Priory Pupils Bring Broadway Classic Annie to Life

It may be cold outside but the sun certainly came out for our production of Annie – it was amazing!

Our pupils wowed the audience with the story of orphan Annie who escaped a tough life and was adopted by America’s richest family in New York.

The school production is an annual tradition at Priory and a lot of hard work and dedication goes into making them a success. Pupils from all year groups join together to make up a unique family – on stage and backstage – with Lead Teacher of Drama, Miss Howell, leading the talented bunch.

Miss Howell said: “The pupils have been so dedicated and committed. They have turned up for rehearsals and have really enjoyed it. They have made a lot of new friends and I am proud of all of them.”

Year 8 Quinn plays Annie and sung beautifully. She goes to the Pauline Quirk Musical Academy out of school.

She said: “I was nervous about performing but I enjoyed it. It’s my first big lead role and I do want more of them.”

Year 11 Libby played Miss Hannigan and put on a strong vocal performance as the drunk and nasty orphanage owner.

“I have loved playing Miss Hannigan and getting into her character. It’s been fun and it’s been a welcome break from revising for my GCSEs.”

Year 11 Caleb, who is the billionaire Mr Warbucks, said: “The best part has been wearing the suit! It’s very smart.”

Year 11 Molly, who played Grace, also showed off her exquisite singing voice.  She said: “I have private singing lessons in Leyland as it’s something I wanted to be better at and my singing has improved.

“I want to do Musical Theatre and have a choice of Blackpool Theatre Collective or Pendleton Sixth Form College after my GCSEs.

“It’s been amazing starring in Annie, I love performing in front of an audience.”

As well as two evening performances, the cast performed two special matinees; the first for our partner primary schools where the hall was packed out with our young guests.

For the second matinee, on Wednesday we were delighted to entertain senior residents from Penwortham Grange & Lodge Residential Home and Priory Park Care Home. Visitors enjoyed tea and scones during the interval, served on our finest China by our pupils. Visitors got to meet our cast and were all especially thrilled when one of the stars of the show, Honey the dog, came out to meet them.  

The matinee was followed by a short carol service in the Rose Garden against the backdrop of our new Christmas tree. The cast, crew and visitors sang festive classics to the accompanying music provided by Mr Taylor.

From Hudson Street Orphanage to Warbucks’ mansion, our talented cast truly brought Annie to life and we’ve received some amazing feedback from our community...

Congratulations to Miss Howell and her team for yet another amazing success.

Amazing!!! What a talented bunch, and such a great performance! Well done everybody, you should be very proud.

Fantastic performance, so much talent on show. Well done everyone

Thank you from Whitefield Primary for inviting our Year 4 and 5 children to come and watch this fantastic performance. The children said ‘it was amazing’ and they loved seeing so many Whitefielders in the cast.

A huge thank you to everyone who came along. We hope you enjoyed the show as much as we did.

As Annie reminds us, ‘You’re never fully dressed without a smile’ – and there were plenty of those last week!

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