Media and Trailers
Annie Berkeley reviews
Broadway GR's Annie ... YAY! Fabulous memory!!!
I just had a fabulous time today with JoJo. She knew she was getting a surprise for her 11th birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa (she was told it wasn't here yet which was truthful) ... the car parked behind the courthouse (parallel parking on the street only took me tongue emoticon 3-5 minutes but the wait in line for parking ramp would have taken much longer so we walked). Her seeing all the signs for the RV show at DeVos Center as we headed there, she guessed that we were going get something for camping ... lol. She was sweet but you could see confusion as I told her that I really thought she would love her surprise ... it was going to be a great memory. She kept asking and I simply replied "I don't want to ruin the surprise so please just wait to see it". When we went into the DeVos Performance Hall doors ... she saw the signs inside and I watched her process ... you could see it finally "click" ... and her smile was so beautiful! Tickets to her first Broadway Musical - "Annie" and in fabulous seats. I was pleased that it was so well performed and interestingly staged. I wanted her first "broadway" musical to be wonderful. She loved it. I loved experiencing it through her eyes ... what wonderful memories! I have my days as a cool "old" person. Getting the tickets through ticketmaster online was easy too. We knew exactly what we were paying, where we would be seated, etc. Afterward, I bought her a cute Annie pin to wear on whatever she chooses later and as a keepsake of the event. (wanted the locket but when asked about it ... was told it was "just metal" and the woman wouldn't say nay to turning her skin green). Afterward, we walked to watch the ice skaters in Rosa Circle and walked all of safe downtown Grand Rapids. Her hair was fabulous and she was dressed simply like casual college (coverage was age appropriate) ... fashionably great. Then we walked back to the car and headed off to watch the new Annie movie in the theater (the rest of my birthday present).Now headed for sleep..finally succumbing to our Icee and buttered popcorn junk food comas. How many kids can say that they saw the Broadway Annie and the new movie of Annie all in the same day?
Seats could be better, but good show.
Bought tickets to show support for our new performing arts center (so that we get more quality shows in the future). Venue was good, show itself was great.
Only issue I had was purchasing tickets -- checked here on Ticketmaster within the hour when the tickets became available (as far as I was aware) and at that point, only mezzanine seats were available for purchase. Would have wanted an orchestra seat but none was available. I highly doubt it sold out within the hour (after all, this isn't Hamilton ...) but you can't purchase any orchestra seats. Sure enough, on show night, there were quite a few seats available in the orchestra. It would've been nice if they had opened up those seats for purchase as well (or maybe I was just missing something here).
Enjoyed the show otherwise. The cast and the orchestra did a great job. The performing arts center was beautiful and I'm really glad that we have something like this in the Valley now. Hopefully this is the start of more shows available to watch.
Anyway, in short: venue and show's great, ticket purchasing is a little frustrating.
More like a community theater.
Annie is a classic musical that I have seen many times in different settings. I did not enjoy this version as many as others due to the lack of correography and the forced nasal voices of the children's characters. There was minimal dancing and the dancing that was done was very simplistic. Annie and Molly had very forced, nasal voices to the point it became like fingernails on a chalkboard. This was not what I expected from a national touring production. That being said, the sets were very well done as well as transitions between scenes. The orchestra was also very good.