As one of the highlights of the 1st Macao International Children’s Arts Festival, the Broadway classic Annie the Musical will make its Asian debut in Macau, with 12 performances between Friday and August 14, in the Macau Cultural Centre’s (CCM) Grand Auditorium, and the production team said during a meet-the-press event yesterday it hopes to bring the following message to the audience: “Just be yourself, be optimistic and the sun will come out tomorrow”.
Under the patronage of the Secretariat for Social Affairs and Culture and organised by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) in conjunction with various local entities, the first edition of the Macao International Children’s Arts Festival was launched on July 21, with a two-month programme that includes a mix of performing arts, Broadway musicals, art exhibitions, film screenings, large-scale outdoor installations, art camps, masterclasses, workshops, and arts carnivals.
The bureau held the meet-the-press event yesterday afternoon at the Macau Cultural Centre in which the Annie production team and various performers together with canine performer Kevin to talk about the highlights and behind-the-scenes stories of the musical, including its programme manager – Heather Chockley, and actors – Rainey Trevino as Annie, Stefanie Londino as Miss Hannigan, and Christopher Swan as Oliver Warbucks.
Featuring classic tunes like Tomorrow and It’s the Hard Knock Life, the musical – debuted on Broadway in 1977 – tells the inspirational adventure story of Annie, an orphan girl who fights against her fate, “determined to find her parents, fleeing from the evil clutches of Miss Hannigan, the orphanage’s spiteful mistress, little Annie escapes to the wondrous world of New York City. There, she finds a new family at Oliver Warbuck’s mansion—a lonely, eccentric billionaire that will change her life forever,” the bureau said in a statement, which noted that adapted from Harold Gray’s comic strip “Little Orphan Annie”, the musical won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and was the third longest running Broadway musical in the 1970s.
“Just be yourself, be optimistic – As like Annie says in the show, the sun will come out tomorrow, which means every cloud has a silver lining. Anything that seems bad in the moment, it’s only that moment. It’s more or less likely that it’s going to be over within a little bit. But stay strong, be optimistic. Things may not always turn out how you want them to, but you can always try to find the bright side of that,” 13-year-old Trevino said during yesterday afternoon’s meeting with the press, adding that her message was addressed to “any girl anywhere”.
By staging the family-friendly musical, which has been performed in Europe and North America over 2,000 times, but in Asia and, consequently, in Macau for the first time, the production team stressed that “it’s the same show” as the one staged in North America, adding that the only difference between the performance in North America and Macau was that some subtitles will be shown on the side of the stage here: “We didn’t have to make very many adjustments at all it is the same show that you would see in North America”.
The team arrived in Macau from the US to perform, and Kevin the dog also flew in from the US by special arrangement, and its members told the local media that they were full of excitement looking forward to meeting the Macau audience, including Trevino, who said that as she grows older, she may not be able to play the role of Annie again, but passing the torch to the next girl so that different actresses would have the chance to carry the story forward, while she might then play other characters in the show.
Broadway musical Annie’s actors Christopher Swan as Oliver Warbucks (from second left to right), Rainey Trevino as Annie, Stefanie Londino as Miss Hannigan, and programme manager Heather Chockley speak to an MC (left) during yesterday’s meet-the-press event at the Macau Cultural Centre (CCM) in Nape. – Photos: Yuki Lei
The show’s little actors pose with the alphabet cards for the 1st Macao International Children’s Arts Festival, after the event.
Members of the show’s production team, including canine performer Kevin (front), pose after yesterday’s event.
