I had a bunch of comments on the old board that didn't make it over, but this helps me organize things a bit. (Somehow can post on my tablet but can't figure it out otherwise )
Lack of corporal punishment - you can actually argue for this being realistic in universe. Locking a kid in a damp, dark cellar is actually *more sinister* given it'd probably be for hours, and they might not get fed. (Is this why Annie's shorter?) It's more MIss Hannigan-esque. Although if you want to argue that for running away it's more likely to be used, I wouldn't quibble.
The big thing for me is that if these girls are told "never tell a lie", Miss Hannigan can't use it regularly. Why? If they get hit for not sewing well enough, guess what? They *have* to tell the truth next time the inspections come - or just to Mr. Bundles - and her whole illegal operation goes up in smoke. (They'd have an orphanage inspection and perhaps a "factory inspection," too, if th place is a reistered company, though that's debatable. I don't know if she'd get enough business without listing it.)
Miss Hannigan *has* to hide her illegal sewing operation. She has to know the girls will tell the truth when asked. "No, Miss Hannigan drinks a lot but she's never hit us." Or, at worst, "She only hits us for something like runing away." I think the way I handle it
in this story, where it's revealed she gave July a ping pong paddle to use herself when the house mother left due to the Depression, and July does give Kate a smack (how hard id unknown) for running across the street after an animal without looking both ways, is very plausible. So is the old "wash the mouth out with soap" for telling a lie (Miss Hannigan hands Annie a spoon just to see the look on her face while telling her to handle it) as I show in "
Unending Trust."
I figure MIss Hannigan hates her job. The orphans can't stand, yet put up with the sewing, in exchange for some bargaining leverage elsewhere; because all it takes is one drinking binge, someone sneaking out and revealing *why* they don't go to school, etc., and she's history. They don't have her where they want her by *any* means, but they've got wiggle room.
More well-known names. It's a case by case basis for me. Al Capone makes Warbucks sound more insistent than John DIllinger if he says that. I'm a big history buff and I don't even know who Tommy Manville was. So that's better for me. But, Agent Gunderson is better, in my view, because I have a hard time remembering Ness was a real person, due to his presence on The Untouchables, plus Ness was never in New York, was he? Gunderson is just the right guy in the right place. And, I could go either way on whether Annie would have heard of Babe Ruth, but it's much less likely she'd have heard of Lou Gehrig. Especially since Ruth was, you know, in an orphanage once. (Albeit because his home was unsafe.) So I prefer Gehrig in that line but Ruth is...plausible, if less so.
The Hooverville removal, though, is crazy - I'm glad it got put back. It's a very memorable part of the play, and shows the peoples' desperation. very well. It's written well enough that Annie's presence with Sandy at the start doesn't take away too much to me.
As for my reaction to Annie Llive!, briefly (hard for me, I know) I liked it a lot but I thought that A few things that were changed didn't need to be calm as others have said.
But as for the ending - again I'm going in universe here - as I show
in later chapters here I think that's definitely a plan B that the orphans have. If Miss Hannigan thinks that Rooster is about to double cross her, she could And the tables like she did. If the orphans find out and Run to Warbucks and Miss Hannigan has to follow them, she could on the spur-of-the-moment decided to tell on her brother first.
I think saying it is the plan B from the original makes a lot of sense because I think it was a plan B that was B that was hatched out very fast since Andrea had to pull out as Eleanor Roosevelt at the end. I think they were going to have something with her and Annie at the very end.
All that being said, there is no reason for them to have pulled the pulled the "jig is up" line out of the final scene. They could have easily had that part and even Annie shooting back with the never "tell a lie" part and still had the orphans running in followed by miss Hannigan. Just have the line that miss Hannigan may have been the mastermind followed by miss Hannigan pleading with Annie that of course that wasn't the case and talking about how nice she'd been with Annie replying with her "never tell a lie" part.