iTunes Exclusive Episode Annie

The following is a sooner orgator production.
The following is a sooner orgator production.
The following conditions have been met.
We hope at least once in your life you've listened to the Clubhouse podcast or one stop shop
for all things sports entertainment, live every Sunday at 70's or four Pacific.
But it probably also means you subscribe on iTunes because this time for another iTunes exclusive.
The 114th one of these.
Welcome.
My name is Rob, I am the executive producer of the Clubhouse podcast.
And it can be a hard not-life.
Whether you're on screen or Jay-Z.
Everybody has struggles.
I'm not alone for this particular episode.
Joining me across the desk is he tends to do is a man whose hair has neither ever been read or curly.
He is my co-host, he is Jack.
I think your partner has been curly and it's reddish blonde.
That is on my birth certificate is reddish blonde.
And my hair was curly as I'll get out in elementary school.
Hey, I'm just saying it.
Also joining us for this particular episode is the official fact checker of this show.
And a man who believes in tomorrow.
You may know it's fun, don't go.
But his mom and even don't want to come down for it.
I got some pictures somewhere with me with a bullet.
Okay.
So why?
I'm scared of it.
You have pictures that don't with a bullet.
I have pictures of myself.
Oh, sorry.
Allow me to be a little bit more specific.
I was getting really concerned.
But I gotta go.
Annie, are you okay?
Are you okay?
I.
We'll tell you this.
Normally when we do one of these.
It is to review something and this is no exception.
We are here to review the stage production currently showing the Dallas Fort Worth area at the timing of this recording.
Of Annie.
If you don't know the story,
you might want to go out of your house every once in a while.
Which means it's only been around since the 30s.
Basically it's the story of an orphan,
who's parents left her on the step of this in orphanage in New York City.
In 1922.
Am I right on that?
Yep.
And it's 11 years later.
She's got the note from her parents and a half of them lock it.
Oh no, it's 33.
93.
She was left there.
I was left there in 22.
Okay.
Okay.
She's still hopeful that her parents will find her.
She definitely wants out the orphanage which is run by the evil Miss Hanagan.
And one day,
this takes place in December of 1933.
Grace Farrell is the secretary for the wealthiest man in the world.
Oliver Warbox.
She comes to the orphanage and says,
Mr. Warbox wants to have an orphan live with them for a couple of weeks over the holidays.
She selects Annie.
And life changes for multiple people in multiple directions.
That's as deep as I'm going to go.
I think it's an appropriate summary.
Yeah.
Before we begin,
we got to think Cindy Evans,
everybody at ATT back Oregon,
the Winsper Opera House for inviting us.
She is so good to us.
She really is.
She treats us better than she has to.
Amazing seats no matter what we see there.
Because there's not a bad seat in the entire house.
We don't care for in the fourth level top row.
We don't care, but she's so good to us.
Now we need full disclosure here.
Because really we're going to let way heavily on Chad for this particular part of the review.
Because he was in a production of Annie.
Okay.
When he was in high school.
So Chad, I want you to play Sandy.
That's your boy.
I want you to think back to that time.
And the way it was presented back then versus what you saw the other night.
Give me a comparison contrast.
Quite similarly because we had several people
that were playing multiple roles.
You know, we had the Hoover Town people.
We're also the attendance at Warbucks,
a state mansion, whatever you want to call it.
We're also members of the presidential cabinet.
So you had a company that was constantly changing costumes.
Playing about three or four roles on this thing.
That's exactly what we did.
That's exactly what they did.
And what they all do is to respect what role stage a place, seriously.
Let's see.
Well, I was one of the members of Hoover Town.
Okay.
I was a Marine Guard in the White House that I didn't really notice in this production.
Yeah, I was looking for that.
Yeah.
I was like, man, all that trouble that Mama went through.
I'm making a full dress blue uniform.
They don't even use it on this production.
