Review: Annie (Edinburgh Playhouse)

During the second half of my holiday in Scotland, I noticed the tour of Annie was at Edinburgh Playhouse, and thought it would be a good opportunity to review it. I went along to a matinee performance.

The first thing to note about the Edinburgh Playhouse is, it is a huge theatre, but incredibly well organised. The announcement that “this is a musical not a singalong” made me smile. Most people even seemed to take note of it, although there were people keeping the ushers busy by being on their phones during the show.  The reason I mention this is, the audience vibe felt a bit like a relaxed performance, (I'm all for relaxed performances but this wasn’t one). People were moving around, leaving at random times and coming back in, etc. With all this going on and two show stops (one in each half) the cast did an incredible job of giving us a performance that wasn’t impacted by either of these things in the slightest.

The cast were fantastic throughout, “The kids” worked really well together, we had the Empire team (Coco Chapman, Olivia Brooks, Sienna Culm, Kennedy-May McLeary, Chloe Angiama and Freya Beer), and their ensemble songs showed they had mastered their roles and harmonies well.

For the performance I saw, Sophia Saravanan played the role of Annie. She was absolutely wonderful in the role, and her voice was stunning. Seeing her onstage just with Sandy the dog (played by Dizzy) was really moving as she not only performed beautifully but also handled Dizzy perfectly too. Sophia is definitely one to watch.

Highlights for me were Tanisha-Mae Brown’s performance as Grace Farrell, whose vocals were a delight and her costumes (Colin Richmond) suited her perfectly. Alex Bourne’s Daddy Warbucks was another performance that stood out, in particular how his character interacted with Annie and Grace.

The combination of the set and lighting design (Colin Richmond and Ben Cracknell) worked well. The maps in the background and puzzle pieces give a sense that Annie is trying to work out who she is, fully in line with the story arc. The lighting was striking and put to good use throughout the show to set the mood for each scene, notably during the reprise of Easy Street in the second half with Miss Hannigan (Claire Sweeney), Rooster (Christian Cooper) and Lily (Amber Kennedy), where the lighting gave a hint of menace which was very fitting for this routine.

I was sitting next to a young girl (and her dad) and she was transfixed by the show but I did feel the sexually suggestive moments from Miss Hannigan were not particularly necessary for such a mixed audience, especially for a show where there are likely to be lots of families and school groups present. I would have liked to have seen more of Miss Hannigan being the drunk villain type character she comes across as strongly at times.

In my mind, more significantly, why was an 11 year old girl allowed to leave an orphanage to go and stay with a single businessman for two weeks over Christmas and why does no-one question his intentions. This impacts even more when he wants to adopt her after only a week. I feel as if the presence of Grace for the majority of times Annie and Daddy Warbucks are together on stage does give a sense that she is not any danger, (and indeed the interactions between the three of them are heart warming) however I do wish this had somehow been discussed as a consideration. Otherwise, it almost seems like the take away is, you can do whatever you want if you have enough connections and money.

I know this production has mostly kept in line with the original material but I do also wonder if references to famous people very few people in the audience would have heard of should have been cut as they didn’t add much to the narrative.

With all of the above said, this production of Annie is a lively, uplifting one and I would recommend it for fans of the original material and for people new to musicals alike. There are a lot of catchy songs, many of which it’s likely you will have heard before, there’s some wonderful dancing, an overall sense of optimism and let’s not forget the adorable Sandy.

The cast did an incredible job of remaining completely on track despite the slightly chaotic audience and the two show stops. I personally quite like it when something happens that is not necessarily meant to, as it adds to the drama, but this does not take away from the fact that it must be quite challenging for the performers involved.

⭐⭐⭐1/2

Annie is showing at Edinburgh Playhouse until 20 September 2026. You can buy a ticket here.

The tour then continues through 2027. See the dates on the official website here.

I was gifted a ticket for this show in exchange for an honest review.