Annie

Annie

Beverly S. Sheffield Zilker Hillside Theatre, 2206 William Barton Dr., www.zilker.org

Through Aug. 14

Running time: 2 hr., 20 min.

Few American musicals are as beloved as the Thomas Meehan/Charles Strouse/Martin Charnin collaboration Annie, and nothing could attest to this fact more than the overflow crowd that I encountered upon arriving close to curtain time on the second night of the 52nd annual Zilker Summer Musical's run at the Hillside Theater. Despite the rainy weather and the better than 90-degree heat, people were seated all over the cliffs and far to the right and left sides of the stage. And with good reason. With more than a half-dozen memorable songs, including "Maybe," "It's the Hard Knock Life," "Easy Street," "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile," and the perennially popular "Tomor­row" among them, and with the Cinderella story about the little red-haired orphan miraculously chosen to spend Christmas with and ultimately adopted by the billionaire Oliver Warbucks, it's difficult to find a more melodious, magical, and just plain sweet story.

I remember when the Zilker stage was little more than a painted plywood platform, so it's heartening indeed to see the solid concrete structure now standing by Barton Springs Pool and thrilling to encounter so many River City citizens seated on the hillside. The massive production group that supports the summer musical certainly has set the performance bar high, but this year's offering doesn't quite make it over that bar. Jen J. Madison's costumes do, though. The orphans put the "rag" in "ragamuffin," and the maids and butlers of the Warbucks mansion look spiffy and sharp. Jason Amato lights the stage with good old American sass and panache, and, as a group, the young ladies who play the orphans provide more than a couple of highlights. And Annie's dog, Sandy – played obediently by a rescue dog that will be available for adoption at the end of the show's run – looks like they pulled him straight from the comic strip. But while some of the numbers stand out – particularly Emily Bem, Kirk German, and Liz Newchurch traveling a comically seductive "Easy Street" and Joe Hartman looking put-upon but still nailing his part of "Fully Dressed" – Stuart Moulton's choreography often looks like lackluster marching, and the production as a whole sometimes feels as soppy as Austin after a summer rain. Nowadays, Michael McKelvey seems to direct every musical that isn't staged at Zach Theatre, and here he takes on both the stage and musical direction. McKelvey is an excellent director and voice coach, and while taking on both of those jobs for a chamber musical is quite conceivable, attempting to do both, and do both equally well, for a full-scale production of Annie on the hillside might have stretched even the talented McKelvey beyond his far-reaching limits.

But the flaws in the production can't all necessarily be laid at McKelvey's feet. On the night I attended, the actors looked worn and tired, and it could have been the heat (although I've seen other groups of hillside actors do Broadway-level work in the same conditions). It could have been the humidity (the final dress rehearsal was canceled due to the massive rainstorm that hit Austin just before opening). It could have been that old theatrical saw, the second night letdown. And it could very well be that, by the time you attend, you'll see a sweet performance to match the sweetness that is Annie.