REVIEW: UFOC Takes Care of Business in ‘Annie Get Your Gun’
As the story goes, Irving Berlin was just days away from presenting his last musical when his producers said the show was good, but he needed just one more song. On his way back to the apartment that night, Berlin had a surge of inspiration and, when he got home, sat down and wrote what has since become the national anthem of the entertainment industry.
There’s no business like show business!
On Saturday night, the Utah Festival Opera opened the 1999 Peter Stone Revival version of Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun. The last of UFO’s four shows this season, Annie tells the story of famed gunslinger Annie Oakley and her, at times, scrappy relationship with fellow sharpshooter Frank Butler. Presented as an uneducated hillbilly who does everything “Naturally,” Oakley met Butler as he was touring Ohio with the almost legendary Buffalo Bill Wild West Show.
The production continues in a once prominent musical-comedy style as dialogue dotted with wit ties together disparate show tunes about anything and everything that has to do with love (and weddings, and kissing, and…). Some of the numbers in the show are just good ol’ fashioned fun while others seem just, well, old.
Mark Walters (who plays Frank Butler) puts on an admirable display as the ego-led, high-headed hero who just can’t stand to be outdone by a woman. In his song “My Defenses are Down,” Walters and crew had what was probably the most entertaining sequence of the night.
As with the character she played, however, it was really four-time UFO veteran Joy Hermalyn that stole the show and kept the audience clamoring for more. Her southern/western blend of the “hick” dialogue was delightful and played a crucial role in the show’s many one-liners and gut-busters.
The duet numbers featuring Walters and Hermalyn were quite charming, especially the famed theme “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better,” and the two even seemed to have a little off-stage chemistry, showing the audience one last kiss as a romantic encore.
A few other notable performances came from Vanessa Shukis (Dolly Tate), Terry Hodges (Buffalo Bill Cody), Stacey Tavor (Winnie Tate) and Jeff Monette (Chief Sitting Bull). The back-up cast had some lovely moments and gave a little depth to the sometimes trite lyrics and music.
The choreography was flamboyant and true to musical style while the costumes added the era touch that might have dominated the turn-of-the-century circuit entertainment industry. There were a few notes slightly off pitch and once or twice the singers and the orchestra seemed to be having a lover’s quarrel, but overall (especially for an opening night), the show was professionally executed.
With little (or no) extracurricular thought required, Annie puts aside any pretenses that the show might have a deeper, more intricate meaning. It is what it should be: a light-hearted musical-comedy with some catchy tunes and a bit of western romance that make for an overall entertaining evening.
-mattgo@cc.usu.edu