Stage Scene
Once a crocodile, now 'Annie'
By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Staff Writer
 |
| Paige Finch is the inimitable "Annie," Joshua Harris is Daddy Warbucks in the Diamond Head Theatre musical premiering this weekend.
Diamond Head Theatre 'Annie' 8 p.m. today and Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday; repeating at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 4 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 16. Matinees at 3 p.m. Dec. 8 and 15 feature understudy Kristina Sault as Annie. Diamond Head Theatre $10-$40 (discounts for students, seniors and military) 733-0274 |
"In 'Peter Pan,' I was a Lost Boy so I had to be a boy," says Paige, grimacing at the memory of several evenings spent in the shoes of the ickier of the two genders. "I also played the crocodile that scares Capt. Hook off the boat." Next up was "Charlotte's Web." "And I had to be another boy in that!"
The cities and towns of her travels from ages 6 to 9 read like pure showbiz stardust ... sort of. Marysville. Topeka. Barnes.
"It's out in the boonies!" exclaims Paige of former hometown Barnes, twirling her curly locks, currently dyed dark red by her mom for her first-ever lead role, as the star moppet in Diamond Head Theatre's production of "Annie." "Barnes is in the middle of nowhere, really. We practically lived in the car."
Paige is no stranger to the multiple Tony Award-winning play. Her first stage role arrived three years ago in the guise of another precocious "Annie" stage cutie, Molly. Even so, winning the role of the New York City Municipal Orphanage's scrappiest redhead charge only four months after her family's move to Hawai'i wasn't as easy as chrome-domed Oliver "Daddy" Warbuck's assumed morning hair care ritual.
One of more than 200 girls vying for "Annie" roles, Paige breezed through her first audition with "Shy" from "Princess and the Pea" musical "Once Upon A Mattress," one of a handful of songs she enjoyed singing for fun at home. But it would take additional callbacks and more than a few warblings of "Annie" faves "Tomorrow" and "Maybe," for director John Rampage to winnow competition for the lead to just two youngsters, Paige and understudy Kristina Sault.
Was she surprised when mom Elizabeth told her one afternoon in mid-October about the phone call that confirmed the Finches had an Annie in the family?
"Yeah," says Paige, smiling shyly.
Since then, the Finch household — also populated by Paige's father, Army Sgt. 1st Class Charles, and 14-year-old sports-fanatic brother Aaron — has been ringing with songs about the sun coming up tomorrow and the fact that no one is ever fully dressed without a smile.
"I actually hear them in my sleep at night," sighs Elizabeth Finch.
Paige confesses affection for Rampage ("he's very tough. Tough, tough, tough. But he's a really, really good director and a nice guy"), Warbucks actor Joshua Harris ("he's my new best friend in the show. We went to see 'Harry Potter' together") and her always-happy, always-hopeful alter ego.
"I like that she's 'OP-TOE-MYS-TICK," Paige says about Annie, turning to her mother for some pronunciation approval of her new favorite word. "I got that from one of the lines the president says in the play. I never actually talk like that."
Finishing off the last of her preferred local delicacy — "Spam is OK. But it's really good with musubi" — Paige rolls her eyes and collapses into a giggle fit when asked about working with the canine thespian who plays Sandy.
"Oh, my gosh," says Paige. "His real name is Hoku. It loves its owner. It doesn't want to be away from its owner. One night when I called him, he just sat there, just lookin' at me."
It would take more than a few rehearsals and the additional threat of fewer dollars for Milk Bones for Hoku to finally heed Annie's calls for her Sandy.
"One night, they just told him, 'If you don't go to Paige, we're going to have to recast you,'" says Paige. "He's gotten a lot better since then. It seems like he understood."
