Martin Charnin and Annie — Page 2

It should also be noted that Denhert's Annie had another ending that is worth noting. Strouse loved the Trinity Rep Annie and asked subsequently asked the director to work with him on his next work, You Never Know. They worked closely for over a year on the project, which ultimately failed, though the collaboration was a happy one.

GavestonPS said: "Well, that leaves Charles Strauss to break the tie, doesn't it? IIRC, in his autobiography of a few years ago, Strauss says the idea that Nichols "really" directed ANNIE was always a myth. He says Nichols was usually busy doing producer stuff while Charnin directed the show.

Yes, I LOVE MY WIFE has four true characters, but the orchestra is onstage and plays a small chorus of moving men. The men (they were all male in the original) have two songs of their own, including the one showstopper: "Hey, There, Good Times". It was all a very clever way of making a very small show fit into a medium-size Broadway house.

The original ANNIE struck me as erratic in style and narrative. It began with a realistically shabby "Hooverville" then wandered until Annie came down the stairs in her famous red dress during the title number--you know, like that OTHER show where the heroine comes down the stairs in a red dress during the title number. To me it was never sure whether it was social commentary, comic book farce, or parody.

Both shows were and are trifles, IMO, but had I been a Tony voter, I might well have voted for Gene Saks as Best Director of a Musical.

I remembered the orchestra being onstage after I posted. And I agree with everything you wrote. I would definitely have voted for Gene Saks. (I also would have voted for ILMW in many categories). I also thought the best musical performance that season was by Lennie Baker, who was just wonderful and who we both assumed was going to be a huge star. What a shame he died so young.

Anecdote: I saw Annie a few days before it opened; I enjoyed a lot of it, but was also bored at times, thought more than a few of the numbers were real Tier 2 - 3, thought some of the direction was sloppy. Ultimately, neither my wife and I could get excited about it. (Over the years, we have probably seen it 4 - 5 more times and always had the same reaction). The day before the original production opened, a friend who was visiting NYC called to say that he had an opportunity to get a ticket for opening night in a good seat and what did I think. If he didn't see this, he was going to see the revival of Anna Christie with Liv Ullmann, which I think was also in previews. Well, we both had the same reaction. 'It's cute, the girl playing Annie is terrific, Dorothy Loudon mugs too much, it'll be closed in 6 months. Don't bother.' Well, boy was he annoyed. He was bored out of his mind for three hours of poorly staged O'Neill. Luckily, when he finally saw Annie, he had the same reaction as us, with one exception. He thought we were out of our mind for not loving Loudon.