The 1976 musical Annie is based on a cartoon strip and, unlike Li’l Abner, another musical with the same origins, it has a durability that ensures almost continual revivals.

Even though it has been filmed for the big screen and for TV, its popularity demands live stage performances.

Set during the Great Depression, it’s a story of optimism, telling the tale of an orphan’s dream to find the parents who abandoned her as a baby. Her life is grim at the orphanage under the drunken harridan Miss Hannigan and it is only by chance she is taken in by billionaire Oliver Warbucks and his secretary Grace Farrell, where she finds the opportunity for a better life.

Grace Glevey, in the title role, has a delightful cheekiness and winsome smile guaranteed to melt the stoniest of hearts. Her fellow orphans and a cute dog almost steal the show – but not quite. That falls to the ever popular Su Pollard as Miss Hannigan. Her performance is predictably over the top and gloriously so, never missing a trick to get a laugh.

Occasionally her style is aped by others and the humour appears sledge-hammered where a little more subtlety would suffice.

David McAlister as Warbucks impresses with his fine voice and James Gavin and Sophie McEwan make a fine couple of villains, delivering a stomping Easy Street alongside Pollard.

Amidst all the sweetness and comedy, the realism of the Depression era is highlighted by the ensemble in the caustic We’d Like To Thank You.

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