She's not our little goil anymore, but ... Perpetual pixie? Crinkly, twinkly kewpie doll, even in matronly mode? Betty Boop-ish imp, even vamping with vaudevillian villainy?
In simple Archie-speak: Gee, this ol' LaSalle runs great.
Sally Struthers' considerable likability, coupled with audience goodwill she carries over as Archie's Daddy-eeeeeeeee!-squealing daughter, Gloria "Mrs. Meathead" Stivic, in seminal '70s sitcom All in the Family, propels a vivacious Annie to near Broadway-esque heights and delights at UNLV.
Nevada Conservatory Theatre's multi-experiential mounting of the much-produced (locally and elsewhere) 1977 musical—boasting a Las Vegas Academy Annie with spunk to spare (Brittany Maloney) and a cluster of cherubic, leg-kickin' (Rockettes-style!) orphans, strong support from UNLV drama students and the pro's panache of Struthers, director (and UNLV's own) Glenn Casale and a crackerjack, all-union, 28-piece orchestra—justifiably played to sold-out, family-oriented houses last weekend, and likely will for the next two. Struthers sallies forth grandly through her role as orphanage meanie Miss Hannigan, a part she's played on national tour, but even more impressive is the aura she casts over the entire NCT/UNLV theater operation.
It's too lazy and entirely too nasty to aim cheap potshots at Struthers, whose awareness campaigns on behalf of disadvantaged children have been satirized by the likes of Saturday Night Live, her weight fluctuations the subject of snotty media asides, piled atop snarky comments about a career that fell off steeply from Family's lofty, landmark status (how many performers even reach that high of a high?) to regional theater and background roles in Gilmore Girls and Still Standing. As Struthers told Sun feature writer Kristen Peterson, "The dry spells have killed me. I would like a television series that would last five years so I could pay off my bills and maybe take a vacation."
But Struthers' willingness to work alongside Vegas actors and students (she was invited by Casale to perform here) radiated from the stage and out into an audience more pumped than I've seen around town in some time, especially during the curtain call, Struthers' face beaming as our own performers took their bows. The ripple effects of such validation for local efforts can't be overstated, nor can Struthers' generosity of spirit.
As a musical, the comic strip-inspired Annie—set in the Great Depression, with Annie taken in by Daddy Warbucks from the orphanage run by evil Miss Hannigan, as a search is launched for her parents, while Hannigan and her rapscallion brother cook up a con to reap the reward money—is as proudly, unabashedly cornball as they come. It's so sugary-sweet that if you don't stroke out as the little darlings cavort to "It's the Hard Knock Life" and Annie declares her gosh-darn belief in "Tomorrow," you may want to search for your name in the obits.
C'mon, Annie even kick-starts FDR's New Deal.
Struthers embodies Hannigan as the play's tart, comic punctuation, her bitterly funny lines laced with spin, sharp physical shtick precisely timed, right down to her Snidely Whiplash bullying of the girls and the headaches she gives herself with every shrill, angry toot of her whistle. Voice trilling with venom, she rips the limbs off a doll with wicked glee during "Little Girls," and her singin'-dancin' strut through the jaunty "Easy Street" lacks only a straw hat, cane and cry of "Maestro, if you please!"
As 11-year-old Annie, 15-year-old Maloney still scores on the adorability scale. She's a barrelful of cute, crossed with impish bravado. And she manages to steady the trembling hind quarters of Daisy, the dog that couldn't shake its stage fright as Sandy the mutt. UNLV acting honcho Phil Hubbard brings the initially indifferent Daddy Warbucks around to Annie worship too quickly, but his portrayal is a charmer: a gruff, bighearted blowhard with a benign bark and booming voice, especially when it takes to singing "I Don't Need Anything But You."
Richard Harvey choreographs the kids in a style both precise and precocious, and Xu Zheng He's sets, from neon-lit NYC to Warbucks' green and gold mansion to FDR's oval office, are evocative backdrops.
But NCT's marquee guest artist is the primary draw, and she isn't merely performing. She's instructing and inspiring, and that lifts the local scene.
With Sally in Annie, everybody pulls their weight. Gee, the ol' LaSalle runs great.
These are the days.