WITH recent banking disasters and rising unemployment fresh in all our minds the story of little orphan Annie still holds sway.

The saccharine sweet musical is ultimately uplifting, but it is set in the depths of the 1930s Depression. We meet homeless in Hooverville, we hear about the aggressive actions of German chancellor Adolf Hitler and we spend a night with impoverished orphanage ruled over by the drunk and untrustworthy Miss Hannigan.

It would be utter doom and gloom if not for ever-optimist Annie (Lydia Tunstall), whose plucky determination helps her find happiness.

When the show premiered on Broadway in 1977 the New York Times said: “To dislike the new musical Annie would be tantamount to disliking motherhood, peanut butter, friendly mongrel dogs and nostalgia”.

He was half right.

Chris Moreno’s production is enjoyable and the ensemble cast shone, but you won’t go to Hell if you find the unashamedly old-fashioned and sentimental storyline a bit much.

While Su Pollard was a comic Miss Hannigan, David McAlister was a superb Oliver ‘Daddy’ Warbucks and more than matched by Simone Craddock as Grace Farrell.

If the first act felt too long, the second was a marked improvement. Things really came to life in Warbucks' mansion and the final 15 minutes were dazzling.

Annie runs at the Malvern Theatres until Saturday, October 24.