And my biggest role, if you want to call it that,
was Justice Brandeis or Judge Brandeis who comes out to perform the adoption ceremony.
Okay.
But it was kind of, I'm looking in the program.
And you could tell just by looking at them.
There were some that were just immediately recognizable from earlier seeing it.
Oh, yeah, that was that dude.
And this was this dude.
And that was that check.
It's clever.
It's a way of reducing the size of your payroll if nothing else.
For the production accountants.
Well, you have a lot of people playing most for roles.
Not only in your production, but that's what I'm saying.
It's a good way of keeping costs down and getting people that don't have such a large,
you know, chunky role smaller buses.
Yeah, it gives them more to do.
You know, whether involved in the entire show.
Because otherwise, if they just had this one part, they wouldn't be, but in one scene.
They can be in multiple scenes and pull it off and get away with it.
And did pull it off, I thought.
Quite well.
I mean, you kind of knew if you were watching, like, okay, these are the same people.
But there was such a drastic change in what they were doing.
It was okay.
Like the dog catcher was like the treasury advisor and stuff like that.
And the dog gets you.
I can't see what you did there.
Don, what did you think about the way this was presented?
I really, really enjoyed it.
I mean, even the people in two dot Montana.
Yeah, it's a town, which is about three people in there.
And two dots and two dots.
They, everybody knows the story of Andy basically, unless you're an infant.
From the Christmas story to it's everywhere in.
Oh, absolutely.
You know, Sarah Jessica Parker played her at one point on a TV version.
And I got to admit, I, I was, my, I didn't know what's expected coming into this.
Right.
In my bar was said a little low.
I hate to tell you that.
But your boss is your honest opinion, sir.
I was always in my written review at theclubhousepodcast.com.
That's our website.
I put that in there.
But how the story went, even noting the story and seeing the movie for maybe two and stuff like that.
I was really into it.
That plot kept me interested the whole way through.
And it did not strike for me at all.
Very nice.
I was really surprised on that big time.
For me, I mean, it's the story I, you remember.
I just, I was never a big fan of, of Annie.
Never really was.
It never really, you know, outside of the reference in a Christmas story.
You know, where you get to see Grint Dakota ring.
But I enjoyed this.
You know, I thought it was well presented.
I thought the, from a technical standpoint.
Complete opposite of the musical we saw the night before.
Yeah.
But in a good way.
Like it wasn't bad.
It was just, it was that old school style.
One thing that really, really kind of blew me away was the backdrop in Warbucks's house.
Yeah.
That artist should have been paid up at Jillian dollars because they captured death.
Like that was a flat canvas.
And you could have sworn you were in an apartment.
Yeah.
It looked like a three-dimensional space.
It really did.
It was very, very good.
There was only one little place for me where I thought maybe somebody
forgot to remove a prompt.
And they covered it well.
Was it a way up top?
No, no.
It was, it was one of the chairs that was just kind of sitting there.
When they were going through the park.
Yes.
When they left his, yeah.
When they were going to the movie theater.
They did stay there on an awful long dog.
Yeah.
But, and they covered it well.
Yeah.
It's just like, no.
Okay.
Let's scoot this over here.
I will say this.
Smooth this glass in the, in the transitions.
I was blown away by the set, the props.
And how fast they turned.
It was almost to the professionalism of the fan of the opera that we saw a few months back.
I could definitely see that.
Yeah.
I mean, it would turn fast.
But everything was so real.
You felt like you were there in, in like the orphanage.
You felt like you were in his house.
And when they went from sea to sea, you felt like you were in a different place.
The orphanage was a little weird for me.
Yeah.
But, yeah.
Historically, correct pretty well.
You know, there's only a couple of things that were not historically correct,
which I just got that OCD about that.
But it was beautiful.
The lighting was beautiful.
And in my written review again, that's called usplacast.com.
That's our website.
There was one scene where they come out of Warbucks's house the first time to go to the wooden theater.
