Annie, Mayflower, Southampton

THE sun will come out tomorrow, so the song goes, and this super slick production of Annie certainly leaves you feeling uplifted.

Packed full of smash-hit songs It's A Hard Knock Life, Easy Street and, of course, Tomorrow, the musical tells the tale of the little red-headed orphan who wants nothing more than to find her parents.

Forced to live a life of misery at Miss Hannigan's orphanage, her luck changes when she's chosen to spend a fairytale Christmas with famous billionaire Oliver Warbucks.

The show comes to Southampton's Mayflower Theatre direct from London's West End, which is abundantly clear from the professionalism of the cast, not least the incredibly talented team of children playing the unruly orphans, and even the beautiful Labradoodle Amber, in the role of Annie's canine friend Sandy.

Larger than life Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood was perfectly cast as the miserable, tipsy orphanage caretaker, Miss Hannigan. His New York accent was a little unconvincing at times, but his fab-u-lous singing and dancing more than made up for it.

But the star of the show was the insanely brilliant Freya Yates, who looked utterly at home on the stage, and casually belted out one pitch-perfect, powerful song after another with supreme confidence, her vocals quite easily outshining every one of the adult cast.

The set is simple, and the costume changes are few, but there was so much happening on stage, that anything more would have been superfluous.

Annie will be charming audiences at Southampton's Mayflower until Saturday, May 4.

EMMA JOSEPH