Yesterday, I went with a friend to see Annie! the musical, performed by our local children’s musical theater.

The production was put on in the ampitheater of a church, and they put on a great show.

The only time I was pulled away from the story was when, during intermission, I became aware that it was the first time I had been in a gathering of people in nearly two years except the one time we flew. That was a little jarring. The only reminder of the pandemic was everyone in a mask - actors on stage had mostly clear masks that did not take away from the performance.

But, the show, the show! Annie! is a story about an orphan girl, but it is also a story about policy and inequality. Mr. Warbucks has all the money and is dealing with completely different problems than the rest of the cast. Beggars on the street had been comfortable in their lives before - the most frightening part of the story to me. Annie and her friends are orphans because of poverty and disease, but they still have fun, and Annie has optimism. She just knows that things are fine and getting better. She knows it and makes it so. Our version has no dog and no visit to the president, but the story works out smoothly.

I had not, until yesterday, realized how many references to national politics were in the songs of the play. Admittedly, I have not seen the musical or the movie very much. So, I looked it up. I was shocked to learn that in Annie! contemporary time - the 1930s - Annie! was a newspaper comic strip, and it had a completely different message. The comic strip, I don’t think, would have had any kind of celebration of the New Deal. I was also surprised that the musical did not come out until the 1970s. That means that the writers who plucked Annie! and Daddy Warbucks out of the comic strip and onto broadway already knew the policy outcomes of the New Deal. They had the benefit of hindsight that government programs for jobs and food could help people struggling after the Great Depression. They should have also known that Herbert Hoover became president after leading efforts to alleviate hunger and poverty as a private citizen, so he probably was a little more complicated. Alas, you only have so much nuance you can pack into a play.

Relating back to the actual performance - everyone is a volunteer: cast, crew, organizers. The ticket prices are used to pay for materials needed to make the show go on - lights, props, costumes. There are only a few people on stage, but so many behind the scenes. Without those people, we would have no show.

Great show by the local kiddos. I am so glad to have gone.