Disney Plus has this excellent adaptation of "Annie" as a stand-alone movie within its ranks at the moment, and my alphabetical trawl through the site has now landed on it.
Little Orphan Annie (Alicia Morton) is temporarily reprieved from her life of drudgery at Miss Hannigan's (Kathy Bates) orphanage, when as part of a P. R stunt, she spends Christmas with local magnate and millionaire Oliver Warbucks (Victor Garber) who eventually comes to care for her. Two con-artists, Daniel Hannigan (Alan Cumming) and Lily St Regis (Kristen Chenoworth) spy an opportunity to make some money, so attempt to convince Warbucks that they are Annie's long missing parents.
I appreciated the way that this adaptation of the musical was set up. It's obviously done on a budget, so the bones of the film are single sets that look like they could be the stage production. Much of the bigger set pieces, such as "Hard Knock Life" and "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here" look like they're lifted, choreography and all, from a stage version. There are some wider shots though, using what I suspect is a combination of back lot work and location shooting in L. A.
The cast is particularly impressive. Bates is primarily an dramatic actor, rather than a musical star (though she has song several times and is good here) but the triumvirate of Garber, Cumming and Chenoworth and all legendary Broadway performers and seeing them together on one film is pretty special. It's unfortunate that Alicia Morton hasn't been working much since, as she's good here. Sarah Hyland features as one of the other orphans and is given quite a bit to do.
It's really a lovely version and I'm glad to see that the number of film performances of musicals (even though this strictly isn't one of those) being recorded for prosperity is growing. I can't really remember any of the other version of the story, so for now, I'll just conclude by saying that this was an enjoyable time.
