One of the most popular shows of the past 50 years — previously inspiring two big-budget movies and a 1999 TV adaptation — “Annie” is a staple of touring companies and regional theaters, and has received multiple Broadway revivals.
If anything, after another hard year of Covid restrictions and political upheaval, it was a treat to watch a lot of talented people gather in one place to sing and dance their way through a bipartisan fable about a ridiculously rich industrialist — and proud Republican — who becomes a better-rounded person when he takes in a good-hearted orphan who has compassion for the underprivileged.
This TV version was staged in front of a small studio audience rather than in a big theater; the more confined space may have contributed to the occasional gaffes in blocking, with actors or crew members momentarily obstructing shots.
There were a few flourishes, though, including a rousing rendition of one of the show’s best-known songs, “Hard Knock Life,” performed by children doing dynamic gymnastic moves.
And Scherzinger had one of the evening’s highlights with the dance number “We Got Annie,” a song that originated in the 1982 movie as a showcase for that production’s Grace, Ann Reinking, who died last December.
The show has been criticized over the years for taking so many liberties with Gray’s original comics, which were weighted more toward rollicking adventure than to domestic drama — and which often served as a platform for its author’s right-wing politics.
That may be why, aside from the multiracial cast and a pointed, crowd-pleasing, post-pandemic mention of “Broadway getting back on its feet,” NBC’s “Annie” stayed pretty firmly stuck in the past.
Nevertheless, it did resonate when Smith’s Annie sang, in “Maybe,” about the fulfilling life her birth parents might be living without her.
So perhaps it was only proper that this musical about earnest, plain-spoken yearning arrived on TV in 2021 — when it would hit the hardest — instead of in 2013.