Cast of Garfield Center’s Annie at the Mainstay

The Garfield Center of the Arts and The Mainstay came together on Friday November 15, 2019 as the cast of the Garfield’s upcoming musical Annie took a little break from rehearsals to perform a few Musical Theatre songs at the Mainstay in Rock Hall.

It wasn’t hard to spot the members of the cast sitting in the audience waiting for their chance to perform, they were wearing a red T-shirt with Annie’s catch phrase “Leapin’ Lizards’ on the front and information about the musical on the back.

The performances included songs from Garfield musicals of the past and future, as well as musical theatre favorites from members of the Annie cast.

The show was presented in two sets. The first being numbers from previous musicals that have been presented at the Garfield, Sweeney Todd, My Fair Lady and last year’s Animal Crackers were performed. Some were revisited by those who performed at the songs at the Garfield. There were also performances by Annie cast members of their bucket list songs, such as Brad Chaires singing Trouble from the Music Man, and Max Hagan who was joined by Jennifer Kafka Smith for The Next 10 Minutes from The Last Five Years.

Jennifer Kafka Smith, the director of Annie, also directed Animal Crackers, and will direct the Garfield’s 2020 musical The Fantasticks. The second half of the show focused on the present and future with performances from Annie and The Fantasticks. A highlight of this section of the evening was the introduction of Augie who will be Sandy.

After the preview of a few songs from their upcoming show by the cast, the girls who play the orphans closed the show with So Long, Farwell from the The Sound of Music

The early 20th Century Comic W.C. Fields was quoted as saying, “Never work with animals or children.” Annie has both, but it’s obvious that the adult members of the cast is not having a problem with this.

Annie, the Musical opens at the Garfield Center on November 22th and runs for three weekend. The Friday and Saturday shows are a a special earlier time of 7pm, with the Sunday matinee at 2pm. For more information about Annie, the Musical at the Garfield visit their Website at GarfieldCenter.org

It’s a great family show so bring out the kids.

More photos from Annie at the Mainstay can be seen at the Facebook page ShoreToBeFun Photographs

Information about the Mainstay and their upcoming events can be found at MainstayRockHall.org

Editor’s Note:
Steve Atkinson is also the Stage Manager for Annie, the Musical at the Garfield.