KINGSBRIDGE Community College put on their annual production last week, this year bringing the musical ‘Annie’ to the stage.

As everyone filtered into the main hall, you could feel the excitement building. Anyone who has seen a KCC production before knows how professional they are and with a classic like Annie, we knew we were in for something special.

The parts of Annie, Miss Hannigan and Grace were all played by two different actors, taking it in turns, the version I saw had Ella Crossland as the irrepressible orphan Annie, Lucy Booker as the mean alcoholic orphanage supervisor Miss Hannigan and Charlie Matheson as Grace, the secretary to the richest man in New York City, Oliver Warbucks.

As the theatre lights go down, you notice how much the scene can be set with a few clever props, and as Ella begins ‘Maybe’ to comfort a fellow orphan, you are sucked into the Hudson Street orphanage and forget you’re in a school hall.

The other orphans, played by Scarlett Postance, Jaz Doyle, Freya Harrow, Libby Rodwell-Lynn, Anna Rew and Zoe Taylor broke hearts with their sad existence and raised laughs with their jokes at Miss Hannigan’s expense.

Lucy Brooker made a fantastic Miss Hannigan, making you hate the character as she abuses the young girls in her care, and laugh at her clever asides to the audience.

When Grace - Charlie Matheson - arrives at the orphanage, sent by Oliver Warbucks to find an orphan to spend Christmas at his mansion, Ella’s comic timing as Annie is on show and she is whisked away to get a new coat and spend time with the billionaire.

Later we meet the conman brother of Miss Hannigan, Rooster, and his girlfriend Lily, played by Dan Sinclair and Ellie Trelfa-Stewart. They try to persuade Miss Hannigan to lend them money, before hearing that Oliver Warbucks has offered a $50,000 reward for Annie’s parents and concoct a plan to impersonate them, claim Annie, take the reward and make the young red-head disappear.

Meanwhile, Annie has met President Roosevelt, played fantastically by Ella Martin, and performed on the radio.

The singing in the production was amazing from start to finish, all those with solos had incredible voices and the whole cast and company were a joy to watch and listen to with superb choreography.

If you haven’t seen Annie, I won’t spoil the ending for you, but it is worth watching, although if you weren’t lucky enough to watch the KCC performance, you’re definitely missing something.

Directed by Martin Lewis and supported by Rob Courtice and ex-pupil Joe Tapper, the whole production was slick, professional, and a joy to watch.

Finishing with a well-deserved standing ovation from the audience, Annie at Kingsbridge Community College proved once again that we have some very talented young people in our area and if you should never miss a chance to go and see one of their productions.

Unfortunately, our photographer went to the production on a different day that our reporter, so the actors playing Annie, Miss Hannigan and Grace are different in the photos and the review.