It didn't exactly jibe with the Broadway version, but this week's musical production of "Little Orphan Annie" produced by Patrick Henry Middle School's drama class was entertaining enough for this critic's thumbs-up.
"Annie" purists might not approve of the liberties taken by the preteen cast:
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Monday, June 15, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 1 inches; 30 words Type of Material: Correction
Sandy Banks' column: Sandy Banks' Saturday column in Section A, about the "Little Orphan Annie" production at Patrick Henry Middle School, misspelled PTA Vice President Tina Caro's name as Cano.
There was Daddy Warbucks moon-walking like Michael Jackson; random magic tricks with no link to the plot; tumbling routines by Annie and her orphans; and wicked impressions of Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell in a parody of "American Idol."
And then there was the musical finale -- the entire cast onstage doing the Cha-Cha Slide.
Memorable not just for its toe-tapping rhythm, but because it did not include bumping and grinding.
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Two months ago "Little Orphan Annie" was on the ropes when tempers flared over rumors that the principal threatened to cancel it because he'd been tipped off that its 12- and 13-year-old cast members would perform dances that included "bumping and grinding."
"I've seen bumping and grinding; I know it happens," Principal Michael Bennett told me on Friday, after the show had finished its two-day run. "I just wanted to approve the dances.
"My concern was that if you're inviting the public, putting it on the school marquee, make sure that your dance routines are going to leave a good impression. . . . It has to be tasteful and appropriate to the grade standards."
But to hear disgruntled drama parents tell it, Bennett is simply a fuddy-duddy who has never liked the drama program. And the dance in question was the Cha-Cha Slide, a popular line dance performed at elementary school birthday parties, wedding receptions and retirement luncheons.
Ultimately, he approved the dance. But he alienated parents by keeping them in limbo for weeks before he made time to attend a rehearsal.
"It's an insult to us, like we don't have standards for our children," said Tina Cano, vice president of the school's PTA, whose daughter helped lead a student protest to preserve the contested dance numbers.
MTV is off-limits in their house, Cano said. "And I go to [the website] Movie Mom to check out PG-13 films before I let my daughter watch them."
To them, the Cha-Cha Slide is tantamount to the Hokey-Pokey.
It's got a little more "booty-shaking, maybe," said mom Erycka Vasquez, who, like many of the parents I met, is closer in age to her children than to the principal. "Kids see these dances on TV. They pick it up. They're not freak-dancing or touching. Bumping and grinding? Does he even know what the Cha-Cha Slide is?"
