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SWEET BUT NOT ICKY
‘Annie’ fun, but no masterpieo
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SHOW CAST
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By CINDY BAGWELL
Staff writer
Any attempt to describe the
Broadway musical "Annie" is
destined to be a creative failure.
That's because "Annie" man
ages to be every overused word
in the English language. It's
delightful, heartwarming,
even—oh horrors-cute. "An
nie" is saved from syrupy
sweetness by an excellent per
formance from a great cast.
Rosanne Sorrentino debuts as
Annie and does a good job with
the demanding vocal score. She
sings almost non-stop for two
and a half hours and shows
some weariness in the final
scenes, but she belts the songs
valiantly, usually managing to
be heard over the orchestra.
She’s a tiny girl, frail-looking for
her 11 years, but she sounds 20
or better when she opeus her
mouth.
Annie and six other little girls
(Ellyn Gale, Patti Gilbert. The
da Stemler. Melissa Betancourt.
Mollie Hall and Stephanie Well
ings) reside in a typically cheer
ful New York orphanage ("clean
sheets once a month whether
you need ’em or not"). It’s a
grtm life, and their only joy is
tormenting the headmistress.
Miss Hannigan (Patricia Drylic)
a perpetually hungover old maid
with blood that's 90 proof and a
passionate hatred for her charg
es. "I'd have cracked years
ago” she mutters, "if it weren't
for my sense of humor."
All the girls share one burn
ing ambition—to get out of the
orphanage. Annie in particular
is determined to find the
parents who left her on the
orphanage doorstep with noth
ing but a note and half a silver
Ramones invade the Agora
with Thanksgiving punk feast
By BOBBY BYRD
Entertainment editor
Reviewing the Ramones is not an easy thing
to do Thanksgiving night at the Agora, they
followed The Single Bullet Theorv and The
Restraints. For most of the evening I felt
strangely like a rabbit on the highway, frozen
in his tracks, staring into the lights of an
approaching Mack truck You know that what
you're seeing is threateningly awesome, but
you can't help but watch out of masochistic
fascination
What this means, folks, is that the Ramones
were good Despite the fact that they are
monotonous, their lyrics are unintelligible (this
is New Wave, you know), they don’t play all
that well and*they’re painfully loud, they were
good, blending an exuberant spirit with a
complete and redeeming lack of preten*
siousness But first things first
The Single Bullet Theory, despite having one
of the best band names in the country, is a
fairly mediocre New Wave aggregation They
turned in a half hour set of both their own and
other people's songs, with little flair or
originality. The crowd, it should be said, did
enjoy them, as quite a few crowded the dance
floor, getting an early start on the pogoing
The crowd, on the other hand, did not enjoy
the Restraints It’s a rarity these days to see a
band draw booing and outright hatred from an
audience, but the Restraints did—and deserved
it I^ed by an obnoxious Nazi-looking sort with a
bald head, they subjected the crowd to 30
minutes of totally self-indulgent rubbish, most
of which concerned what "bitches" women are
How ml
When the Ramones took the stage to a
stirring taped drum fanfare, it was clear that
something was right From the first chord of
"Blitzkreig Bop" through an amazing 32 songs
in 75 minutes, the band had the crowd in their
black leather pockets
It must be said, in the interest of accuracy,
that most of the Ramones' songs sound alike
The ultra-short songs come in rapid-fire
succession (song changes are marked not by
pauses and returning, but only by Dee Dee
Ramone's legendary "one-two-three-four"
counts) and if you get the feeling, as the show
goes on, that you’ve heard it all before, well,
you have
Nonetheless, as mentioned before, the
Ramones' show works, and works well They
are infused with an excellent sense of humor,
as songs such as "Gimme Gimme Shock
Treatment” and “I Wanna Be Sedated" prove
Although musically they’re more of a
jackhammer than a well-oiled machine, they do
have a flair for rock and roll, as shown by fine,
if primitive covers of "California Sun.” "Do You
Wanna Dance" and the superb "Needles and
Pins "
But whai really makes Johnny. Joey. Dee
Dee and Marky's show work is the
inexhaustible spirit that comes through The
stage lights stay white-hot. the crowd jumps,
yells and dances with the timing of hundreds of
extras in a well-orchestrated movie crowd
scene, and every song becomes a celebratory
anthem to the decadent, innocent, exuberant
magic of rock And the Ramones standards—
"Rockaway Beach." "Sheena Is A Punk
Rocker," the new "Rock and Roll High
School”- were nothing short of triumphant.
Like I said, the Ramones violate the tenets of
rock, but in a much more entertaining fashion
than many of their New Wave-Punk Whatever
We’re Calling It This Week counterparts And
any guys with their own great seal (a bald
eagle clutching a "Hey Ho Let’s Go!" banner)
certainly have their hearts in the right place
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It's Annie's search for love
that takes her to the appalling
poverty of a Depression era
Hooverville (where the inhabi
tanls dedicate "We'd Like to
Thank You” to Herbert “chick
en-in-every-pot” Hoover) and
back to the orphangc. where she
lucks into being the orphan
chosen to spend Christmas with
the incredibly rich Oliver War-
bucks (Harve Prcsncll). War-
bucks is a self-made billionaire
whose philosophy is "You don't
have to be nice to people on the
wav up if you're not coming
down again."
Annie and Warbucks' search
for her parents ends with
Warbucks adoption of her. and
"Annie" concludes with yojr
typical happy ending. Everyone
and the dog pile onstage to sing
the finale. "A New Deal for
Christmas" and the adoring
audience leaves feeling that
good still conquers all.
"Annie" iv sweet without
being icky, and cute without
making an issue of it. There
were no look-at-the-kiddies
numbers, and the adult cast
more than held their own
against nearly insurmountable
odds—children and a dog.
Chicago steelworker
raped by two women
CHICAGO (IIPD—Police are seeking two women who
reportedly raped a steelworker on Chicago's south side even
though the man did not sign a complaint
Officers said the 23-year-old man told them two women took
him captive at gunpoint when he stopped to help them because
they appeared to be having car trouble on the Calunet
Expressway
He said they lorced him into the back seat ol thetr car. put a
ski mask over his head, bound his hands with chains and drove to
a house at an undetermined location
There, he said, they forced him into a bedroom and "used his
body repeatedly lor several hours" before returning him to nis
own car late Sunday
‘j* *****
: Who loves
Kathy Sue Loudermilk?
"Annie" is a fun play, and one
you could see twice and still
enjoy, but it's a not a play that
you laugh and cry with. It’s
good, hut no masterpiece.
at the Atlanta Civic Center, and
is presented by the Theater of
the Stars. Performances are
daily at 8:30 p.m.. with mat
inees at 3:30 p.m. Saturdays
Annie" is currently showing and Sundays through Dec. 8.
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