Ottawa’s production of ‘Annie’ carries message of optimism, hope

As sure as the audience will be told “The Sun Will Come Up Tomorrow,” the curtain will be going up on three performances of the legendary play “Annie” at Ottawa High School this weekend.

“It’s a good story with a good message, one of resilience and how to persevere, and overall the message is one of hope. Annie is always optimistic and brings a lot of happiness to everyone she meets.”

—  Suzannah Walter, Ottawa High School director

OHS director Suzannah Walter feels though the story have been around awhile – based on the 1924 comic strip and turned into a musical in 1977 with the music of Charles Strouse, lyrics of Martin Chamin and a book by Thomas Meehan – the underlying message of hope still resonates with those who have already seen it and those seeing it for the first time.

“It’s a family favorite, but the funny thing is,” Walter said, “is that when we announced it, some of the kids were familiar with it or knew just the name of it, but some didn’t know even that because it’s a little bit old. But when they went home and told their family, the parents were very excited. I’m sure a lot of them were like me, that ‘Annie’ was one of the first musicals I ever got to see up in Chicago when I was, way back in 1982.

“It’s a good story with a good message, one of resilience and how to persevere, and overall the message is one of hope. Annie is always optimistic and brings a lot of happiness to everyone she meets.”

The play will be presented at 7 p.m. Friday and at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday in the school auditorium. Tickets are only available at the door for $10, $5 for students, children, seniors and military.

It helped Walter make her choice of the project that “Annie” would have a large enough cast of quality characters to accommodate many of her talented students.

And while fitting the right student to the right character was somewhat difficult, the choice of sophomore Maggie Weigman to play the title role was fairly easy.

“Maggie is Annie, that’s all I can say,” Walter said with a laugh, “and people that come to see her will know it too. … I really believe we have everyone in their perfect spot. At rehearsal the other day, it was like, wow, everyone is where they need to be, working hard, bringing their energy and focus every night. It’s so much fun working with this cast.”

That cast has had fun raiding their own closets to augment the Depression Era clothing lent by the Illinois Valley Community College Drama Department, so the look will be there.

So will the sounds, by instrument and voice. The music will be provided from the pit by the Ottawa’s own orchestra, under the direction of OHS band instructor Andrew Jacobi.

“This is a huge, huge undertaking for my first musical at the high school,” Walter said, “but it’s been a pleasure working with Ali Stachowicz, the choir director who has the kids so well prepared it’s just amazing … Overall, with cast, crew and musicians, we have over 60 students involved, so it’s really a family affair.

“It truly is for everybody. I’ve heard people say they’re going to bring their grandkids, bring their entire family from grandma and grandpa to the little ones. It will be fun to offer this up to the community.”

The student involved in the cast, crew and orchestra are Alayna Adams, Cayden Brady, Aries Brown, Atlas Brown, Tobias Burkey, Chloe Carmona, Lucas Conley, Eugenia Craig, Marley Deddo, Abby Dominis, Shelby Domoleczny, Callie Etscheid, Andrea Espinoza, Molly Ewen and Lindsey Fabris.

Evan Farrell, Sean Farrell, Laurel Fisher, Ace Foster, Lucy Frye, Katelynn Gray, Malcolm Gretencord, Sam Halterman, Kyle Hobbs, Cheyenne Jeffries, Sadie Johnson, Maggie Jones, Addie Kanellis, Noah Logan and Halle Loza.

Becca Lynch, Mia Misener, Zulee Moreland, Robert Murphy, Daphne Northrip, Logan Olson, Evelin Olvera, Zadie Ortiz, Luke Passwater, David Phillips, Bethany Polega, Kara Power, Olivia Power, Allie Quinn and Lylah Rainey.

Alex Reed, Cheyenne Russo, RJ School, Josh Serna, Paisley Smith, AJ Sodaro, Jenalyn Starr, Audrey Sturmer, Payton Taylor, Charlie Thiry, Mickey Tobias, Sureness Voight, Marr Walker, Ava Wagner, Cayla Weygand, Kenny Weigman and Maggie Weigman.