Annie: Tim Burton Style.. The Regals present a different production starring our favourite orphan

 The Regals Musical Society is a community-based, non-profit group in Sydney, Australia and have been producing musical shows for over sixty years. AussieTheatre.com caught up with Meg Day – director of the current show, Annie to ask some questions about auditioning children, casting children and rehearsing with children for a community show. 

 The Regals Musical Society is a community-based, non-profit group in Sydney, Australia and have been producing musical shows for over sixty years. AussieTheatre.com caught up with Meg Day – director of the current show, Annie to ask some questions about auditioning children, casting children and rehearsing with children for a community show.   Annie needs a really strong children’s cast – how many kids auditioned for the show?We had about 90 to 100 kids audition for the show.  How daunting was the task of auditions?It was incredibly daunting. I think I am actually more nervous as a director on audition day, than I am as a performer. In community theatre we have such a short time frame to get the right people for the right roles. Annie auditions, however, brought a whole new set of challenges. The most obvious was the number of children (in particular) we saw. Thankfully, we had a very good system in place and we were able categorize children in roles quite quickly making the casting process slightly easier (or at least more organized).  Another challenge was making the auditions a fun process for the children and in doing so getting their best performances. We saw so many nervous children that clearly were not performing at their best purely because of nerves, so taking the time to settle them and make them feel comfortable became important.   Were your decisions regarding the casting of the kids fairly clear cut or did it take a long time to decide?Yes and no. When it came to casting our two Annies is was very clear cut. Both Zoe and Morgan stood out from a very talented pool of children as “our” Annies. Both girls have amazing voices and the acting abilities especially when you consider their ages. However, when it came to casting the other six named orphans, we had an incredibly tough time. I think at call backs we had about 25 – 30 girls all auditioning for various roles and all of them had great potential. In the end, it came down which girls worked best with each other and also what skills and personalities different girls could bring to different roles.  What is your vision for the show? I think one way the production is being described is, “Annie – Tim Burton Style” which is true, but it is much deeper than that. Our production seeks to emphasise the reality of New York during the Great Depression. We’re not doing this to make Annie into some morbid and twisted tale, but rather to highlight how truly amazing and powerful the innocence, imagination, and hope of a child can be. To do this we’re creating two completely different worlds – the world of the “everyman” in NYC during 1933 and the world of the affluent Daddy Warbucks.  To do this we will utlise the elements of musical theatre and the big classic show stopping numbers as well as taking elements from Tim Burton’s style. Therefore Hooverville and the orphanage is a black and white world where any sign of colour is muted (think: Corpse Bride). The actors don’t do any showy dance numbers and move in a very realistic and downtrodden way. On the other Warbucks’ Mansion, Fifth Avenue and The Whitehouse are filled with colour, surreal objects (think: Willy Wonka) and the characters dancing and movement is simply spectacular. Hopefully this will allow us to capture the show through Annie’s eyes and in doing so celebrate the resilience and importance of a child’s optimism, innocence and joy. 
How have rehearsals been so far?They’ve been great! We’re getting to a very exciting stage. As of Sunday the cast will have learnt everything they need to and we will begin the process of refining. This is the stage of rehearsals I love. The scripts start being put down and the characters come to life. We have about 7 weeks to refine and that is just a really gratifying and awesome place to be in.  What are the challenges that the production team have encountered with such a large cast of kids?The thing I have been most surprised by is how often children need to go to the toilet. Second to that, I think the biggest challenge is how much time they need to review and how much longer the “learning” process is. Thankfully, we’ve prepared for that and we have 7 weeks to refine and drill. The other challenge is working with children in the evening when they’re exhausted and their attention is dwindling is quite the task. To counter this, we have been doing a lot of focus and acting games with the girls and I think it is paying off. One aim of our production was to give the girls skills that would enhance their abilities as performers and I think we have achieved this to the benefit of the show.  Any final words?I feel like the Annie is going to be something very special. I’m so grateful to be working with such a talented cast. The Adult Ensemble is fantastic, and people like Michele Lansdown, Jessica Shirley, Adelie Battam, Lachlan O’Brien and Brad Clarke are bringing their characters to life with every rehearsal and everytime I see that happen I become more and more excited about this show. Further to that, it has been a very rewarding experience to watch the children blossom into young, talented and confident performers and even more rewarding to see them enjoy every minute of rehearsals. To book tickets to this production call:

0449 REGALS (0449 734 257)