Mm-hmm.
And we were just talking about a minute ago.
Yeah.
And the backdrop of the city's there.
And then you see any in Mr. Warbucks upfront.
Let it up.
But the people in the middle were blacked out, but you can see their shadows.
You can see their figures.
Mm-hmm.
How did they do that?
That looks so incredibly beautiful.
How they could put these people out of the show.
And then come on later, just bring them right back in.
Mm-hmm.
But they weren't there.
That's brilliant lighting.
Yeah.
I was blown away by that.
I thought the orchestra was great.
There was never a point where I felt like the orchestra was getting away from anything.
Yeah.
Everything was in lockstep, which I thought was great.
Especially with the performances.
And that could very easily happen on the production of this man.
Because there's so much going on.
It takes a lot of coordination.
And they sounded beautiful.
My only thing I thought it was a little low volume.
I thought personally.
I thought the mix was perfect.
But still they played incredible.
They're singing.
I don't know if we want to get into that now.
But we're going to hear it a minute.
Okay.
Is there anything else from a technical standpoint that you want to add?
Because I just, from a technical standpoint, I thought it was amazing.
Oh, just the, the grit and grime of the Hubertown to the, to the, to the penthouse of,
of Warbucks estate.
Everything, everything had a great look and a great feel to it.
To the radio station.
But you want to talk about a character that caught up in the period brilliantly.
Yes.
Well, I probably ought to save that one.
That's, that was kind of my standout moment for me.
But I'll get to that later.
But I just love that it's a world that you feel like you could just reach out and touch.
The only thing that I thought was, it was kind of weird for me.
Was the Hubertown.
Like something felt weird about that scene to me.
And I think it was because we had just spent probably 20 minutes focusing on the kids.
That we transitioned to the adults.
And it just, I was like, I was almost like the kids were better.
But then once they transitioned into being the help for daddy Warbucks at the house,
I thought maybe they were a little bit more in their element there.
I thought that I, it just, the Hubertown scene felt weird to me.
And in, in, in performing it.
Maybe a little over the top.
I was performing it when I was, again, I mean, I really can't compare what we did to what they're doing now.
But, uh, I felt kind of odd about it then.
I'm like, the, it just kind of felt like it was shoved in there just because,
Yeah, because we're dealing with a depression that we have to remind everybody what a crappy world this was.
We were living in in 1930.
I, and that might have been it.
I think I might have grew with you there.
And then, I mean, I feel like that point was addressed better later when he,
whenever Warbucks goes to talk to FDR.
You know, but I don't know.
Maybe they felt like they, maybe they felt they need to book in it to where they really need to show the people that are suffering.
And then show how they chose to deal with it later.
That's, that's all I can really come up with.
Is that what, that's why they felt that was necessary.
And, and he just needed some place to go.
Whenever she broke away, whenever she snuck out of the orphanage for the first time.
Okay.
We're just going to bring us into the, uh, the performances.
I think we're all going to agree on one in particular.
Well, done.
I'm going to let you start performance wise.
I put in my written review at the Quabas podcast.com.
Yeah, it's our website.
I put, I had four shining stars out of this production.
Um, Annie, she was perfect that attitude, her character, everything.
I was really impressed with her at her age.
The second was the orphans.
And when they're singing a heart, it's a, you know, it's a hard knock life.
They'd weld it.
And they, they performed like they've been in the business for, I'd say, 15, 20 years.
These girls look totally professional.
And most of them weren't even half that age.
Yeah, no, that's what pulled me away.
These, I go, these kids have a future here.
Uh-huh.
My third out of the fourth is the two dogs that played Sandy.
Which I'll let, you know, if you want to elaborate on that in a second.
And lastly is, you know, the girl that played Miss has, um,
Is Annie again?
Miss Annie again, I'm sorry.
Yeah, she was my, she was my shining star for the whole production.
I thought.
But I don't know if you want to give away what the dog did.
