Annie Get Your Gun
OPENING: March 4th, 1999.
CLOSING: September 1st, 2001.
Seen: January 1st, 2000.
LOCATION: Marriott Marquis Theater
When it became very clear to my parents that I was falling in love with Broadway, they immediately jumped into educating me. It wasn’t because they wanted a theater kid, per se, but it was an interest that they could understand and enjoy with me. My dad in particular was excited that he could share his musical theater albums with me. It was this way that I learned of Jennifer Holliday’s showstopping turn in Dreamgirls. I learned a cockney accent through My Fair Lady, and to this day it’s still one of my strongest accents thanks to Ms. Andrews. And I got in trouble in school several times in school for singing certain lyrics from A Chorus Line – and to this day, I have no regrets considering that my classmates were constantly singing Chris Brown and Eminem (Can we say double standard?).
But it was the pro-shot of the OBC Into the Woods where I met my first love. Did my parents remember the gory details of Act II? No. When my mom watched it with me, did she care? Not really, because I was more concerned with the music and found the character deaths hilarious (I was not a sentimental kid). But then – there was this being. This incredible, wonderful, creature who graced the stage.
Her name was Bernadette Peters.
Bernadette, oh Bernadette. You were funny, you could sing, and you made me feel something for this character. And you did half of it in prosthetics! Be still my beating heart!
So when I found out that she was on Broadway in a musical called Annie Get Your Gun, there was no question. We were going. And I was ecstatic when tickets landed underneath the tree that year.
But my parents messed up – Bernadette was on vacation when they bought tickets, so we were going to see Susan Lucci instead. To say I felt my heart break was an understatement.
No matter. I had the soundtrack. I could listen to Bernadette whenever I wanted.
Annie Get Your Gun first came to Broadway in 1946. It was written for none other than the incomparable Ethel Merman, the musical theater grand dame of the era. It tells the story of real-life Annie Oakley and her time at Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. The music was written by none other than Irving Berlin, master of the Broadway standard at that point.
When it was revived in 2001, it was very, very clear that some changes had to be made. The cultural landscape of 1946 was vastly different than that of 1999. Therefore, two songs were cut from the original in the name of political correctness. I believe this call was made correctly – even in 1999, a song sung by a white girl called “I’m an Indian Too” was just not going to fly. Also cut was a number sung by leading man Frank Butler, titled “I’m a Bad, Bad Man.” While the title doesn’t give away why it was cut, it was for the same reason as the other song. For all my young theater kids out there: If you want to really explore the culture of a time, look at what was being put on stage – this is a clear example of what was considered “Not offensive” in the 1940s.
But when there are cuts, there are additions. “Old Fashioned Wedding”, a song that was written by Berlin for the 1966 Lincoln Center presentation, was added for Bernadette and Tom Wopat. Also, a subplot involving an interracial love story between some of the circus performers was added. Was this to make up for the blatant racism in 1946? I would like to think so.
The overt racism of the songs is surprising to me. Irving Berlin grew up a poor Russian Jewish boy in the Lower East Side. My New Yorker Theater Kids will recognize that this means he grew up in a tenement, probably with several other families in the apartment. However, this did not deter him; by the time he was brought in to work on Annie Get Your Gun, he had been composing for the troops during the war and was even respected enough that Herbert and Dorothy Fields conceded all the composing to him and kept themselves to the book.
But on that blustery day in January 2000, when my family trekked through Times Square with confetti from the night before falling on us, I saw what I considered a masterpiece of theater. Was Ms. Lucci my darling Bernadette, who had won the Tony the previous June? No, she was not. But as the show famously says – there’s no business like show business. And I was in love.
I was a theater kid on a mission. And see Bernadette I would – I would make it happen.
CAST: REPLACEMENT
CONFIRMED UNDERSTUDIES:
Ashley Rose Orr for Christian Valiando
Jenny Rose Baker for Ashley Rose Orr
Leasen Beth Almquist for Desiree Parkman
Brad Bradley as the Tap Dancer
BUFFALO BILL (Col. William F. Cody): Dennis Kelly
FRANK BUTLER: Tom Wopat
DOLLY TATE: Valerie Wright
TOMMY KEELER: Andrew Palermo
WINNIE TATE: Nicole Ruth Snelson
MAC, THE PROPMAN: Tom Schmid
CHARLIE DAVENPORT: Peter Marx
FOSTER WILSON: Gerry Vichi
CHIEF SITTING BULL: Kevin Bailey
ANNIE OAKLEY: Susan Lucci
JESSIE OAKLEY: Kate Kahanovitz
NELLIE OAKLEY: Ashley Rose Orr
LITTLE JAKE: Christian Valiando
BALLERINA: Kate Levering
HOOP DANCE SPECIALTY: Adrienne Hurd
RUNNING DEER: Tom Schmid
EAGLE FEATHER: Timothy Ellis
MOONSHINE LULLABY TRIO: Cleve Asbury, Justin Greer, David Villella
PAWNEE BILL (MAJ. GORDON LILLIE): RONN CARROLL
MESSENGER: Tom Schmid
BAND LEADER: Marvin Laird
MRS. SCHYLER ADAMS: Julia Fowler
SYLVIA POTTER-PORTER: Elisa Heinsohn
ENSEMBLE: Cleve Asbury, Brad Bradley, Randy Donaldson, Madeline Ehlert, Timothy Ellis, Julia Fowler, Justin Greer, Elisa Heinsohn, Adrienne Hurd, Kate Levering, Desiree Parkman, Emily Rozek, Tom Schmid, Michael Serapiglia, Kelli Bond Severson, David Villella, Patrick Wetzel.
STANDBYS AND UNDERSTUDIES: Tom Schmid (Frank Butler, Buffalo Bill, Sitting Bull); Valerie Wright (Annie Oakley); Karyn Quackenbush (Annie Oakley, Dolly Tate); Julia Fowler (Dolly Tate); Shaun Amyot (Tommy Keeler); Randy Donaldson (Tommy Keeler); Brian Shepard (Tommy Keeler, Swing); Timothy Ellis (Tommy Keeler); Kate Levering (Winnie Tate); Emily Rozek (Winnie Tate); Brad Bradley (Charlie Davenport); Patrick Wetzel (Charlie Davenport, Pawnee Bill, Foster Wilson, Sitting Bull); Jenny Rose Baker (Jessie Oakley, Nellie Oakley); Ashley Rose Orr (Little Jake); Leasen Beth Almquist (Swing); and Patti D’Beck (Swing).
Canby, Vincent. “Theater; A New ‘Annie,’ The Same Old Berlin Magic. New York Times, March 14th, 1999. https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/14/theater/theater-a-new-annie-the-same-old-berlin-magic.html?searchResultPosition=6
Nichols, Lewis. “Annie Get Your Gun.” New York Times, May 26th, 1946. https://www.nytimes.com/1946/05/26/archives/annie-get-your-gun-merman-at-work-experts-all.html?searchResultPosition=6
Norton, Eliot. “’Berlin to Broadway’; Composer of ‘Annie Get Your Gun’ Happy on His Return to the Theatre Work Is Fun Enjoyed Trouping BERLIN TO BROADWAY”. New York Times, April 21st, 1946. https://www.nytimes.com/1946/04/21/archives/berlin-to-broadway-composer-of-annie-get-your-gun-happy-on-his.html?searchResultPosition=8
