Annie Live!

Aside from some excellent dancers, especially those young girls doing leaps and walk-overs, I didn't think much of this. It felt like a high school production. Did we really need 4 productions of Annie. I'd love for them to do Mame with Cher. Now that would be something to see.

Celine, the lead, in real life is the right age, but she looked too old. I'm sure she was hired because she has a HUGE voice. Unfortunately, her songs are belted out without texture or sensitivity. Yelling out a note and being able to hold a note longer than most singers doesn't lead to a valuable musical experience for the audience. Taraji, playing a role meant to be overacted, overacted the role to an embarrassing degree.

Harry Connick mailed in his part, and he and Celine had zero chemistry. I have always enjoyed this musical, but in this case I couldn't wait for it to end. These "live" broadcasts usaully do not work so well. The best thing about this live production is that it wasn't as bad as The Little Mermaid live production.

I highly enjoyed watching the bearded guy show up in almost every scene in a different role. Also this was one of the best live productions that NBC has done.

Ms. Hannigan severely over acted, and unless my ears deceived me, farted as she sat on the couch (I rewound that 5 times to confirm). I've always been a Harry Connick, Jr. Fan, but his acting left a lot to be desired. Annie herself was super cute, but I'm not a fan of scream singing. None of the actors had chemistry. Regardless, a fun watch, and kudos to the ensemble for the live performance!

What's not to hate?

Bad singing, bad acting, bad casting, bad sound, bad makeup (a rubber skullcap? Really), and bad directing make this a living horror.

The high notes sounded more like squealing than singing. It's sad to think that people will think of this production as the definitive ANNIE without ever having seen the 1982 film version.

This Annie is way to big and old looking. BLEH.