If we want to keep the spoiler for you're not, but what they did,
Yeah, but they did a crippled job with the dogs in this production.
But, um, she, Miss Annie again, she blew it out of the park in my opinion.
Chat.
Annie again all the way through.
Annie again.
Um,
Little injuries was awesome.
Oh, my God.
Like she knew how to work with scenery without chewing it too much.
I thought like she, she understands give and take.
Which I thought was great.
Mm-hmm.
Um, the kids though.
Showbiz kids are such a, it's such a fickle beast.
The mixed bag.
You really get a mixed bag.
Because you, you don't, and as I said in my written review at our,
www.theclubhousepodcast.com, which is our website.
You need them to, to shine, but you don't need it to turn into a Vanessa Bayer SNL skit.
You know, because that's what I always worry about.
But these kids, I thought the kids choreography was, was tighter than the adults.
And some scenes.
Yeah.
And they were rocking it, dude.
Mm-hmm.
Like they were great.
I was very impressed by the kids.
And one of the other kids actually plays Annie in some of the select performance.
Right.
So.
Oh, and I got to, I got to mention, uh, uh, Braden Malafront,
the guy that played Bert Haley.
The radio announcer.
Yes.
He had that.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
He just, he had nailed it.
He had that perfect 1930s radio announcer guy.
Uh, just, I handed up accordingly.
It didn't go over the top of it.
It's just, that's, that's what the style was in 1933.
What am I personal favorites?
Gilgamesh tag it.
Oh, he was great.
You know, you get a name like Gilgamesh.
You better go into show business.
But I thought he was really, really good as, as Oliver Warbox.
But my thing was, as good as, as he swickle was.
And she was great.
She just wasn't Annie to me.
You know, thanks, though.
She had great chemistry with Gilgamesh.
I thought they were, I mean, the kids got all the talent in the world.
She just didn't fit the role for me.
And I, I have to disagree on that kiss her attitude.
That little spunk she had on her.
I thought she was perfect for it.
The only issue I had with her is that she played that New York accent a little too thick sometimes.
To the point where you could barely understand what you say.
Great actress.
Great little actress.
But she needs to have a little bit of coaching with her dialect.
Because she was, she was just chewing on those words a little too much to where they were barely decipherable in some cases, depending on what she was saying.
Well, yeah, it was just, I don't know.
I guess she was great enjoyed her performance.
I mean, it just is carrying the weight of the production of shoulders.
It just wasn't Annie to me.
I don't know why.
And I can't, I can't pinpoint of what she could have done to make herself more Annie.
It just didn't work for me.
I know, Don, you were kind of having an issue with the fact that you, she wasn't in the curls.
Oh, no, that was just a joke with Gary.
Really?
Yeah, we did a joke.
I did.
And then, of course, at the end, when she comes out with the curls, I even call your actual, she had the curls.
Are you happy?
You know, I feel a friend of the show, Gary Murray, a fellow critic there.
But yeah.
That's just a long range joke with me.
I, that did not bug me at all.
Yeah, because I mean, that's how it's supposed to go.
Oh, I know, I know you know that.
But like, you know, you don't get the red dress in the curly heart until right at the end.
Uh, two of my favorite scenes.
Number one, scene at the White House.
Very enjoyable.
After you are, was it true?
Yeah.
And the guy who played the secretary had it.
Yeah, yeah.
And I think I'm going to like it here.
Is probably my favorite scene in the whole deal.
That, that to me was the pinnacle of the performance.
I, my, would have to be that at the very end.
I don't want to give anything away.
But where, at, it gets real emotional.
And you could have heard a pin drop in that place.
That the very, very end.
That emotional scene is all I'm going to say to be kind of spoiler free.
Okay.
I dug every time the hand begins got together to do a verse of easy street.
Oh, yeah.
Just to watch her go off.
And you're never fully dressed without a smile.
It's pretty much my favorite song of the production.
