On Thursday, March 19, the curtain went up on Benet’s 32nd annual musical. This year’s musical was the classic Annie. If there was one word to describe this year’s musical it was ‘fun.’ The music was upbeat and jazzy, the singing was bold and catchy, and every character wore an exuberant smile as they danced across the stage -even the villains.
Ironically, the musical is set during one of the least fun times in American History, the Great Depression. The cheerful melodies create a dire contrast with the drab and depressing surroundings, especially the orphanage. This effect was achieved by projecting realistic wall details onto the wooden walls of the set so that the same walls could serve for the Oval Office and Times Square.
My favorite song was “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile,” which expressed the theme of the whole play. First, freshmen Lucas Ling and PJ Van De Walle, in the character of the cohosts of the weekly toothpaste company sponsored radio program “The Bert Healy Show,” deliver their closing remarks to radio listeners across the country. Then, they are joined by the 6 musical Boylen Sisters, played by Elisabetta Brunzelle (Lonnie), Molly Bremner (Donnie), Allie Budney (Connie), Lilly Jackson (Bonnie), Oresta Holubec (Ronnie), and Leah Huie (Ruth). The ensuing dance scene involved lots of smiles and tap dancing. The song’s essential message of optimism was carried throughout, especially when Annie’s former companions at the orphanage jokingly reprise the song in the orphanage work room among themselves.
Other highlights included freshman Sofia Macaluso’s masterful solos as Annie -she filled the whole auditorium with her voice!- a defiant musical rant against Herbert Hoover, senior Benji McKendall’s leading voice in “N.Y.C,” and wonderfully villainous performances by senior Dani Arias, freshman Billy Zabilka, and junior Sammy Menapace.
When I interviewed freshman Actor PJ Van De Walle, and junior set crew and pit orchestra member Jacob Salvacion, they both brought up the long eleven weeks of work that made the show possible, which they said was worth the payoff. Jacob said, “Even though it’s really busy, I like it still, I like doing something instead of being at home.” PJ said that time management was a challenge because Musical Rehearsals would often run into the night, leaving little time for homework. However, he said he was proud to see how much the whole cast had grown since the beginning of musical preparation and the new friends that they had made along the way. He jokingly told me that if he really wanted to use a cliche he could say that “maybe the real new deal for Christmas was the friends we made along the way” (“New Deal For Christmas” was a song in the musical in which PJ played FDR).
