Annie get Your Gun

‘Annie Get Your Gun’ is a big, well known musical; it needs a great orchestra, larger than life characters, big voices, a song and dance company, a grand set and costumes and guns! Well done Weston for achieving 90% of my expectation in your latest production.

That the storyline is a bit thin and somewhat dated, was eclipsed by the fine singing from everyone in the company and exceptional performances from Natalie Baker (Annie Oakley) and Edward Creswick (Frank Butler). The wonderful Irving Berlin score is the prize for the audience in this amusing pastiche of a ‘wild west’ show. Placing the orchestra on stage and therefore making them an integral part of the show was a brilliant idea. The Playhouse has a large stage and could have looked rather bare with the size of the cast and the minimalist scenery. The scenery is my 5%... I expected big and brash and colourful but would have described the production as ‘semi staged’, but the ‘circus’ approach grew on me in Act Two with the liveliness of the performances and the excellent music and singing I was won over.

My other 5% was that some of the costumes  doudy, I thought I would be seeing  a colourful  spectacle and Annie’s plain skirts and blouses and even her red outfit jarred within her ‘starring’ role, but her white dress with medals was good.

Apart from those few comments this was a very entertaining evening. The pace was mostly good, the energy and enthusiasm and talent from the company was excellent. The choreography was well presented and well within the capabilities of the cast and the men’s routine with Frank Butler ‘My Defenses Are Down’, was excellent. All the principals performed very well with special mentions to Sue Collings( Dolly Tate), Rob Tilke (Tommy Keeler), Sam Aylott (Winnie Tate), Luke Burgess (Charlie Davenport) and Mick Collings (Chief Sitting Bull).

The children in 'Team Frank' were delightful as I am certain were 'Team Annie'. But rightly so… the stars of the show were Frank and Annie, both in superb voice, with Edward looking relaxed and suave and Natalie giving (I imagine) one of the finest performances of her stage career…her superb accent and character didn’t falter for single moment. Their duet ‘Anything You can Do’ was the highlight for me, well sung, funny and they were enjoying it so much the audience couldn’t fail to love it!

Well done Weston, you took a chance on this golden oldie and succeeded. 

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