EVERY year Ryedale School puts on a musical or play and this year that musical will be the well-known American hit Annie.

It is set in 1930’s America and follows an 11-year-old girl in her quest to find her parents who left her at Miss Hannigan’s orphanage when she was just a baby.

With songs including Tomorrow and It’s a Hard Knock Life, the musical will be a real hit.

I went behind the scenes in one of the rehearsals to find out more about the upcoming production and the making of it.

During my tour of the rehearsals, the cast were rehearsing a key scene: “I think I’m gonna like it here”.

It follows Annie as she enters the Warbuck’s (Annie’s potential adoptive family) household to live in for a week with her dog Sandy, and the household staff take a particular interest in her.

The character Annie is being brought to life by Lauryn Lee. I asked her what she thought of the play.

She said: “It is really good to work with people you don’t know, you get to meet a wide range of people, it is all going really well and all of the hard work everyone has put in will pay off in the final performances.”

When I first entered the hall, the cast of this scene were rehearsing the dance number, and considering how hard it is everyone was making it look so easy. The cast seamlessly went over and over the scene in which the Warbuck’s household staff dance around the house, spoiling and introducing Annie to a new life in which the sun shines every day, by the end they all seemed exhausted but happy with their efforts.

They then moved on to adding the lyrics and dialogue which did complicate things a bit, especially when the cast added little details to their character’s parts and personalities, but it didn’t take long to organise everyone into positions and specific roles, which helped to enhance the scene.

Everybody obviously had a lot of fun doing it and it was full of funny jokes, laughs and moments.

However, overall it was taken very seriously. Mrs Gentry’s organisation and efficiency kept everyone going, entertained and on track.

Towards the end of the rehearsal everyone got up on the stage and went through the scenes of the evening, going back over the dancing, singing and acting; all of this aided by Mrs Gentry (dance teacher), Mr Lewis (drama teacher) and Mr Moxon (music teacher), all of the little parts morphed into an excellent, gripping, active and entertaining scene.

Everyone there obviously had a lot of fun doing it, as they became one with their characters, and pulled it off in the rehearsal.

I cannot imagine how amazing the end result will be, but I do know that it will blow everyone who attends away.

Mr Moxon said: “We are lucky to have such a talented cast and the success of the show relies on them, their parents and staff, working together to make it a success, I cannot wait until the final performances.”

Annie will be performed at Ryedale School from Monday, March 23 to Thursday, March 26, at 6.30pm each night.

Tickets are £7 for adults and £4 for children and are available from the school office on 01439 771665.

Report by By Lorna Lee, Year 9