But I just, I just love the the 1933 radio guy doing it.
Because he's just, you totally, you totally buy it.
And I'm kind of there with you with the, I don't need anything.
But you moment.
Yeah.
That's, that was a highlight.
Yeah.
When she finds out the truth about her parents.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It was so quiet in there.
And I'll say this.
This is great for the entire family.
Because there were kids among us everywhere.
And it was quiet.
They were into this thing.
They weren't rustling around talking.
Because they are the target them.
Yes.
They are.
Especially little girls.
Yeah.
Another song from the freaking show.
Little girls.
Anything else you all want to add for me because of the final analysis?
I'd highly recommend this for for families.
Again, it's, it's, it's really a family thing.
It's, it's, it's, it would be a tough one to take a date too.
Yeah.
Because I think they be kind of.
Right.
Why are we, you know, this seems like it's kind of.
They're not shooting for us.
They're shooting for those, the younger crowd.
And I got given out the win and truths again.
I just have to say that.
She was great.
She was absolutely great.
The way we do the final analysis on this show.
We don't give you letter grades.
Thumbs up thumbs down rankings.
Nothing like that.
Our audience.
The empire is better than that.
It's a two-prong question.
Question number one is, would you see this production again?
If the answer is no, then we're done here.
The answer is yes.
The question becomes, how far would you be willing to go?
How, how, where would you want to sit?
Chat.
We'll start with you.
Would you see this again?
I wouldn't mind seeing it again.
Absolutely.
Okay.
We'll just sit.
Boy, would I like to sit where we sat the other night?
Two, two rows in front of the symbol?
Yeah.
That was, that was quality.
We just use again.
Exactly what he just said.
We had the perfect spot there and it would be a perfect place to see it.
I thought.
I'm going to give this a very mellow.
Yes.
Okay.
Because for me, again, not a huge fan of the story, but it's good.
I enjoy the performances.
If I had nothing else going on and I was walking by and it was playing,
that's stopping.
I really wouldn't care where I was sitting.
I can't not recommend it.
I just, I'm not going to shout it from the mountain tops.
I'd like to go with a bunch of friends of mine that I was in the high school
production.
Fair enough.
That'd be, that'd be really cool.
I mean, I wouldn't know what the low expectations and I was blown away.
That's, well, we have.
We have different opinions, which is exactly.
And again, we got to think Cindy and everybody at the Winspir Opera House.
And everybody at ATT pack or provide us to this thing.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
Let's do the plug gentlemen.
Visit our website.
www.theclubhousepodcast.com.
Find out everything you need to know in some stuff you don't.
Like our page on Facebook.
Look up the clubhouse podcast, put the word podcast on the internet.
So they completely different.
Follow this show on Twitter at clubhouse show.
You can follow me on Twitter if you like.
I'm at yes that Rob Irvin that has spelled E RV.
I am at chat in PG69.
I'm at Fondongo and you can email me at Don at the clubhousepodcast.com.
Email Don for details on how we can do live remote shows for your particular business.
We love doing live remote shows.
You can email me if you like.
Questions, comments, concerns, tell me to go out and say and I am Rob at the clubhousepodcast.com.
I am Chad at theclubhousepodcast.com.
Charlotte Parker is on Pinterest because we are morally obligated to say that.
And Jules Womack also enjoyed this.
Yes, she did.
Our normal show every Sunday night and seventies are in for Pacific.
Is your one stop shop for all things sports and entertainment.
Or just keep subscribing on iTunes and you get everything anyway.
We hope you enjoyed this particular episode.
So until next time, for Don, for Chad, for the Empire, I'm Rob.
Clubhouse is closed.
Really struggling to put a Britney Palmer reference in here.
So I'll just say Britney Palmer, Britney Palmer, Britney Palmer, Britney Palmer.
The preceding was a sooner or later production.
Gotta go get a go!
Why? Because I have to.
See ya!