Yes, we’re polarized and angry, uncertain about the future, defensive about our politics, but hey! The sun’ll come out tomorrow!

Maybe that sounds like impossible optimism, or “an unstoppable sunshine steamroller” as Ben Brantley called it, but “Annie” has not just survived, it’s thrived because people would rather feel good than bad. It’s almost that simple.

Riverside Center for the Performing Arts welcomes this durable piece of musical theatre to its 22nd season, and it doesn’t disappoint. The little red-headed orphan who entertained our parents and grandparents through the 1920s, the Great Depression, and WWII has had a long run.  Based on “Little Orphan Annie”, the comic strip by Harold Gray, “Annie” is the 1977 Broadway musical that snapped up seven Tony Awards and ran for six years before spawning a few less memorable films as well as three Broadway revivals.