Every year, a group of students have the opportunity to perform in a musical with only one day of preparation. Nothing, not even the name of the musical, is revealed until exactly 24 hours before the start of the show, and each student must do their best to perform a solid, often comical, production for the quickly-sold-out event. Pulling off this large-scale performance in such a small time frame requires a lot of skill, and this year’s musical, “Annie,”  did not disappoint.

“Annie” takes place in the 1930s and stars 11-year-old Annie, a girl living in an orphanage with the ruthless Miss Hannigan. Annie feels trapped until she gets the opportunity to spend the Christmas holiday with billionaire Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks. The residents of his household, including Warbucks himself, come to love Annie and wish to help her find her long-lost parents, despite Miss Hannigan’s and others’ attempts at sabotage.

With a large number of actors and an enthusiastic audience, the energy in the room was unmistakable even before the musical began.

Considering the time constraints of the 24-Hour Musical, you can imagine the tiny mishaps that inevitably happen. That is part of the fun! Talented students come together with only a day to learn everything, and the result is a room full of laughs and cheers.

Maybe Annie’s wig falls off, maybe another actor improvises their lines, or maybe during a musical number the students are out of sync for a moment. That is all part of the show, and, rather than having any worries or cares about messing up on a line, the show goes on, with the actors laughing along with the audience. Perfection is an ideal that rarely happens in even the most meticulously rehearsed shows, thus making “Annie” entertaining for everyone. 

Mia Rubinstein’s ’22 enthusiasm and laughter through every imperfection kept the audience giggling cheerfully. The audience especially delighted in her humorous interactions with Annie’s dog. Sandy, played by Jesse Blackman ’22. The two were frequently onstage together and consistently made the audience, or each other, laugh during their unrehearsed scenes. Then there was Talia Jacobson ’22 as Ms. Hannigan — with each memorable phrase, angry scream and swig of liquor, she truly got into and stayed in her role.

All of these and more amazing actors, along with skillful singers, brought together a performance that students on and off-stage can reminisce happily about.