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Annie Get Your Gun is a musical loosely based on the life of sharpshooter Annie Oakley. The music and lyrics were written by Irving Berlin with a book by Herbert Fields and his sister Dorothy Fields. Berlin had taken on the job after the original choice, Jerome Kern, collapsed and died suddenly. It is said that the showstopper song, "There's No Business Like Show Business", was almost left out of the show altogether because Berlin, wrongly, got the impression that the producers, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, did not like it.
Plot summarySpoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley, who was a sharpshooter from Ohio, born in 1860, and her husband, Frank Butler.
After various complications, Annie and Frank come together again, only to have one last shooting duel in the finale -- "Anything You Can Do". In the original production and all subsequent versions up until the 1999 revival, Annie deliberately loses to Frank to soothe his ego, and they go off together. (In the 1999 revival, the match ends in a tie.) Spoilers end here.
In real life, Annie and Frank were married; Annie died in 1926, Frank shortly after. The 1999 Broadway revival placed the action of the musical as a "show-within-a-show", having Buffalo Bill start the show by introducing it and the main characters, and with much of the action taking place on a revolving stage. The sub-plot (which had been dropped from the 1966 revival) of the young lovers was also used, with the girl, Winnie, as Dolly's sister rather than daughter. There was a mixed- race romance not found in the original, as well. There were several major dance numbers added, also, especially one for "I Got the Sun in the Morning". Cast (1946)
Songs
Broadway production
London productionThe show opened at the Coliseum on June 7, 1947 and ran for 1,304 performances. Dolores Gray played Annie with Bill Johnson as Butler. Australian productionThe show opened at His Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne on July 19, 1947. It starred Evie Hayes as Annie with Webb Tilton as Frank Butler. Later Australian productions have featured Gloria Dawn, Nancye Hayes, Toni Lamond, Bunny Gibson and Rhonda Burchmore as Annie. In 2004, Marina Prior and Scott Irwin starred in a production of the 1999 rewrite of the show. Film and television1950 MGM film version
In the 1950 Metro Goldwyn Mayer picture directed by George Sidney, Betty Hutton played Annie with Howard Keel as Frank Butler and Benay Venuta as Dolly Tate. Frank Morgan was originally cast as Buffalo Bill Cody but after filming the movie's opening production number, "Colonel Buffalo Bill", he unexpectedly died. Morgan was replaced by Louis Calhern. Originally, Judy Garland had been cast in the title role, but was forced to back out of the production due to poor health and other personal problems that would soon end her career with MGM. According to Betty Hutton, she was treated coldly by most of the cast and crew because she replaced Garland. Only two production numbers were completed with Garland: "Doin' What Comes Naturally" and "I'm an Indian Too" and these were released to the public for the first time in the 1990s in That's Entertainment III Additional studio recordings of Garland also exist and have been released by Rhino Records. Despite the production problems, the film became popular in its own right. In 1973 it was withdrawn from distribution due to a dispute between Irving Berlin and MGM over music rights. It was not until the film's 50th Anniversary in 2000 that it was seen again in its entirety. Television
Broadway revivals1966The 1966 Broadway revival starred Ethel Merman again, with Bruce Yarnell as Frank Butler and Jerry Orbach as Charles Davenport. It opened first at the Music Theater of Lincoln Center. It was transferred to the Broadway Theatre on September 21 and ran for 78 performances. It was telecast in an abbreviated ninety-minute version by NBC on March 19, 1967 and is the only musical revived at Lincoln Center during the 1960's to be telecast. 1999With a reworked book and a new orchestration, the 1999 revival opened on Broadway in early 1999 following a pre-Broadway engagement from December 29, 1998 to January 24, 1999 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Previews began on February 2, 1999 on Broadway, with an official opening date of March 4, 1999, at the Marquis Theatre. This revival starred Bernadette Peters as Annie and Tom Wopat as Frank Butler, with direction by Graciela Daniele and choreography by Jeff Calhoun. Peters won the 1999 Tony Award for Best Actress (Musical) and the production won the 1999 Tony Award for Best Revival (Musical). This production dropped several songs (including "Colonel Buffalo Bill" , "I'm A Bad, Bad Man", and "I'm an Indian Too"), but included "An Old-Fashioned Wedding". A sub-plot, involving the young sister of Frank Butler's assistant and her part-Indian boyfriend was also included. While Peters was on vacation, All My Children star Susan Lucci made her Broadway debut as Annie from December 27, 1999 until Jan. 16, 2000; Peters returned on January 18, 2000. Cheryl Ladd took over the lead role on September 6, 2000 from Peters. Country music superstar Reba McEntire made her splash Broadway debut in the role from January 26, 2001 to June 22, 2001. Crystal Bernard left the national tour on June 23, 2001 to join the Broadway cast with tickets selling at the 70 percent of capacity range through most of the summer. The revival closed on September 1, 2001 after 35 previews and 1,046 regular performances. Other
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