Charm Helps Keep ‘Annie’ Forever Young

What’s to be done with Annie? The cartoon moppet is now a senior citizen, and it looks as though the Broadway musical about her adventures will live as long. Even with its simplistic book, its blaring score and cardboard characters, leapin’ lizards, it’s still a real audience pleaser.

“Annie” retains its sense of humor and verve at Servite Theater (at Servite High School in Anaheim) in a revival by Front Row Center, described in the program as “a Youth and Young Adult Civic Light Opera production,” directed by Daniel Halkyard.

No one is the cast is older than 21, but that doesn’t matter. It’s a staging that will please all audiences, despite a bit of overplaying in spots, some mugging along the line, all those terribly cute-as-a-button orphans and a pretty clunky pit band under the direction of John E. Hall III.

Most important, of course, is Annie, played here by Ashlee Gillespie with charm and an ever-present grin. Gillespie has a good voice, but neither it nor she is quite brassy enough for this very pushy, albeit adorable, kid. She’s best in Annie’s gentler moments.

Better suited to his role is T.J. Dawson as Daddy Warbucks. He and Gillespie sparkle when they’re onstage together, singing, dancing and just getting to know each other. Dawson is a sure and spiky performer, and he is Warbucks to the tip of his billionaire head. He even gives some hints of how his name really derives from the way he made his fortune.

Another standout is Ian Norton as con man Rooster Hannigan, who knows how to put pizazz into a vaudevillian number like “Easy Street.” It is the show’s highlight, which Hannigan does with his sister, the nasty Miss Hannigan, and his doxy, Lily St. Regis. Miss Hannigan, whose orphanage Annie finally manages to escape, is played full out by Suzanne Wachman, in an effective turn that never is quite as edgy as it could be but still works. Julia Loofbourrow’s gum-chewing Lily is just right, kind of sleazy but pleasant.

Carly Frenzel couldn’t be better in her laid-back approach as Warbucks’ secretary, and Danny Blaylock’s slimy radio emcee Bert Healy is as right on for the period as Chris Olson’s ever-so-slightly pompous Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Daniel Dawson stands out for his very ‘30s caricature of an uptight, stuffy butler who is unable to hide his sense of fun.

BE THERE

“Annie,” Servite Theater, 1952 W. La Palma Ave., Anaheim. 8 p.m. today-Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. $10-$14. Ends Sunday. (714) 772-2664. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.