Quvenzhané Wallis. Pronounced KWA-van-ja-nay. A little girl with a yell like no one else, and 2014’s new Annie.
The musical Annie has a history dating back to the 1920s and the New York Times. As a cartoon strip first printed in 1924, Little Orphan Annie really hit its stride in the 1930s during the Great Depression. Thoroughly ingrained in American pop culture, Annie is about the adventures of a red-headed orphan who charms her way into the life and affections of wealthy benefactor “Daddy” Warbucks.
The story of a plucky orphan girl was an easy escape from a world that was growing increasingly dark and grim. Annie went on adventures that reflected the history and culture of her time, bouncing from happiness with Daddy Warbucks to being kidnapped by terrorists, Communists, and bank thieves. She also had a stint running a troop of Junior Commandos to gather scrap metal for the WWII war effort. Creator Harold Gray wrote and drew for the strip until his death due to cancer in the late 60s. Little Orphan Annie stopped running in June 2010 since it was carried by less than 20 newspapers; some of Annie’s characters, though, have recently appeared in Dick Tracy.
The cartoon strip became a famous musical in 1977 with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. It was quickly nominated for eleven Tony Awards, winning seven. The musical was made into a movie in 1982 and then remade by Disney in 1999. It’s practically inescapable, and I’m pretty sure all of you have either heard or sang “Tomorrow” at some point (definitely guilty).
The character Annie in the comic strip is described by Gray as “Tougher than hell, with a heart of gold and a fast left.” She was used by Gray to talk about events on newspaper headlines and to support his conservative political beliefs. More street smart than book smart, Annie had the independence, savvy, and determination to survive on her own because Gray believed that if you worked hard and were a good person, you’d make it. So, for the most part, the strip was Annie against the world, armed with her fists, her dog, and her goodness of heart. Although both Aileen Quinn and Alicia Morton’s performances preserve this aspect of Annie, Quinn’s is a little more personable and gutsy.
What’s fascinating about the basic Annie story, as retold by the musical and the movies, is the way that the characters play off of each other. Each of them mirrors the other distinctly. Annie, Miss Hannigan, Rooster, and Lily St. Regis are all in the same situation that Warbucks started out in: impoverished and struggling to get by. Warbucks is a self-made billionaire along the lines of Andrew Carnegie; he was able to make it where the others weren’t. Annie still has faith that things can be better while Miss Hannigan’s lost it. When Miss Hannigan sings about hating little girls, the person she’s hating the most is herself. Annie’s willing to fight to make her life better. Miss Hannigan and St. Regis are sham glitz and glam whereas Grace is genuine glamour and Warbucks is genuine riches.
Rooster and St. Regis try to play the system to get to Easy Street — which, as Warbucks would tell them, isn’t easy at all. Grace is the one character who’s always seemed to live on Easy Street, but she is also the link from the orphanage to Warbucks’ mansion. The kindness of Grace Farrell is a link to Annie’s kindness of heart, the kindness that Miss Hannigan lacks for the orphans in her charge. And while Warbucks is gruff and sexist at first, Annie’s ability to play him — an ability that Rooster and St. Regis share — is what wins him over. The difference between them is that there’s no genuineness under Rooster and St. Regis’ moxie, only greed for what doesn’t belong to them. While goodness makes Warbucks, Grace, and Annie not only rich but willing to help each other, it also leaves them open for manipulation; whereas Rooster, Miss Hannigan, and St. Regis’ corruption means that they are doomed to failure.
Wallis’ performance as Hushpuppy in Beasts of the Southern Wild demonstrates her ability to play guts, anger, hope, and determination, all things that she’ll need for the role of Annie. In this modern update, the orphanage has turned into foster care, and Oliver Warbucks is now aspiring politician William Stacks. Hannigan makes a remarkable statement in one of the trailers: “The worst thing in the world that you can get is a little taste of something good, because it never lasts. And from then on out, the only thing that you can taste is not that taste.” It’s a reminder that hoping the sun will come out tomorrow is just that: hoping the sun will come out tomorrow. If you don’t work for better, you’re not going to have it. So, I’m looking forward to this movie coming out in December in order to see how it plays with these themes of wealth, poverty, and perseverance against all odds. Plus, Quvenzhané is a super cutie.