CAPSULE REVIEW : ‘Annie 2’ Rates Raves, Like in Raving ‘Witless’

“Annie” was a musical to take to your heart, but you’ll want to take a paddle to “Annie 2: Miss Hannigan’s Revenge,” the sequel that opened Thursday night in the Kennedy Center Opera House.

Most of the same creative talents are back on the job, looking to repeat the miracle that made “Annie” the sleeper of 1977. But you’d never guess it if your program didn’t say so. What was so disarming the first time around has become witless and belabored. The plot cooked up by Thomas Meehan is preposterous. The score by Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin is dull.

And this decade’s Annie, Danielle Findley, while possessed of a voice that can no doubt be heard in West Virginia, seems to have acquired a bratty side now that she’s living in the lap of luxury.

About all that serves to connect the two shows are the sets by David Mitchell, who can make New York City in the Depression one swell-looking place. The highlight of “Annie 2,” in fact, occurs when a vast ocean liner sails past a dilapidated tugboat attached to a pier on the East River. The tugboat tosses wildly in the wake, while the liner, a dark colossus, blasts its horns and glides efficiently out to sea.

Watching “Annie 2” is like being invited to a fabulous party and then discovering that there’s no one interesting to talk to. You wind up staring at the pictures on the wall.

The musical continues its pre-Broadway tryout through Jan. 20.