With fickle Mother Nature haphazardly alternating the weather between sun and rain, who couldn’t use the promise of an extended period of summer sun? Maine State Music Theatre is doing what it can to fulfill this wish with “Annie,” its latest production, which opened Wednesday. After all, how could Mother Nature resist nine adorable “orphans” and a spunky redhead named Annie as she optimistically sings, “The sun will come out, tomorrow”?

In total, the theater auditioned 90 girls to find just the right cast to play Annie and her orphan friends. The search paid off.  Lauren Weintraub was a half-pint dynamite as Annie Friday night, sparkling with personality and delivering powerful vocals that contrasted greatly with her diminutive size and young years.

Alexandria Stevenson (Pepper), Lynnea Harding (July), Rachel Friedman (Tessie), Gina Pardi (Kate), Emma Joanis (August), Stephanie Craven (June), Amberly Shea (Summer), Sophie Calderwood (Duffy) and the cute as a button Katherine Boston (Molly) put heart and soul into their roles as the nine other orphans at Miss Hannigan’s orphanage. The girls particularly shined as they spiritedly sang and danced on “It’s A Hard Knock Life.”

Maine State Music Theatre also chose wisely when selecting the adult cast members. David Girolmo stepped into Oliver Warbucks’ billionaire shoes as if the role was tailor-made for him. He looked and acted the part, delivering rich, authoritative vocals, backed by a heart of gold.

Charis Leos (Miss Hannigan), Chuck Ragsdale (Rooster Hannigan) and Morgan Smith (Lily) provided comic relief for the evening. Leos delivered a crowd-pleasing performance as the orphanages’ alcohol swigging matriarch. Ragsdale wonderfully complimented as her conniving brother. And Smith proved multi-talented as Rooster’s gold-digger girlfriend. They were unforgettable on “Easy Street.”

April Boyle is a free-lance writer from Casco.  She can be contacted at:

aprilhboyle@yahoo.com.