Annie Get Your Gun

Annie Get Your Gun is a classical musical about Annie Oakley’s rise from a rural ragamuffin, supporting her four siblings, to a world-famous sharpshooter in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and her romance with Frank Butler. As the title suggests Annie is the starring role and without a good one, sadly, you really haven’t a show. Well, Jen Lewis was indeed the star of this show. She was absolutely superb in every way. She portrayed Annie’s feisty self confidence, her humour and vulnerability perfectly and her acting was totally matched by her powerful singing voice that could not only deliver a song with great gusto (and there are a few of those) but could also beautifully sing ballads such as ‘Moonshine Lullaby’ and ‘They Say It’s Wonderful’. A truly sparkling performance! To match Jen’s performance, the role of Frank Butler, the male lead, would certainly be a challenge, but, Chris Grantham was definitely the man for the job. Frank needs to be a strong character full of arrogance and swagger and needs to have a good singing voice, all of these aspects Chris executed with great aplomb. I loved his duets with Annie, particularly ‘Anything You Can Do’. Great support came from Ian Jennison who made a fine Buffalo Bill he was very much the ‘man-in-charge’, Sarah Stone was excellent as the brazen, meddlesome Dolly Tate, showman Charlie Davenport was splendidly portrayed by Matthew Shaw, Brian Counter was stoically amusing as Chief Sitting Bull, Mike Osborne was imposing as Pawnee Bill and David Orange was a hoot as the mincing Foster Wilson. Annie’s orphan family, on the evening of my visit, were - Daisy Bunting, Molly Hewitt-Richards, Oscar Hewitt-Richards and Anya Staten. They were not only cutely adorable but had great self confidence and stage presence and never once strayed out of character. Hannah Beastall and Dominic Osin were a delightful and charming couple as sweethearts Winnie Tate and Tommy Keeler. Good costumes, the on-stage orchestra, well performed choreography and chorus singing were all first rate. An innovative and imaginative set design (loved the bunk beds), together with good props, lighting and special effects were excellent. All in all a great production and it was obvious from the enthusiasm of everyone on stage that ‘There’s No Business Like Show Business’! Congratulations to everyone involved especially to Larry Waller, the Director, in what I believe is his first Musical Production.

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