a world, there will be kids without parents, whether they’re 20th-century orphans or 21st-century foster kids, and there will always be situations of economic uncertainty, whether it’s New York in the 1930s or today’s Big Apple.

I do love the 1982 version of Annie with the adorable Aileen Quinn. It’s a shame to see some classic elements of Annie get left behind in the new version, such as the orphans singing “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile.” Its score has been updated to match its setting, with upbeat face-lifts of old songs that will turn kids into Annie fans before the movie ends. I argue that if Annie’s producers wanted to do a purist remake of Annie, they would have done a by-the-books revival, as the 2012 Broadway production did.

No, this Annie was meant to make a point. The magic in the musical isn’t the spunky title character’s red wig or Bernadette Peters’ drawl as she sings “Little Girls” in the original film, or even the Great Depression era.

It’s about plucky underdogs making it in the big bad world — a theme that’s timeless.

– Beena Raghavendran

NO: The new film adaptation is a sacrilege to the timeless musical

I have a lot of love for Little Orphan Annie. Many 5-year-old girls pretend to be Disney princesses or ballerinas, but you could more often find me sitting on my windowsill singing “Maybe” wistfully to myself. I was a weird kid, I know, but something about the characters, the story and the music resonated with me.

Initially, I loved the idea of reviving the movie musical for a new audience. My aunt, who introduced me to the curly-topped orphan I so adored, had grown up watching the 1982 film, and I grew up with the 1999 TV movie. I couldn’t wait for so many more girls fall in love with Annie the way I had. The way Daddy Warbucks had!

But now I’ve seen the trailer and listened to the soundtrack, and it’s clear Hollywood has betrayed me.

Of course, Quvenzhané Wallis is perfectly spunky and adorable as Annie. Even Jamie Foxx is surprisingly believable as the businessman with a heart of gold hidden beneath a hard exterior (in this version named Will Stacks). Cameron Diaz as cruel orphanage matron Miss Hannigan, though? Not so convincing. Based on the performances that have been released thus far, Diaz can hardly carry a tune, let alone hold a candle to her famed Hannigan predecessors Carol Burnett and Kathy Bates. She whines through every line of dialogue and song, sounding more like an angsty tween sent to her room than a down-and-out drunk on the verge of a breakdown.

Worse still, Annie has been uprooted from her Great Depression era setting in favor of 21st-century New York City, creating several more problems for me. Warbucks’ stately mansion is disappointingly replaced by Stacks’ contemporary penthouse. His billionaire status is far less extraordinary today, too, no longer set against a backdrop of bread lines and shanty towns (see also: inflation). Are orphanages even a thing anymore? In the movie trailer, Annie and her posse appear to clutch iPhones instead of bare-thin blankets. Blasphemy.

I thought I could at least cling to composer Charles Strouse’s iconic score, but the producers of the new adaptation apparently are intent on taking even that from me. “It’s The Hard-Knock Life” features a bass drop. “I Think I’m Gonna Like It Here” is lost in aggressive auto-tune. Oh, and singer-songwriter Sia inexplicably sings “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile.” The songs are replete with so many changes that I’m certain it’s the first time I’ve failed to sing along with every song.

In this time of distress, at least I can bet my bottom dollar that tomorrow there’ll be sun … if they haven’t changed that lyric, too.

– Mel DeCandia