Annie Get Your Gun

Many thanks to Manx Operatic Society for inviting my guest and I along to see their production of Irving Berlin’s "Annie Get Your Gun" on Sunday 19th March 2023 at the Gaiety Theatre, Isle of Man. This was a thoroughly enjoyable production from start to finish. The show was first performed in 1946 and made a film in 1950 and it was an absolute charm to see a classic movie-musical brought back to the stage! The show tells the fictional tale of rags to riches tale of Annie Oakley, a sharpshooter, who beats all odds of becoming top of her trade in a late 19th century male prominent wild west American Society. The show is also a love story, telling of Annie’s relationship with Frank Butler and, as the narrative is set within the show-world, we meet some larger-than-life characters along the way.

Directed by Jeremy Tustin, with assistance from Nicola Openshaw, the narrative was expertly delivered, holding the mirror up to the audience on some very topical themes, feminist equality, masculine dominance and statements of socio-economic divides. There was amazing pace and the theatrics and technical elements came together well to ensure a consistently vibrant production. There was strong rapport between all the cast whose acting styles were mostly naturalistic with the fourth wall firmly cemented across. The scenery was more suggestive of style and there were entre-scene descriptions provided directly to the audience by the character Charlie Davenport, which broke the fourth wall and so slightly alienated the audience from the storytelling.  There was great interesting use of staging throughout the production which added dimension and kept interest alive within the production.

Choreography was detailed for some big full chorus numbers and integrated elements of traditional jazz, some laid back fosse style moments, tap ballet and show dance. There were a couple of moments of choreography which stood out for me, both of which used show dance theatrics to emphasise the inner motivations of the concepts of the numbers. During the song The Girl That I Marry, there was a lovely piece of lyrical choreography performed en pointe for which Annie fantasised of her love interest with Frank. During the number My Defences Are Down, Frank was supported by the full male chorus undertaking some lazy swing choreography, embellished through dragging chairs behind them and the swagged through the stage. Both of these moment were sublime adding an artistic flare to the piece, further alienating these moments and keeping consistency to the show style undertones of the production.

Chris Sullivan undertook the responsibility of Musical Direction and did so with pizazz. Each number was executed by an 17-piece orchestra flawlessly with some wonderful blend and dynamism.  The cast had a fantastic blend and the leading principles showed great levels of multiple vocal techniques throughout the show, so were obviously coached by Chris well to bring about these moments. To add, being such a well-known movie musical. the show contains some real nostalgic bangers, including There’s No Business Like Show Business and Anything You Can do, so to smash these numbers to the highest of qualities to match (well better as live quality always is) the recordings, is no mean feat!

The design elements for the production were of a super high quality and were used creatively throughout. The stage was painted with an enormous stars and stripes flag across the full breadth, with a circular platform stage centre, which served as a constant reminder of show style themes of the productions. There were trucks brought in and out to change the scenery, which were suggestive and integrated within the action. There were some amazing tricks performed to all humour and context to the production, such as falling axes from a flat to appear they had just been thrown, bursting balloons and parts of the set deconstructing as though they had just been shot at. Lighting was also used well, providing glitz and colour, I loved the deep orange hues which added to the western sunset context of the production. Costumes, make up and wigs were detailed and vibrant and looked authentic to the characters which brought out the themes and narrative.

Now to the cast, whom were some 35 strong. It was a real joy to watch each and every performer who brought great individual characterisations with them. It would be fair to say the cast were of a diverse age and technical ability with the differing performance art forms, but this great and I was outstanded to learn that some of the cast were over 60 years of age. The chorus were well drilled and blended well vocally within the ensemble numbers. The children’s chorus (who were the Stripes Team for the performance I saw) were quite simply impeccable, they were perfectly synchronised and knew exactly what they were doing and when, They were proficient in their acting, dancing and singing skills and demonstrated good technical ability across them. I really hope these young performers continue their performing arts journeys as they had great energy and talent.

Annie Oakley was played by Kate Cowley who was perfectly cast for this role. She took the character on a real emotional and physical journey and her acting through song was impeccable providing insight into her character’s thoughts and feelings. She sang like a nightingale in all musical numbers she was in and with the level of technique and control this was undertaken with, I am almost certain she did not demonstrate all of her technical ability, but added belt and flicked between her registers perfectly. On top of this, she played the character with a sense of authenticity and really had the audience alongside her throughout her journey.

Frank Bulter was performed by Daniel-Sebastian Grey who was very strong in this role. He delivered a great characterisation and the rapport created between Frank and Annie was admirable. He executed the musical numbers with full vocal control and good use of dynamics.

The antagonist to the love story, Dolly Tate, was played by Tracey McCann. She had a strong presence and commanded the stage each time she was on. I loved the character idiosyncrasies she used such as the use of vocal pause an upward inflection. I also loved how the differentiations between her Dolly and Annie characters, both really strong, were a direct statement on the socio-economic themes the text derives.

The secondary love story within the show were Summer Patrick playing Winnie Tate and Magnus Black playing Tommy Keeler. There was a lovely connection between the two and I was invested in their relationship, which presented and commented on racial issues in society. Both had strong singing skills and I could not stop watching Summer’s amazing articulation and technical dance ability. I would have liked to see more connection within Magnus’ body which as looked at time as little disjointed when he was featured, but this will come over time with practice.

As aforementioned, the character Charlie Davenport acted as a narrator of the story through introducing each of the scenes. This part was played by Neil King who played this role with a softness, which was a nice contrast to some of the more assertive characters within the piece.

To finish the cast, Buffalo Bill Cody was performed by Phil Bird who was a delight to watch. He oozed charisma and charm with this role. Chief Sitting Bull was played by John Snelling who had a fantastic gravitas and grounding within this role. Pawnee Bill was played by Michael Estella and Mike Devereau doubled up to play Foster Wilson and Band Leader. Both performers were solid in their roles.

Many thanks again to Manx Operatic Society for this wonderful production. I am very much looking forwards to seeing Oliver next year.

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