NBC's ANNIE LIVE! (2021) - News & Discussion Thread — Page 22

Is anyone else having sound issues or just me? Every time they sing more loudly, the sound cuts out a bit.

I’m pausing here and watching act 2 tomorrow. Thought act 1 was enjoyable enough. I just feel like these live musicals always struggle to get a real flow going with all the horrid commercial breaks.

The little girl who plays Molly is a real scene stealer.

Alan Toy!

Jordan Levinson said: "Gotta love Jacob Keith Watson and Anastacia McCleskey in the Cabinet."

Love seeing Ben Davis too!!

The red dress looks GORGEOUS on Celina.

I don't know the stage show well, but was that Maybe reprise from the musical or written for Connick?

Loved this. I could belabor the few things that didn’t work for me, but I’ll just say it’s just what I needed.

Since Dee Dee had been playing Eleanor Beth would be great. Eleanor was added for the film that added a lot of stuff. She is not in the stage show. I've done it three times.

That was an enjoyable few hours. Happy holidays to all.

I had to turn this off over an hour ago. It is so terribly directed. The kids are SCREAMING all of their lines…actually much of the book scenes are a lot of yelling. The sets have been uniformly exceptional for resent live musicals but this feels so..basic?

Taraji P Henson is giving a master class in what NOT to do on stage. Her ad libs don’t work and she hasn’t made a single coherent acting choice, she’s just making weird sounds. I didn’t laugh once during Little Girls. And her ad libbing doesn’t work and completely messes with the timing of the scenes. She’s just painful to watch here.

Nicole Scherziger dances beautifully, but she’s trying to incorporate pop star phrasing into her vocals and it doesn’t work for this music. It completely threw off the tempo in I Think Im Gonna Like it Here. And it was just bizarre in We Got Annie (though the ridiculous forced belt/riffing from Mrs Pew in that number takes the cake in terms of out of place vocals. My house burst out laughing). Scherzinger has a killer voice and I wish she would have given in to the style of the piece.


I was so looking forward to this musical tonight, especially considering the creative teams previous successes. But this was a miss. We are just watching clips from the OG movie instead.



shout out to Megan Hilty who was pitch perfect as Lily St Regis.

"Easy Street" reminded us what the show was/is. But the ugly designs -- that vacuous studio with floating dinner theater/TV special sets, period-indifferent costuming, bad wigs -- squelch too much of the good. Putting an dimly lit audience around the action -- but what, 100 feet away? -- just felt bizarre. And then suddenly, there's an "Annie Live!" sign illuminated during an intimate moment. It still looks like a promo with highlights rather than the broadcast. Nothing hung together. Direction, concept, and overall tackiness genuinely disappointed. The 1930s offer a chance for a slice of authentic urban Americana (Google the original). Nothing came close to that.

So they do a backup taping?


I’ve always felt they should just tape the specials period. Instead of doing it “live.”


I’m assuming the soundtrack is recorded in advance?


I wish Nicole would’ve taken the role in Cats (the Broadway revival) years ago.