For tickets got to the ATG tickets website.Book 1 of 2 in the Villain Duology, a Dark Regency Erotic Romance duet set in the wilds of Scotland. Definitely one to watch.Īnnie is at the Regent Theatre until Saturday 13 May. The 1930s setting gives it a pleasingly nostalgic feel and the costumes were amazing.Īnnie is a classic musical that’s a lot of fun, with superb song and dance numbers and wonderful performances from a very talented cast. The plot’s a bit crackers but it’s such an enjoyable show that it really doesn’t matter. The production is an entertaining romp from start to finish with catchy songs we all know, including It’s The Hard Knock Life (sampled by Jay-Z, no less), Easy Street and Tomorrow. She’s just nine years old but she was superb, delivering her lines faultlessly and filling the auditorium with her powerful voice. I was truly amazed by Zoe Akinyosade’s performance as Annie.

Paul French is excellent as the sleazy and really quite menacing Rooster.īut the show belongs to the ‘orphans’, and the young actors playing them were all outstanding - singing, dancing and owning the stage just as well as their adult counterparts. She heads up a top-quality cast, including Alex Bourne as Oliver Warbucks and Amelia Adams as his secretary Grace Farrell. Stoke gets the fantastic Jodie Prenger (currently gracing the cobbles in Coronation Street), who is absolutely brilliant as the gin-swigging, child-hating villain who gets all the laughs.

The tour has a few different actors playing the infamous Miss Hannigan, including Strictly’s Craig Revel-Horwood. Her luck changes when she’s chosen to spend Christmas with billionaire Oliver Warbucks, but will Miss Hannigan and her jailbird brother spoil Annie’s happy ending? I don’t think it’s a huge spoiler to say no, they don’t – but they have fun trying. Set in 1930s New York during the Great Depression, it follows plucky 11-year-old Annie, who is forced to live a life of misery at Miss Hannigan’s dismal orphanage. The show is back for 2023 with a new UK tour which has arrived in Stoke-on-Trent this week. It has been a while – it debuted on Broadway in 1977 and those of us of a certain age will remember the 1982 screen version.

Annie is one of those musicals that seems to have been around forever.

The Villain by Victoria Vale